
When listening to the body is not enough
We are encouraged to listen to our body and to trust our intuition when it comes to choosing food and making big decisions in life.
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We are encouraged to listen to our body and to trust our intuition when it comes to choosing food and making big decisions in life.
I know that most of you haven’t touched fast food in years but we still have family members or friends who do it. Whether we like it or not, we grow as a society, not just as an individual. The health and mental clarity of those around has a direct impact on our well-being and happiness.
We are continuing our Happy Belly interview series with my favorite wellness experts, chefs, health coaches, and ayurveda experts.
Interview with Cate Stillman of Yoga Healer
We tend to idealize people, theories, and traditions and try to copy them to our life. This happens with ayurveda a lot. Breaking tradition is looked down upon.
A few days ago I had an article published on Mind Body Green about seven different holiday foods that can cause bloating, constipation and fatigue. I am talking apple pie a la Mode, pork roast with potatoes, cheesecake with fruit and other favorites.
This time of the year magazines and health websites are filled with advice on how to ‘stay trim during the holidays‘ or ‘how to lose belly fat during the party season‘. Basically, how not to let your body get you into trouble, think extra weight, bloating, hangover.
What do you think would happen if you gave up your rules around food? What if you ate what you wanted, when you wanted, as much as you wanted and exercised also only when you felt like it? Do you think you would turn into a fat immobile pumpkin? Would you be brave enough to ever see what would actually happen?
You probably know it first hand if you ever ate too much food or kept snacking all day to stuff away boredom or fatigue. Putting too much food in the stomach or consuming hard to imagine and digest food combinations (which often happens during binge eating) overtaxes our digestion even if it is healthy.
Many women come to work with me around their issues with food: emotional eating; binge eating that leads to fatigue, digestive problems, and weight gain; avoiding certain foods because they don’t trust themselves with it; fear of food or addiction to food.
Bingeing, overeating, eating too much bread and pasta, not exercising, drinking, smoking, engaging in self-hate rants… Whatever it is for you, once we identify the behavior we want to change, we aim to go from 0 to 100 in one day. From bingeing every night to never doing it again. From not exercising, to exercising for an hour 5 times a week. From not eating veggie to eating only veggies. From overeating to eating perfect portions all the time. You get the picture. We aim for a 180 turn right away. This approach while works for some sets many for a failure and disappointment.