24th April 2011

There are 3 billion women in the world who don't look like supermodels, and only 8 who do! (Body shop commercial)

Remember your gorgeous too!

Okay so it’s Easter and hopefully you’re enjoying yourself, I know I’m having a well deserved rest and enjoying every moment of it. Some of you are struggling to stay on track because of the sunshine, the holiday, and possibly lots of other reasons. I need you to remember mental health is just as important as physical health. You definitely don’t want to trade your mental welling being by beating yourself up about what you might be thinking are dieting ‘failures’ or exercise ‘failures’ this weekend or any other time.

Think about this for a minute who do you think you treat better – your best friend or your worst enemy? Hopefully that question is a no=brainer, and it’s your best friend. Shame and self-loathing will not make you want to take better care of your body, if you constantly treat yourself badly then your body will suffer. Treat yourself with a little more love, kindness and respect and your body and mind will thank you for it.

Surround yourself with positive people to who appreciate you, don’t spend time with people who say negative things about your body! Do you remember coming home crying from school because someone said something mean to you, hopefully your mom told you that people who say nasty things to you aren’t your friend. Well it’s just the same now; a person who constantly has digs at you or makes snide comments is not your friend. Friends are meant to support each other and help build each other up. Someone asking, “Should you be eating that!” is just the grown up version of that kid at school saying, “you’re a poo poo bum!” You don’t need anyone but you to tell you what and when you should be eating!

Take care of you, you wouldn’t let some say nasty things to your best mate, so be your own bestie and don’t let people say these things to you either!

So if you are struggling with staying on track this Easter, maybe make the conscious decision NOT TO! Decide that you’re going to enjoy the weekend, eat intuitively, before having something ask yourself if you really want it, do you fancy something sweet, would just a mouthful be enough and then you’d be satisfied. Don’t opt for the salad because you think you should, choose it because you’re craving something fresh and light so that you can enjoy the sweetness of the pudding later.

If you’re panicking now and thinking but if I give myself permission to eat anything I want even for just the weekend I’ll do loads of damage because I want to eat everything! Maybe the best way to stop feeling as if you’re going to try and eat everything is to actually go ahead and try to eat everything Because the first thing you’ll realise is that you can’t. And the next thing you’ll realise is that you don’t really want to. And once you get to that point, you might actually have a chance of understanding your own internal hunger signals and start to eat as and when you’re hungry rather than because you can’t or because everyone else it.

So enjoy your Easter whether your egg has a yolk or is made of chocolate . xx