It seems that society is truly divided when it comes to belief and truth. It’s as if there must absolutely be a clear demarcation between what is ‘real’ and what isn’t, but who decides what’s true? At the end of the day, it really comes down to the individual’s mindset and while this separation is necessary in some instances, it can also be isolating and restrictive. When it comes to food and wellbeing, one thing is for sure: everyone is simply trying to find their way amidst a heavy fog of unsolicited opinion and diet culture.
One of the things I’ve noticed in the wellness community is that when people find what works for them, they automatically assume it will work for everyone else, so they’ll go on their social media channels, share their anecdotal experience, and attempt to convince others to take a similar path. While we’re fed conflicting views, the only thing that matters is our own perception and we also have to take bio-individuality into account. There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.
The healing paradox is something we’re all too familiar with. We expect the status quo to heal what we think might be broken when in reality it could be making things worse, or causing discomfort while doing nothing whatsoever. A lot of this work is internal and requires approval from our innermost essence.
While we aren’t broken, it’s understandable to want to change something about ourselves and improve from it. Healing doesn’t come from scratching the surface though. It comes from digging deep and doing internal work. Healing might genuinely seem like more work, but it’s more effortless than convincing ourselves that what has worked for others must work for us too.
The law of attraction works for everything in our universe and that includes healing. Whether it’s physical, emotional, or mental, it all comes down to belief. What we think is good for us will be good for us, and vice versa. It truly has nothing to do with the external world, but everything to do with our inner world.
The majority of so-called healing stems from a space of restriction and in my opinion, nothing good comes from restriction. Freedom, on the other hand, is a space of trust and abundance. Those are the types of vibrations that shift the undertones of our energetic bodies, thus enabling us to attract more of the good in our lives.
Food freedom has been one of the best things I have implemented in my life. I’ve dealt with bad body image, disordered eating, and diet culture my entire life. It hurts to say that as a young girl in various stages, I was never a stranger to dieting. I was constantly on a mission to lose weight, control what and how much I’d eat, and morph my body into another. I was constantly in a space of shame and unappreciativeness. I started to realize that the fixation on food and physicality was an external pressure that I didn’t want to deal with any longer.
The world was constantly telling me that if I’d just try one more diet, it’d be the miracle I was seeking. You get exhausted and grow tired of the discomfort and lack of change. There comes a point where you realize that if everything you’ve ever done to change hasn’t led to anything different, maybe it’s time to give it a rest. This goes for everyone who diets. If the hundreds of diets you’ve been on haven’t done anything to make you feel better long-term, why do you still believe dieting is the answer?
Food freedom is when we allow ourselves to eat what we want whenever we want. We don’t require permission to eat certain foods and we don’t label foods as good or bad. Changing the way we perceive and talk about food really makes a difference in the way our body breaks down and uses food. After reading the book, ‘Just Eat It’, I started to learn that we get aligned with wellbeing when we give ourselves unconditional freedom. For me, good and bad foods just don’t exist.
People think that food freedom means letting ourselves go, but do you realize the damage that causes us? We’re inherently telling our intelligent souls that we are not to be trusted and a rampage awaits us as long as we feel free. Food freedom can only be possible when we feel at peace with a body that doesn’t necessarily fit in the health archetype. As long as the goal is body modification, it’ll never work. The goal has to be acceptance and nourishment.
What’s the fear of getting fat about? We hear so many people telling us that their greatest fear is getting bigger, and that just confirms the severe ingrainment of fatphobia in our society. There’s an idealized picture of what health looks like, but we must change that narrative. Health is possible at every size.
Diet culture promises us that we’re only pounds away from fulfillment and that our happiness is tied to the scale. We’re highly intuitive and intelligent. We are well aware that fulfillment is something internal, so why do we seek it externally? Part of this healing process requires us to make unconventional choices in a society that doesn’t support individuality as much as it should.
Start to think of yourself as an advocate for yourself, your livelihood, and all the human beings who’ve experienced the same hurt as you. How can we change the way we navigate through our healing journeys to not only help ourselves, but the collective as well? I’m here to urge you to remove yourself from the box. Question what you’ve been taught and what you’ve chosen to integrate in your life.
Part of healing calls us to place focus on the flaws and cracks, but that endless loop of change can be exhausting. We don’t always have to change, improve, and grow because that’s all effortless and it happens whether you like it or not. That’s why I turned to freedom. I started feeling truly free from the shackles of social norms when I started making choices for myself even when I felt the immense pressure to follow the busy path. Reflect on what is hindering you and reassess how you can face it from a place of you. The only person who knows what’s best for you is you, so block out the noise and tune in.
