Healthy Eating: Punishment or Love?

What do your “reward” foods look like?

What kinds of food do you celebrate with?

What foods scream “Fun!” to you?

Maybe… Cake, chocolate, milk and cookies, burger and fries, pizza and beer, wine and chips (Friday night, oh ya!)…?

I have to admit that I’ve very rarely (if ever) met someone who rewards themselves with an apple, or celebrates with a bowl of steamed broccoli.

In fact, do you kind of feel like these natural, plant foods are anti-rewards?

If you do, then I believe that one of the reasons you feel that way can be summed in this phrase (which I’m sure you. like me, have heard (or even said) many times  before):

“No dessert until you eat your vegetables!”

What do you think this does to a kid!?

Well, for me it left a strong impression that dessert is fun and veggies are punishment.

And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one walking around who was programmed this way.  I’m almost sure that you were too.

Will Power vs Love

Then you grew up.

And eventually you wanted to change your ways.

You made a decision to start eating better and get healthier.   So you did something we all do, you tapped into your Will Power.

Here’s an example of what Will Power looks like in action:

You’re offered a piece of cake, and you reeeally want it, but you politely say “no”,  and maybe even add a comment like “I’m trying to stay away from sugar.”

Of course your intentions are good; you’re using your Will Power to stick to your plan.

And Will Power seems like a positive thing.

I mean, people will actually complement you on what amazing Will Power you have when you’re able to turn down tempting foods.

But I’m sorry to tell you, your Will Power isn’t actually a strength, it’s a weakness.

It’s weak because it smacks of deprivation and punishment.

Because of these negative vibes it gives off, Will Power almost never lasts… And when it does, it’s definitely not making you happy.

Instead, I want you to consider a very different approach.

Here’s the same cake example using something I like to call Love:

You’re offered a piece of cake, and although you see it, and it looks delicious, you take a moment to check in with yourself. 

You become consciously aware of your body, and how it feels, and you happen to notice you’re not hungry.  Also, you’re aware of how that cake might make your body feel an hour from now.

So, out of conscious consideration for your own self – aka Love – you say “no”.

Can you see how this “no” feels very different from the “no” in the first example?

It feels feels like self-respect, and a lot more empowered and confident than that deprived “no” that came from sheer Will Power.

You really get the feeling that this “no” really means “no”.

And in fact, you could have even chosen to respond with a very enlightened “yes” in this scenario too.

The answer doesn’t matter, the question does.

When you’re using Will Power, your internal questions might sound like “How many pounds will that add to my thighs?” or “How long will I have to workout to burn off all those calories?”

But when you’re inquiring from a place of Love, your questions will sound more like “Will I get pure enjoyment (i.e. no guilt) out of that?” or “Am I truly, physically hungry, or is another part of me feeling empty?”

As you can see, the first set of questions are kind of, well, shallow.  Whereas the second set of questions come from a deeper, more introspective place.

Learning to eat healthy from a place of Love takes practice, it’s not what you’re used to seeing or hearing.

But when you can get there, it changes everything.

It’s where you can truly have your cake and eat it too.

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So what do you think…  Does healthy eating feel more like punishment or love for you?

Let me know in the comments, and even share your story of how you changed the way you see healthy eating, I’d love to hear it!

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So, I haven’t always been consistent with healthy eating, and I’ve over-indulged on cake (and cookies and chips) on more than one occasion (definitely not out of Love).

But in the past 3 years, I’ve changed my ways.

My consistency and focus around eating, exercise, and just about anything I really want in my life, has gone way up.

And I’ve really learned about the emotions that are going through me when I eat mindlessly, the foods that work (or really don’t work) for my body, and why depriving myself never works.

I’ve learned a lot about me, and how to truly take care of this body I’ve been given.

And this change is in big part thanks to Precision Nutrition.

PN not only helped empower with knowledge of food and nutrition, but they also helped me get right down to the heart of why I had all these not-so-healthy habits around food.

Now I’ve got new habits, and they’ve actually stuck.  That’s because I practice them every day, consistently (hint: that’s the secret to change!)

And because I truly love and believe in what I learned, I became a PN coach.

And I use the same program with my clients that I used myself.

It’s a 12-month, daily program (online but with feedback from me!) where you focus on just one simple habit at time.

And before you know it, you’ve completely changed your relationship with food.  And you’ve even had fun and learned a whole lot along the way.

Ask me if you’d like to know more about the program, I’d love to help.

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Now, as promised, in two weeks I’ll be getting offering my free 10-day Build Up to Spring Challenge.

It begins March 12th and you can sign up right here (go ahead, just click on the flower):

Once you’re all signed up, you’ll get a welcome email from me.

And then beginning on March 12th, you’ll get a new exercise to try.  And you’ll every day after that, for 10 days, you’ll be adding a new exercise to the previous ones…

Building up your fitness every single day!

Have a fantastic week and keep moving forward,

Debbie