Life is all about balance and I believe that food should not only provide us with vitamins, minerals and boundless energy, occasionally it is okay if it provides us with a big silly smile too! I firmly believe that guilt and shame have no place in our lives, and they definitely don’t belong in the kitchen. As long as it is vegan it is all good!
I’m sure you have heard a friend or a family member beat themselves up about eating a second slice of cake, or maybe you have even done it to yourself. It breaks my heart when I hear people, mostly women, say that they’ve been ‘bad’ or that they feel ‘guilty’ or they should be ‘ashamed’, all because of food!
I want us all to be able to get back to a healthy, happy relationship with our food by realizing that how much or how little we eat does not have any impact on whether we are a good person or not. Food is just food and that is something we always seem to forget.
Becoming a healthy eater isn’t about counting calories, in fact, I don’t believe in counting calories at all. I think the whole notion is absurd and making something simple way too complicated. Our bodies are amazingly well equipped to tell us all the information about food that we could ever need…we just have to learn how to listen.
I believe in intuitive eating, stripping away all of the emotional baggage and loving yourself and trusting yourself enough to listen to what your body is saying. When we are hungry, and I mean really hungry, not just bored or angry or sad or happy, but really and truly hungry, we should eat. And when we are not hungry, we shouldn’t eat! So simple and yet so revolutionary.
Once all of the crippling doubts and nagging insecurities are pulled away we can finally treat food like what it is…just food! And once we reach that point, once we have moved beyond viewing food as our biggest enemy or our best friend, and are content in the knowledge that we are not defined by how much we eat, but by who we are, we can recognize what our body really wants. And more often than not we find that what we are really craving isn’t another bag of chips or pint of ice cream, but is actually a bowl of lentils and greens, or maybe a platter of fresh strawberries and oranges.
I am vegan for the animals, but I eat healthy (most of the time) for me! I find that eating whole, minimally processed foods, a large portion of it raw, makes me feel happy and joyful, and the amazing amount of energy I get just can’t be described – you’ve got to try it to believe it!
We all have to find a style that works for us, and it won’t always be the same. Every day the body needs something different and throughout our lives there will always be ups and downs. But as long as we listen and try to make the best choices for our bodies and our minds, and are as forgiving of ourselves as we would be to a best friend, we will definitely be on the right track!