Food Restriction is Out: Food Freedom is In
When you think about weight loss, it’s easy to assume you have to restrict yourself. You think that you have to go on a “diet”, cut out everything you love, and never touch a slice of cake or a donut again. If you find yourself constantly trying to restrict yourself from the foods you love only to binge eat later, you’re in the right spot to unlearn this toxic mindset so that you can actually enjoy yourself during your health journey and still see weight loss results.
In this blog post, I’m sharing my 4 “ingredients” to the “recipe” for food freedom which helped me release 100 pounds. I’ll be covering:
Intuitive Eating
Balance & Moderation
You Are What You Eat
Incorporate Healthy Alternatives
Intuitive Eating
My life changed once I realized that I can still eat what I want but more intuitively. I started paying attention to what foods actually made me feel more energized, versus the foods that made me feel lazy, tired, bloated, and inflamed. Instead of just shoving food in my mouth, I asked myself, “How will this make me feel?” which helped me develop awareness for what foods made me feel most confident.
Having a strong awareness of what foods my body accepted versus rejected helped me refine my diet and only desire to eat the foods that made me feel my best. To have food freedom and feel free in your body, it’s so important to pay attention to the foods that make you feel good. I encourage you to start listening to how you feel after your meals and eat more of the foods that make you feel your most confident self. For a deeper dive into intuitive eating, check out my blog post, “How to Intuitively Eat.”
Balance & Moderation
Another “ingredient” to food freedom is understanding the importance of balance and moderation. I learned that I can still eat what I want and that I didn’t have to say “no” to the pizza my friends were having. I realized that there are no cheat meals because what fun is life if you beat yourself up over having a treat? It wasn’t till the moment I stopped obsessing over every single ingredient or calorie I was consuming till I saw results.
Being obsessive and restricting yourself from your cravings only makes you desire what you think you can’t have. The cravings grow and overtake you later on, and that’s when binging comes into play. Practice moderation by having the slice of pizza or the ice cream, but just don’t make that every meal. Follow the 80/20 rule–80% is whole foods and the other 20% is things like eating out, or having a treat you don’t usually eat on a regular basis. Realize that it’s all about balance and that there is no such thing as unhealthy foods, it’s just the mindset you have towards what you’re eating.
To change your mindset for good and live the healthy lifestyle of your dreams, grab my Mindset for Healthy Living Workbook.
You Are What You Eat
Contrary to popular beliefs, there’s actually no such thing as unhealthy food. It’s only unhealthy if you label it in your mind as unhealthy first. You are what you eat and you are what you think. If you think “oh this meal is going to make me feel so crappy” or “this is so unhealthy for me” then that energy is what you’re feeding your body. Of course there are certain food that may be more healthy than the other, but what it really comes down to is what we think about the food we consume.
Food is fuel–and it also is a tool for freedom. Therefore we should be thinking of it as such, no matter what we’re eating! Realizing this allows you to feel so free.
Incorporate Healthy Alternatives
Another way to find food freedom is by incorporating healthy alternatives. This is where intuitive eating comes into play. For the foods that you learn make you feel gross and lethargic such as sugar for example, learn there is a healthier ingredient swap that still allows you to enjoy what you’re eating but feel better. Some alternatives to sugar that I started incorporating were maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, and stevia. This didn’t mean that I never allowed myself to eat refined sugar, it just meant incorporating a substitute when I was cooking on my own.
Incorporating healthy alternatives helps you gain freedom in your diet by realizing food can still taste just as good but make you feel even better. For more insight on finding healthy alternatives, check out my blog post, “8 Easy Food Swaps & Healthy Alternatives for Weight Loss.”
Mindset is the number one foundation for having food freedom. My Mindset for Healthy Living Workbook will help you change your mindset to live a healthier lifestyle. Grab your copy now!
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