We often find ourselves overwhelmed by worry—specifically concerning our food choices and their impact on our well-being. The stress and anxiety associated with nutrition can be a real downer… and block us from cultivating a healthy relationship with food. I'm here to tell you that you can let go of that ugly burden. You can be free from worry when it comes to nutrition. And guess what!?!? Just by letting that stress dissolve, you’ll open your body to new avenues… more energy, better balance, and probably even lose those pesky pounds that seem to cling on! You can get healthy without worry. That is the beauty of Open Eating. It lets you set all the confusion and worry down and truly embrace nutritional wellness.
Breaking Up with WORRY
Worry is pervasive in our lives, especially when it comes to topics like finances, relationships, jobs, children, and even health—the latter being closely tied to nutrition. Worry is really a manifestation of us trying to solve things we actually cannot control. That's why it's all about those big things- finances, jobs, children, health, relationships… let's be honest- worry is like a bad relationship- A nagging extra partner that keeps reminding us that we can't wrap our lives around these big, hairy aspects of our lives and feel like we have it all figured out. No matter how many times we try to make worry go away, the gaps in solving these important things remain. If you solve one, another pops up. It's exhausting!!!
The fact is...life is meant to have challenges in big areas. We can't control them all at once. So, we need to tell the little voice in our head that is constantly screaming for us to accomplish something that is not possible... to go away. We don't need it. We need to spend small amounts of our mind energy, solving smaller problems, that we CAN accomplish. And baby-stepping our way through those will bring more peace for the bigger picture issues.
We see the same pattern in our eating. Our worries make the problem, and the confusion about the problem bigger and more unmanageable. We determine that regular foods, part of a regular healthy diet, are "bad" or we fear our emotional relationship with food and end up only "allowing" certain foods or dietary patterns, which often lead us into restrictive eating habits devoid of balance and nutrition.
Open Eating presents an escape plan from these thinking traps through mindful awareness and trusting our body's intuition.
1. The 1st Trap: Overgeneralization
The trap of overgeneralization often leads us to create sweeping negative beliefs about ourselves based on limited information. We get ideas in our head that "always" eating salads is the best thing to do, or "never" varying from THE diet is the only way to succeed. How often do you find yourself thinking or talking in 'absolutes'? Terms like "good", "bad", "always", "never", "the best", and "the worst" tend to get in our thoughts and drive worry. Life is meant to be somewhere in the MIDDLE of those spectrums. So challenge those thought processes. Listening to your body, your heart, and your mind... determine where on the spectrum you are now, and what one tiny step you want to take toward something "better" instead of "the best" or let yourself have something that isn't "the worst". Instead of basing our self-worth on comparing ourselves to others' dramatic definitions and perspectives, or struggling to match unfounded dietary expectations that worked for 'someone' but are being exploited as a guarantee for 'everyone', take that precious time and focus on understanding YOUR bodies' individual needs.
2. The 2nd Trap: Magnifying and Minimizing
The tendency to magnify challenges and minimize progress undermines our confidence in making positive changes toward better nutrition. It's similar to absolutes but really addresses our perspective. Sometimes we start our day all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with our AWESOME to-do list of 15 things that you KNOW you'll have time for. At the end of the day, you've done 3. A friend calls to ask how your day was and you say... "Ugh, I got NOTHING done..." You might even get 11 of them done, and say you got nothing done, just because your whole list remains incomplete! I've been guilty of that too! We do this when we eat. If we eat a snack that isn't PERFECT by some other person's diet standards, we think we failed. Or we might suffer through the day eating exactly right, feel like crap, and have no energy, but we'll dub it a success? With Open Eating principles, celebrate the small wins instead of fixating on what remains undone. Recognize moments where we are genuinely nourishing our bodies. Find ways to shift your focus towards a balanced perspective, focusing on small steps of success and going in the right direction.
3. The "Worst-Case" Thinking Trap:
Worst-case thinking often amplifies our anxieties and leads us down a pessimistic path, causing stress over food choices and their potential consequences. This is when we think about ALL the possible outcomes and let fear rule our lives. We fear failure, so we don't engage in even the smallest wins. We fear what other people think, so we deny ourselves the opportunity to engage and learn. Instead of fearing the worst, what if we thought about what small WINS could come from TRYING? Open Eating encourages us to challenge worst-case scenarios by considering best-case outcomes and exploring the probability of both. It helps us find a realistic middle ground where we can make informed decisions about our nutrition without excessive worry or fear.
Embracing Open Eating for Nutritional Wellness
Open Eating ensures that we take steps to nurture our bodies while maintaining freedom from rigid diets or extreme restrictions. It allows us to lay the foundation for a healthy relationship with food based on trust, mindfulness, and flexibility.
By listening to our body's signals, such as hunger and fullness cues, we can begin to understand its unique nutritional requirements. With Open Eating, there is room for all foods while making mindful choices that support our long-term health goals. It unites the enjoyment of food with nourishment by focusing on holistic well-being rather than fixating solely on weight or external validation.
Let us embark on this journey together—celebrating openness in eating habits while catering to individual needs—and embrace the joy that comes from listening to our body, and its natural guidance towards nutritional wellness. As you navigate your own path of Open Eating and overcome worry, trust in yourself and your innate ability to make choices that honor your body's unique needs. Remember, true empowerment lies in finding harmony between mind, body, and plate.
Happy October!