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Do you ever look longingly at someone else's dinner, wishing you could eat it? Do you say no to a night out, because you don't want to tempt yourself with the food? Do you ban yourself from certain things? or restrict calories?
The way you think plays a key role in your relationships with your body and food.
When you persistently restrict food, you give your brain stem the notion that food is scarce, and when your brain believes that food is scarce, you can often develop disordered tendencies or habits around food. Whether it's living in fear of those extra calories, or only allowing yourself to eat certain foods, or restricting all day then giving into food binges, these all stem from living with a scarcity mindset and a belief that you don't deserve the abundance, nourishment and freedom that is inherently yours.
Shifting your mindset around food is the first step to overcoming.
Even if food is not physically scarce (meaning we have plenty of it around us), this mental scarcity makes our body feel restricted. And what does our body do in response to restriction? It triggers an increase in appetite and/or cravings. This means when we are around foods that we psychologically perceive to be scarce (i.e. those foods we consider “bad”, “unhealthy” or “off-limits”) then it is nearly impossible not to overeat or binge.
Shifting your mindset from that of scarcity and restriction to one of unconditional permission and abundance plays a huge role in healing your relationship to food and your body.
When you see all types of food as abundant, plentiful, and allowed – and you keep those foods around you – then eventually you will get to a place where those foods don’t feel as exciting. You get used to having them around, and you no longer find yourself thinking about food or craving certain foods as much, and after a while, you are able to tune in to your body to figure out what you really want to eat.
Imagine how expansive it would feel to know that you are enough and you do not need food to make you feel a certain way.
Shifting your mindset from scarcity to abundance can help you do this. Allowing yourself to believe that anything and everything is available to you without constraints and rules will help you to regain control.
Relaxing into the belief that you can have as much food as you want, whenever you want it, and nothing bad will happen from it can help you focus on the possibility rather than the limitation, and suddenly take food off its pedestal.
HOW TO SHIFT YOUR MINDSET FROM SCARCITY TO ABUNDANCE:
1. Stock foods in your home that you believe to be 'off-limits'
Make a list of all the foods that are most appealing to you. This can be any type of food – which foods are your favourite? Which do you love eating?
Now go through and put a checkmark by the foods you actually eat. Then circle the ones you have been restricting – whether consciously (like on a diet) or subconsciously (through food rules, keeping the food out of your house, etc).
Pick one of those “off-limits” foods that you circled and go buy it and keep it in the house. Give yourself permission to eat it whenever you want to.
Make sure you keep enough of the food around to create a sense of abundance, so you know that it will be there when you want it. Continue to give yourself permission to eat it.
2. Reframe your thoughts about food
Instead of saying (or thinking) that certain foods are bad for you or you shouldn’t have them, try reframing those thoughts:
I’m allowed to have ____ whenever I want.
There’s plenty of food, I can have some later if I want to.
When I’m hungry, I’ll eat again.
The food will be there later if I want to have it then.
3. Affirmations
Affirmations will help you reinforce the abundance mindset and challenge current, flawed belief systems. Here are some sample affirmations: 1) I will always have everything I need. 2) I attract wealth in unlimited quantities. 3) I will always have enough food to fuel my body. 4)The universe always provides for me.
4. Give yourself permission
Give yourself FULL permission to eat any and all foods you want at any given moment, to be imperfect, to rest and find balance. You may find that after allowing yourself foods you’ve restricted in the past that they don’t taste as good as you may have built them up to be in your brain. You may find it’s easier to find balance when you give yourself more flexibility on your plate and in your workouts.
Food is just food, there will always be plenty of it, there is no need to restrict it or force your body to go without it.
So give yourself permission: to eat any and all foods you want at any given moment, to be imperfect, to rest and find balance.
love Charlotte x
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