YOU ate what! NO, that's bad....... Is it really?

10^th April 2013

If you’re going to regret it – don’t do it!

That was the best piece of advice I’ve ever been given, it was said to me when I was 18 by a friends mom, she was talking about sex but I’ve used that motto in every aspect of my life ever since and it’s served me well.

I see so much guilt in my work and it saddens me, as guilt is such a negative emotion which ultimately leads to a vicious cycle of eating/starving, good foods/bad foods.

I often hear statements like, “I was so bad at the weekend and I’ve been trying to be good ever since”, or “This isn’t going to be good, I had ______ (chocolate or MacDonalds or fill the gap with what you consider to be ‘bad’ food”

All this guilt and pressure to eat ‘good’ foods take away the pleasure of our eating experience and eating is one of the great things in life that we have to do!  Carrots = good, chocolate = bad – who decided that?  Heck I remember times in the past when I’ve felt guilty for having a glass of pure orange juice because it isn’t the ‘whole’ fruit and there are calories in it – I’m so glad my brain doesn’t work that way now and I realise I can eat/drink anything I want to, as long as I find a balance and I’m healthy.

It’s way to easy to get obsessive about it all and this together with constantly feeling guilty will ultimately lead to ‘sod it’ syndrome because you’ll have been craving the ‘bad’ stuff for so long, then you’ll either have a binge or fall off your weight loss wagon completely.

Is your idea of a balanced diet trying to eat ‘good’ after you’ve eaten ‘bad’, if you’re nodding it’s time to change.  Because food isn’t morally good or bad, food isn’t sinful, a doughnut does not conspire to make you fat and a carrot will never knight you!  Ignore foods that have ‘guilt-free’ written on them as all food should be eaten ‘guilt-free’!

I have a weight problem - actually it’s not a problem, a problem isn’t a nice thing and my enjoyment of food is a very nice thing, no I have a challenge to keep my weight at a healthy place because I really do like eating, I could easily overeat most days, or have an extra glass of wine because that’s how I’m wired and also because that’s how my environment is set up, it’s constantly trying to tempt me to have more.  The way I’ve learnt to control this challenge is by giving myself permission to eat/drink anything I fancy, to ensure that what I do eat/drink is delicious and of the highest quality I can afford and most importantly I’ve lost any guilt about eating or drinking because I reckon psychologically the guilt will do you much more damage than the ‘bad’ foods!

Don’t eat porridge because you think it’s a ‘good’ breakfast, eat it because you actually like the taste and it’s likely to keep you satisfied for longer than a bowl of sugar puffs plus the nutritional benefits on your body will be superior.  Don’t eat low calorie bread because it’s a ‘good’ choice, if you want to opt for low calorie bread do it because that works for you, it’s saving you from ProPointing your bread or because it means you can have 4 slices instead of 2 slices of another bread so it looks more on your plate.  When you choose what to eat lose the question “is this good or bad?”, think of a better question to ask such as, “What do I fancy to eat?” or “What will I enjoy eating today?”, or “What food will give me some energy today as I need it?”

Stressing yourself out about your weight loss, feeling guilty about the foods you eat, punishing yourself with a day of zero soup to counteract the KFC you ate is totally counterproductive, you’re more like to find that stress will ultimately cause you to gain weight not lose it.

So today, let’s ditch the guilt and enjoy everything you eat, Eat Gorgeous don’t Eat Guilty. 

Have a good one. xx