“The path isn’t a straight line; it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths.” ~ Barry H. Gillespie

Let’s say you’ve gone 8 whole days without binging or emotional eating. You’re on a high because maybe this is the longest you’ve ever gone without overeating. Then you have a slip-up. You have two choices when that occurs. To preserve your ego, who wants to judge, shame and condemn you, or nourish your Spirit who wants to know that you are loved, cared for, treated well binge or no binge. This love is unconditional. And unfuckwithable.

Slip-ups are a part of the healing journey. If you’re having a hard time with this statement, understand that it’s hard for the goal-oriented ego to comprehend this truth. The role of the ego is to protect us and it does that best by keeping us the same. And it is vehemently convinced that not judging and condemning you after a binge will kill you. Hence you remain in the same cycle. Which is no way to live, but according to the ego, at least you’re alive.

Healing our relationship with food = is non-linear + Creating a new relationship with the ego. Just like if you tried to relate to family differently this holiday season. Chances are you’re going to at some point get triggered and react to them rather than respond how you would have liked. And that’s okay. Making mistakes the enemy is where we miss an opportunity to leverage our mistake by ending the shame cycle that promotes binges in the first place. If you want to see what I mean, yet you’re not ready to try this out with food. Try to have compassion for yourself the next time you react in a way you’re not proud of rather than condemn yourself. How do you show up differently? When you’re ready try the same technique with food.

Eating For Pleasure…

The thought of “eating for pleasure” used to scare me. I associated it with losing control around food. It took me years to recognize and experience true pleasure with food. I experienced glimpses of it during my recovery from disordered eating but it became a way of living when I learned to finally relax around food.

Maybe you’ve heard that eating should be pleasurable, but all too often it becomes the enemy when we feel out of control with it. Something that was designed to be honored, sacred and delightful becomes a thing to be conquered, subdued and restricted.

I am going to go out on a limb and state that eating is designed to be a pleasurable experience. I’d add, that pleasure is as an essential nutrient in a life that is satisfying, joyful and complete. We are not here to eat food that does not feel pleasurable. We’re also not here to feel guilt and shame when we choose to eat for pleasure. Just like I know we did not come here to suffer and not experience the pleasure of diving into our purpose. This is why I don’t believe in creating food rules that deem certain foods that you might love as much as I love chocolate, “off-limits food”. Rather, I have found that it’s more important to let your body choose what its threshold and tolerance are for foods you want to enjoy. After all, pleasure is only genuinely enjoyable on a sustainable basis as a lifestyle when it is a component of a lifestyle.

Eating for pleasure has taught me the with intention pleasure can be found in pretty much anything. What we can do is experience pleasure in things that we may not have thought to be pleasurable like mindfully washing the dishes, brushing your teeth or grocery shopping.

Mindfulness is the secret sauce to living a pleasurable life. It allows us to reclaim our taste buds because the truth is food manufactures design food to satisfy the chemical “bliss point” in the brain which keeps us longing for overindulgence. But when we tune into the moment and the present experience of eating. We can bypass this and have a more genuine experience with food. One that is balanced, satiating and deeply pleasurable.