Archives May 2020

Are you snacking and nibbling more than you usually would as a way of dealing with the lockdown cabin fever?

I hear you.

Many women have shared how boredom eating has become their way of dealing with the monotony of quarantine fatigue.

‘Automatic pilot’

Often we boredom eat on ‘automatic pilot’ because it’s an old habit that’s been magnified by the uncertainty of lockdown.

The problem is we’re elbow deep in a packet of crisps or a bar of chocolate before we even realise what we’re doing.

Breaking the food trance

There are plenty of things to do to break the boredom – that we could do – that doesn’t involve opening the fridge or biscuit tin.

But at that moment, we forget there are other options.

So today, what I encourage you to do is pop a post-it on your fridge or your desk drawer or the biscuit tin.

This note needs to read:

“Are you really hungry? Or are you bored?”

What this note does is give you the space to be able to see the possibility of doing something else.

It breaks that trance we can fall into when we’re stuck in old unhelpful habits.

Seeing the post-it on the pantry door can be enough to remind us to do something else.

You’re bored.

You’re NOT hungry.

So please, know that you can stop eating when you’re bored.

Prepare for your afternoon zoom meeting, weed the garden, or call your mum.

Eating because you’re bored is a habit.

And like any habit, you can change it.

If you’d like to dive deeper into the habits that prevent you from being your happy shape and size, why not join my free community – Peace With Food – so you can live the joyful life you truly crave?

Are you sabotaging your weight loss by competing with your partner?

Here’s what I mean by that.

You see, I’m a fairly competitive person.

I have to really watch myself; otherwise, everything I do turns into a race or a competition — because that feels fun to me.

Weight loss stumbling block

But it has a major downside when it comes to weight loss.

For example,  when I’m serving up dinner, my competitive side, wants my portions to be as big as my man’s.

Like I win a gold medal if I eat as much as him?!

But, my husband and lockdown partner, is 6 foot something, while I’m 5 foot something.

That’s a big difference!

I get it. We women have been fighting for equal rights for years — but our dinner plates, our serving sizes, is one area that doesn’t serve us to compete.

Being your happy shape and size is all about COLLABORATING with your own body NOT about competing with your partner.

Please start collaborating with your body — and listen to her needs — rather than competing with your partner (or your teenage boys!)

So, lovely, collaboration with your body, not a competition with other people.

If you’d like help to get into a more collaborative relationship with your body, I encourage you to come on over to my Facebook group – Peace With Food.

Something I’ve been asked a lot recently is “are you worried about the coronavirus?”

Worried? Nope.

Mindful? Yes.

Here’s why…

Worry pretends to be useful — but it never is.

Worry causes us to stockpile ridiculous amounts of loo roll.

Worry causes us to sleep terribly, so we reach for sugary foods the next day as a pick-me-up.

Worry causes our bodies to flood with stress hormones which leads to comfort eating.

Worry is a trickster.

It tricks us by pretending to be useful. But it isn’t.

I feel you.

There’s so much going on out there that we could worry about—media articles, politicians, the stock market, job losses—that we can’t control.

Worry distracts us from what we can control.

We need to come back to what you can control.

Like…

choosing how we show up energetically in our lockdown bubble (remember, the children follow our lead)

choosing to savour chocolate (not eat the whole bar)

it’s a choice.

And it starts with recognising when worry is tricking you.

If you’re ready to swap worry with confidence and take control of comfort eating, why not join us in the free Facebook group ‘Peace With Food’.

How often do you judge yourself as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ person based on what you last ate?

I feel you.

It’s something I used to do all the time, and now it a lot from clients.

Moralising in action.

Here’s how it works.

We women, have learned from the diet industry that certain foods equal ‘good’ while other foods equal ‘bad’.

As in, an apple good.

But a mars bar, bed, terrible.

Here’s where it gets fascinating.

We women – especially women who’re struggling with their weight- take the nutritional debate another layer deeper without even realising.

For example, when we eat the mars bars, we judge OURSELVES as fundamentally ‘bad’.

We make this enormous moralising, judgemental leap.

OK, so you ate the mars bar…. instead of the apple.

Big whoop – you’re human! Mars bars are yummy.

Here’s the truth I want you to appreciate.

Choosing to eat the less-than-nourishing food, doesn’t make YOU bad.

Not EVER.

So please please please take the moralising and judging of yourself off the menu – and enjoy your food!

Now if you’d like to end the good food vs bad food debate, I encourage you to come on over to my free Facebook group – Peace With Food.