Howdy, Friend!
I want to talk to you about something that can get a little personal, and has a huge impact on our health and wellbeing! That thing is nutrition.
Yep, I want to talk about food – but I don’t want to focus on diets, fads, or telling you how you should eat. I want to share the two things that I’ve done that have changed my relationship with food for the better with no dieting and no stress, just simply enjoying it.
The first thing that I did was I released judgment around what I was eating and I got curious instead. Here’s what this looks like:
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that I just ate so much_____! (you fill in the blank…for me it’s ice cream!) I’m going to have to run for hours to burn that off. I’m so fat.” That’s a judgmental self-narrative, but if you’re like most of us, it might sound familiar. When I embraced releasing judgment and engaged in curiosity, I changed that narrative to asking questions instead. My narrative started to sound more like this:
“WHAT was I experiencing when I ate this “treat”? WHO was I being when I ate this? WHY did I eat it? HOW did I feel after eating said treat?” Now, it sounds simple, but it took practice! It can be easy to slip back into the judgmental narrative. When you get curious, it’s important to simply be curious and honest with yourself. If you ate the food because you were stressed out, that’s ok. Just acknowledge it. If you ate it because it’s your birthday and you enjoyed it, that’s ok too! Acknowledge your reasons, your experience, your motivations, and accept yourself. As you are able to start being honest with yourself, you can start to notice your habits and patterns, and create the change that you would like to see – without stress or guilt.
The second thing that I did was start to take 20 minutes to eat my meals. The reason behind this is that it takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realize how full your stomach is. When we rush through our meals, or eat while we’re distracted, we tend to eat more, which usually leaves us feeling overfull and miserable – not to mention eating more calories than we need. Now, like anything else, it’s harder than it seems and takes time to develop the practice, but here are the steps that I took to get started:
1. I set my intention, and sat down for my meal.
2. I practiced cultivating gratitude before starting to eat – this helps your mind and body to relax and be ready to receive nutrients.
3. Then I checked the clock and took note of the time. To begin with, I aimed for 10 minutes, making sure that I chewed each bite and taking time to breathe, and noting the time when I finished.
4. Each meal, I tried to add another minute onto my time, until I reached 20 minutes.
Each of these techniques for repairing your relationship with food requires both intention and practice. They can also set you up to improve your nutritional habits as you notice how you feel when you eat – but without the guilt, stress, or rebound of dieting.
What does any of this have to do with your high-performance lifestyle? Well, nutrition affects literally every area of wellness, so if you’re dedicated to reclaiming your Elite Self, beginning to transform your relationship with food is the first crucial area to address as it is the catalyst for positive change in all other aspects of your life! When we are feeling good inside, both physiologically and mentally, this feel-good power starts to trickle into our other aspects.
So, I would like to encourage you to choose one of these techniques and start incorporating it into your mealtime routine, and if you’d like some customized guidance to reclaim your high-performance lifestyle, let’s team up!
