That guilt marketing....
Tis the season. That season that runs from Thanksgiving through January.
The season for people feeding you insecurities.
Usually it involves these key words and phrases: cheat meal, make up for..., overeating, overindulge, cleanse, and my personal least favorite, detox.
Here's a radical idea: What you eat or don't eat doesn't make you either good or bad.
Here's an even more radical idea: What if you listened to your body? Like actually just listened to it. Like "Hey down there, what's up? We're part of the same big circle of energy, you, me, the brain the body, all one thing, so what do you feel like our fuel for today should be? Got ideas?" Because crazy as that sounds, sit still for a minute and listen, and you'll get an answer.
Do you have any idea how many times a day my body yells "PEANUT BUTTER!" at me? Like too many to count. So you know what I do? I eat a spoonful of peanut butter. Sometimes three times a day.
Most days my body tells me vegetable and lean protein, and a big chunk of bread usually with lots of butter, would keep it happy, so that's what I do.
And some days my body is like, "Lady, it's a nachos and 6 beers kind of day" and honestly who am I to argue? Because I'd be arguing with myself, and that's just an exercise in futility.
Your body wants good fuel to keep it functioning. For some of us that fuel is veggies and lean protein, for some of us that is all protein and no carbs, some people carb load and that's ideal for them, and you know what? All of that is ok. IF that's what your body is telling you. NOT what you're telling it.
Well how can I know what I need if I don't research it and listen to all these experts who are telling me how they made their body look amazing? And who are also trying to sell you something by making you feel bad about yourself..... just saying.
Sit with yourself. Sit. Listen. Maybe start by noting when you've had a day where your body feels exceptional, how did you move that day, how did you eat? Try it again and if you get the same results...hmmmm...maybe you're on a path. Tweak it, change it, learn to listen to it.
Because some days your body is going to go off the rails, because that's what it needs. Some days, you, a rare-steak and potatoes person, are going to have a "I just want to eat strawberries all day and lay in a field of flowers" day. You know why? Probably because you contracted a virus you don't know about yet, but your body knows, and it's trying to fill you with vitamin C and fresh air to fight that sucker early. So listen.
Some days your body is going to say, we are sitting on this couch for the whole day. And if you do that do you know what? You STILL have an amazing body. All day long converting oxygen to carbon dioxide. Literally a biological wonder. A living chemical reactor. Fuck yeah dude, you sit and convert those gases. Rock on.
Guilt over food is not a natural state of being. Guilt over food is a marketing tactic. End of story.
If you sit and listen, your body is telling you the path. It really truly is. It's telling you by your energy levels, and the way you move, by your joy and your enthusiasm and your peace in solitude. It's speaking to you.
But one thing it has never said to you is "Buy that product, that will solve everything." Because it doesn't need a product. It just needs you to listen.
