Challenge the Food Police (Principle #4)
When you challenge the food police you say NO! to the messages that tell you that you should base your food selections on their calorie content.
NO! to the friends/family/influencers/Drs. who tell you to avoid a particular food or group of foods.
NO! to the voices that tell you that one food is “good” or “healthy” and another is “bad” or “junk.”
NO! to the voices that refer to foods as “guilty pleasures” or “guilt-free” as if food has some kind of moral value.
The voices that when you “get off track”, indict and shame you for your food or portion size choices.
It’s the voices that tell you that you are ALLOWED to “cheat” now and then or have a weekly “cheat” meal/day. As if eating a cookie or having pizza is somehow naughty.
It’s even the tricky little voices that appear on the surface to be compassionate, encouraging, and nurturing. “Oh, it’s ok that you got off track this weekend when you had pizza and ice cream. You can always get back on the right track (or do better) on Monday!”
It’s not that there aren’t benefits to eating and prioritizing whole, minimally processed, nutrient-dense foods. There absolutely are! Our bodies tend to function well on these kinds of foods.
It comes back to making peace with food (principle 3) and unconditional permission to eat.
It’s choosing foods based on what your whole body needs … not just physically … but emotionally and psychologically.
Health is not just about the physical body. There are emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual facets just to name a few. Each face is nurtured in different ways and we find that each one is also tightly tied to all the other facets.
Sometimes a few cookies are exactly what your body needs regardless of what day it is or how much you’ve had to eat already.
Rather than listening to the NO! messages of the food police, instead, work on tuning in to the cues and signals your body is amazingly great at providing when developed.
Think more in terms of saying YES! to what your body needs and what makes it feel and function well.
We tend to end up healthier when we challenge the food police and use this approach.
