I see it all the time.
People who are interested in healthful eating–even those who consider themselves well-versed in information–still struggle with food and their bodies in one form or another.
Sub-optimal digestion.
Low energy.
Needing to eat frequently, lest you get distractingly hungry, lightheaded, shaky, irritable, etc.
Stubborn weight, or “padding.”
The list goes on.
The struggle may be overwhelming discomfort, or minor but consistent discomfort.
The struggle may have become so normal we’re no longer conscious it’s there. It just becomes a fact of life.
Then we want to know how to do things “right” so we can avoid feeling uncomfortable or cut off from our bodies, or low-energy, or that we don’t like what we see in the mirror.
Here’s the rub: when something is “right,” by default, something else is “wrong.”
When something is “right” and something else is “wrong” you’re setting yourself up to never truly master an understanding and tools that will carry you through whatever situation life throws at you.
Because if you haven’t noticed: life never really exists in the black or white area. Life is all about that gray area.
Mastery isn’t about right and wrong, perfection, self-judgement, punishment, or shame. It’s about…
- self-awareness
- awareness of skillful responses to circumstance (read: your body + daily happenings)
- consciousness about likely effects of these responses
- and choice.
Most of all mastery is about choice.
We tend to want rules so we can judge ourselves, as opposed to using rules as controls (the kind in science experiments) to learn more about how we operate and respond in specific circumstances.
If we use rules in this way, we come out learning how to skillfully break them.
Any nutritional program worth its salt isn’t just about whole foods. It’s about skillfully mastering your body’s triggers. (Few teach about this–so sad!)
Despite what your head knows about healthful eating, can you tell me right now, with 100% confidence that you have skillfully mastered your body’s triggers?
Most importantly, have you done so without self-judgment, punishment, or shame?
Have you done so with compassion, and good reason for compassion?
Yes, compassion. And yes, compassion for yourself.
Why compassion?
Because when you understand why overwhelming uncontrollable compulsions and drives that rule your life, plate, body and mind are not your fault, that they have biological, nutritional, historical, and psychological causes–all intertwined with one another–you can become aware of them when they are happening, without punishing yourself or feeling ashamed, and you can name them.
They have different names: hunger, cravings, stress/emotional eating.
Sometimes they have different triggers. Sometimes they don’t.
Mastery is the awareness and ability to distinguish and name these triggers, the space (otherwise occupied by self-judgment, punishment and shame) to do so, and the empowerment birthed from cultivated skill to turn things around.
Here’s how you can cultivate greater mastery–with compassion:
TOTAL CRAVINGS CLEANSE: Your Ultimate Mind-Body Reboot.
This targeted, yet comprehensive system is the result of 15 years of my own research, struggles, and transformations. It offers a profound, highly personalized experience that guides you to true mastery of your plate, body, mind, and life.
No rigidity. Loads of flexibility, insight, and flavor.
I empower you with an arsenal of tools so you can learn how to skillfully use food, and mind-body practices to get the sustainable results you want.
Food is one of the strongest forces that shapes your experience of ease, pleasure, well-being, and in-the-drivers-seat-control in your body.
Learn how to use food the exciting, smart, skillful, delicious way with TOTAL CRAVINGS CLEANSE.
And learn how to combine food with its partner in crime: mind-body practices.
Check out a behind-the-scenes look inside TOTAL CRAVINGS CLEANSE: click here (keep scrolling once you get to the page.)
Really got a lot out of this post? I empower you with even more provocative, taboo–and delicious–nutrition and lifestyle guidance in my premium training program, TOTAL CRAVINGS CLEANSE: Your Ultimate Mind-Body Reboot. Learn more about it here.
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