Food Freedom

I love this image from @emilyfonnesbeck_rd #repost

For practically my whole life, every holiday was a reason to “cheat” on my diet. I’d think about what I was going to eat for weeks before the upcoming day.  I’d have special meals planned which usually consisted of things I never allowed myself. If you think about just one year, there’s a holiday like every 4-6 weeks. That’s not even counting vacations, family holidays, or big events with friends. I’d throw all caution to the wind, splurge, then wake up the next day filled with guilt. Before I got “healthy”, it meant I “messed up” & I’d be starting all over again. When I was in the throws of orthorexia, it meant high anxiety & that I’d pay for my excess with hours of workouts, both before & after the splurge. The next day I’d have renewed willpower to “get back to it”, & twice daily weigh-ins to be sure I could get the “holiday/vacation weight” back off within a few days. I was obsessed with it all. Obsessed with proving I had the willpower. Obsessed with feeling superior & obsessed with hearing how “dedicated” I  was. It was exhausting.

Today, I’m enjoying more freedom from food. Holidays, vacations & events don’t have the same effect on me because every day I get to choose what my body tells me it wants to eat & whether I’m feeling like a workout that day. Freedom from food means every day eating isn’t any different from holiday/vacation eating. In fact, I didn’t even have a plan for today except to sleep in & hang out in the AC because it’s so stupid hot outside. It means I don’t experience belly issues from eating “off plan”, I don’t have post-holiday bloat/weight gain, & I definitely don’t experience the weight of guilt.

When you allow yourself to listen to what your body wants, it may tell you it wants donuts or it may tell you it wants veggies – it doesn’t care what day it is. The holiday or vacation doesn’t make the decision, YOU do. It’s a scary endeavor to stop listening to what your diet tells you to do. But when you truly listen to your intuition, you’d be surprised at what it tells you.

Isn’t it time you broke free from the counting, measuring, tracking & obsessing? Vacations, holidays and events with friends and family are meant to be enjoyed and celebrated. Break free!

Happy Independence Day!🇺🇸