Have you ever had an experience where you kept eating and eating and eating then later thought, OMG, I’m soooooooooooo freaking full! Whyyyy did I do this?
I’m guessing if you’ve got a pulse, this is something you’ve experienced..
The thing is, it’s not all that bad (even though I know you think it is). Sometimes we do this and it’s because it’s for a good time – a great experience. We’re in a place we’ve never visited like Italy or California – and food and drink is abundant. We’re amongst friends and family – and it’s a good time – having a great experience is the ultimate goal.
But then there’s that time where we’re alone, maybe sneaking through a drive-through. And we eat until we feel terrible and later feel embarrassed, ashamed, and mostly upset at ourselves for doing yet another stupid out of control eating sesh.
Ultimately, if we eat past fullness and then feel shame afterward we need to ask ourselves why’s it happening? Why do I do the same thing over and over again never knowing why I can’t stop or have more control.
This begs the question does food have a lot of power over you??
This question could be the difference between a life long cycle of overeating which leads to feeling ashamed to completely free of the daily battles we have with ourselves about what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat when not to eat and all the other constant nagging thoughts about how to lose weight.
I’ve faced my obsession with food and overcome it, which means it can be done!
In fact, last spring, I made the decision to remove sugar from my diet and lower my carb consumption. It was because of some very personal reasons and experiences. One of which involves a dear friend getting sick, and my yearly blood test telling me I’m close to having high cholesterol (I’m 38, not a great place to be at such a young age).
I’m happy to say, I’ve kept this going for several months now and will continue this forever.
If I’m honest, I’d say I ’ve waffled between this mentality of – should I ALWAYS do this with no exceptions or breaks? Or should I make exceptions?
The exception I decided was for special occasions and when I’m planning to have a great experience like when I’m traveling, with family/friends, on vacation, holidays etc. And this is because I know it’s not necessarily about the food – it’s about the moment and being rigid with anything in beautiful celebratory moments is not recommended, in my opinion.
A few weeks ago, I considered perhaps I was depriving myself too much and also felt the “special occasions” were creeping into a more regular cadence – making my goal of no/low sugar and no/low carbs a bit spotty.
So I changed gears to having a “cheat day”. A day I could dedicate and avoid the spottiness of special occasions. I felt this would keep me more on track.
This didn’t work for long because I realized is I was seeking out food for the sake of seeking out food – I felt empty.
The reason, I forgot how little food actually means to me. I forgot that it’s not really about food when having a good time. What it’s about is the experience – with friends, family, etc.
My husband and I chatted about it. I told him I thought giving myself a day would be more “healthy” then my occasional splurges.
He said something that inspired me to write about this. He said, “it’s amazing to me the power food has over people”.
Yasssssssssssssssss! That’s so true I thought. People DO put food on a pedestal. And that is EXACTLY what I was doing.
I was giving food some sort of magical power but then feeling empty because the reality is, I wasn’t really missing the food I was missing the experiences.
To say the least, I’ve gone back to chugging along with how I eat (low sugar, low carb) and if the moment strikes me where I want to indulge because it’s for a good time with family and friends I do – with no guilt, not shame (even if I’m full as hell).
What do you think about food? Do you ever give it a lot of power and then realize you’re still not really satisfied?
Consider thinking of food as fuel. And what is actually going to make you happy is those beautiful moments of enjoying food and drink with friends and family. The laughing, joking, sharing – it’s what makes the moment. It’s not the food.
Stop giving food so much power over your happiness and satisfaction in life. Don’t’ expect it to do anything other than keep you alive. If we expect it to do anything else other than this, we will fall into the trap of it having tons of power over us – power over our decision making and our happiness.
Send me a note if you’ve ever experienced any of the above – I’d love to hear about it and help in any way possible.
Xoxo
Melissa