sagallimore 
So who here likes to eat fun foods?? Um the answer should be yes. Who doesn’t like the occasional domino’s pizza on a Friday night with wine and, of course, ordering Tiff’s Treats afterwards. It’s pure bliss, right? Tell me this a few months back and the response would have been “pizza crust and cheese make you fat and don’t even get me started about the amount of sugar in one of those tiff’s treat cookies” A few months ago, If I were invited to a girls night get together that involved any of these food, my anxiety would blow through the roof. I would make myself eat before so I did not have to feel the anxiousness of deciding whether or not to eat a slice of pizza or indulge in 2 glasses of wine. I ridded the fear by eating “clean” before. I was trapped in the mindset that fun foods were the enemy and I had to avoid them at all costs if I wanted to keep my bod! It wasn’t till I read Intuitive Eating, a fabulously detailed program structured to restore one’s relationship with food and rid society’s oppressive diet culture, that I finally accepted that fun foods help prompt successful recovery. The program recommends making a list of your fun foods. For me, my fun foods were also my fear foods. So, I made my list. It included: Pizza, Chick Fil A, Bagels, Asian Food, Pasta, Burgers, Ice Cream, my beloved Peanut M&Ms, basically everything that wasn’t a salad or greek yogurt:/
What did I do with that List?
Oh yes Queen you bet, every week I challenged myself to eat one of these meals. The first couple of weeks were tough as my body was so accustomed to eating and craving salads that my body didn’t even know what it craved anymore. My cravings and hunger signals had been silenced to only liking foods that felt safe. The first meal was Pei Wei lol I know. I got fried rice, ate the whole thing, and was proud of myself afterwards so that I even added it to my Beyond Beautiful List. It was one small accomplishment but it was big. Every week that went by I kept adding more and more of these foods into my diet and noticed the fear being suppressed every single time I did it. I was reestablishing trust with my body.
What happened to my body?
Now of course, my body gained the weight back that I needed to reestablish my healthy natural weight but along with that came with the freedom of knowing that my fear of food was shrinking. Now, I can say that I have reclaimed those cravings. I have relearned to listen to my body and what it’s hungry for. Last night, I was CRAVING and I mean CRAVING Chick Fil A, so guess what I went and got me some dang Chick Fil A. Every time I am craving one of those meals, I respond to that craving and it has gotten so much easier to where I don’t think twice about what I just ate for dinner. Here’s the big kicker from Intuitive Eating and what I believe truly allowed me to move into this “responding to cravings mentality” so quickly. The concept of responding to the body’s cravings immediately prevents later bingeing on those foods. If we let ourselves have the foods our body is telling us it wants, our bodies will be satisfied and won’t feel the need to binge after a long restriction period. I began to notice that when I responded to my craving of ice cream, I let myself have the ice cream and later didn’t feel the need to eat a whole tub of Halo Top after dinner. Food is meant to be enjoyable in whatever moment you crave it, so I had to remake it enjoyable for myself.
So, if you are struggling with a diet right now and are craving a piece of pizza. Girl go get yourself 2 slices of pizza, ditch the salad, and step into trusting your body that is going to love you for giving it what it was craving. Also pick up the book Intuitive Eating and watch your whole diet mentality change!
Tell me some of your fear/fun foods or anything you want. Contact me at my website!
