In our opinion, what you eat and how you move your body directly reflects the love you have for yourself. When you truly know and love your Self beyond what the eyes can see, you will want to eat nutritious foods and you will crave exercise!
I (Amanda) had a very unhealthy relationship with food for many years. I restricted, counted, ate too little, and ate too much, all while hating myself for doing it, and so desperately wanting to stop. (Side note: If anyone is interested to hear more about this, just let us know. I would be happy to devote an entire post or two to it.)
The point of this article however, is not about me. :) So back to the topic we go…
Source: art.1stdibs.com via Rewild Your Life on Pinterest
Eating past when you are full, not eating at all, restricting yourself and intense dieting is not love, thats suffering and pain. I truly believe that when you deeply love yourself, you will naturally gravitate towards healthy and nutritious foods that heal your body and give you ENERGY! You wont have to even think about it. You will eat what satisfies you and stop when you are full, because why waste one moment in discomfort?
And then there is the fitness part. Again, when you love who you are beyond the physical, your body will crave exercise. Exercise is a way to reward the body with strength and endorphins. It is NOT supposed to be punishment for what what you have eaten or a way of hating yourself.
If you are interested in reading more about food and love, I recommend this book here!
Rather than going on a food diet, lets go on a diet from negative self-talk.
Rather than jumping into an extreme exercise routine for punishment, lets jump into an extreme exercise routine for the mind such as meditation and/or affirmations (101 of them here!). In todays world, it seems that people focus more on dropping weight, than dropping the mental patterns that actually cause it in the first place! Meditation has helped me more than any other strategy!
If you find yourself at war with your body and/or with food, here are two exercises that I highly recommend:
1. Sit down with a piece of paper and a pen (no computer here), and make a long list of all the things you LOVE about yourself. Pin it on your fridge, bathroom mirror or above your desk.
2. Find an old picture of yourself when you were a kid. Look at that picture and ask yourself this question: Would I treat this little girl/boy the way I sometimes treat myself? The first time I did this simple exercise I cried. I would NEVER treat that little girl the way I was treating myself at the time. I now have that same picture pinned on my whiteboard where I see it everyday to remind myself to be kind.
Oh yea…. and of course meditation always helps :)
I know I have said this before, but it is worth repeating: You can never beat yourself up enough to feel better. Period.
Release yourself from the past. Forgive and practice some good ol’ fashion self love everyday, and your relationship with food and fitness will effortlessly come into balance.
We are here to help! If you have any questions, comments and/or ideas please let us know below or send us an email!
love love love xoxox
I LOVE this post. I TOTALLY agree. I used to be that way. It was not until I really found myself and found comfort in being MYSELF did exercise and eating healthy came naturally. So glad I read this. “what you eat and how you move your body directly reflects the love you have for yourself. When you truly know and love your Self beyond what the eyes can see, you will want to eat nutritious foods and you will crave exercise!” So True! It is hard especially in a society that woud deem you as being cocky if you love yourself. It is not about having a big ego or thinking you are “all that”, but loving who you are and how God made you. There is nothing at all wrong with that. Thanks for sharing and I would love to hear more about your story.
Hey Amber! So glad you liked this! I have only recently started talking about it, so I am glad people can relate :)