Peace

I felt it last week. A lot.

It was the absence of a relentless discourse in my head about food. “Am I hungry? What do I want to eat? Oh, no! That’s not a healthy choice! Maybe I’ll just drink some water. Is it lunch time yet? What will I have? But that’s not really what I want…”

That conversation has been going on in my head since I was six. But now I’m giving myself permission to eat any food I want when I’m hungry. Now I’m taking time to savour the tastes and textures. Now I’m checking in with my body to see how IT likes the food. Now I’m asking “What do you really want?” when I turn to food and I’m not hungry.

That voice in my head is out-of-sync with the way I’m approaching eating most of the time now. It’s lost a lot of its power so it’s showing up less frequently.

The result is peace.

And it is delicious.

Tiny Actions Create Ripples of Joy

I had an egg salad sandwich for lunch the other day.

Normally this wouldn’t be news but I love egg salad sandwiches and this was the first one I had ever made for myself.

My Mom loved these sandwiches too so she made them when I was a kid. I’ve enjoyed the odd one since, when I’ve been in a restaurant or other people have been serving them --especially my sister, who toast the bread – Mmm!. But I’ve never made one for myself.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thought about it. A lot. I tried to cook eggs, but instead splattering my microwave with egg-white-shrapnel. I never quite got it together – thought it wasn’t worth the time. Or maybe I wasn’t worth the time.

But last Saturday,-I pulled down The Joy of Cooking, figured out how long to cook those eggs, boiled and cooled them, made the salad and, with boldness and gusto, enjoyed my egg salad sandwich. It wasn’t just the sandwich that was delicious – it was also the pleasure of creating joy for myself.

Why did it take over thirty years for me to give that simple pleasure to myself? That could be the subject of an entire book. The point is that I honoured myself with a tiny joyful action. It has led to other tiny actions of honouring myself and a cycle of positivity that ripples out into my life and those around me.

What about you? What simple pleasure have you been waiting to enjoy? What is the first thing you need to do to make it happen? Could this be the week you honour yourself by taking that tiny step?

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!

I recently saw a show about a couple who had each lost over 100 pounds. They were planning a party to celebrate their success and renew their marriage vows. Understandably, they wanted to go all-out with clothes to show off their newly-slender bodies, new wedding photos and a celebration dinner.

When they met with a baker to plan the wedding cake, they were offered samples of the options for the cake and frosting. These two were terrified to taste the tiny little slices -- they hadn’t had any cake since they started to lose weight. The looks of terror were almost comical. They finally decided on the flavours, but only nibbled at the cake. They weren’t sure how they would handle the cake at their party.

Can you imagine losing 100 pounds, or even five, and never having a piece of cake? I can’t.

Life is meant to be enjoyed and food – especially cake! – is about enjoyment. We don’t need a giant slab with extra icing to celebrate the moment. We can savour a slice, enjoying the taste, the texture, the delicious sweetness.

For me, weight loss, and healthy eating for life, has to include some joy food, whether it’s cake, nachos or a pina colada. Sure, our bodies need fuel food that’s packed with nutrients. But our hearts and souls seek foods that give us pleasure. Including both kinds of food will help sustain the healthier eating. A good balance is something like 90% fuel food and 10% joy.

In the long-run, we’ll be more successful giving ourselves the joy we seek from food than denying ourselves, only to go on a rampage of sweets.