This Easter Eat The Candy
Happy Easter!🐰
As the holiday gets closer, there will be a lot of “health advice” on controlling your cravings, burning off that holiday meal, or replacing sweets with sugar-free alternatives.
This Easter, I am encouraging you to EAT THE CANDY! Yes, this is a health professional telling you to eat candy. Whatttt?
Why am I encouraging you to have some candy?
Restricting foods leads to bingeing them later. Not allowing yourself to enjoy some candy now often leads to bingeing on loads of candy later. Our brains are wired in that whatever we restrict, we want even more. You fixate on it, and eating some baby carrots will not satisfy you or make your craving go away.
The good news is all foods fit within a healthy lifestyle! Enjoying a balance of nutrient-dense foods AND fun foods is a critical component of healthy eating.
If you feel out of control around food I can relate. One Easter growing up, I ate so many M&M’s I threw up. They were bright pink and purple for Easter and sitting out in candy dishes all over the house. I had tons of other candy that day, but it was the gorging on M&M’s that caused my body to say enough is enough. I remember going over to that candy dish and grabbing handful after handful even after I started feeling sick and sneaking them when my parents told me to stop. Needless to say, I could not stand to eat chocolate M&M’s for years after that.
I was still very young, and this was not my last time bingeing. I wasn’t aware of bingeing; all I knew was I couldn’t control myself around certain foods. Most binges didn’t lead to extreme physical sickness, but there was always emotional and mental stress.
Whenever there was a holiday or event with delicious desserts, I felt the need to binge. As I grew and developed a passion for fitness and athletics, I fell into diet culture. I pitted foods against each other under the terms “good, healthy, and clean” VS “bad, unhealthy, and processed.” The constant food restriction would lead to binge eating or “cheat days,” as they’re often labeled in the fitness world. After feeling out of control by a binge, it was back to a diet of strict food rules always under the disguise of “health.”
The thing about restriction is it’s super sneaky. Diet culture is such a prevalent narrative in our society. You can say you’re not on a diet but just eating healthy. However, if every time you go to eat a sweet, you think, “I shouldn’t be eating this, I should have an apple instead, or this is a bad choice,” then a restriction mindset is still driving your decisions.
My entire goal of being a health coach is to help people feel like their best selves. However, I realized that while I might know a lot about health and nutrition, I did not have true food freedom. Over this last year, I have learned so much about intuitive eating and body positivity. It takes time to unlearn years of internalized lies from diet culture. It’s a slow process with many ups and downs and one I’m still working on. However, fighting for food freedom has been so worth it!
This last Christmas was the first holiday I can remember where I honestly didn’t binge. I didn’t cram in all the cookies I could just because they were out. I didn’t feel any guilt or negative emotions when I did eat. This isn’t to say I didn’t eat any sweets. In fact, it was the opposite! But this time was different. Why? For starters, I enjoyed them more because when I wanted one, I ate one. I finally came to the understanding that I could have a treat whenever I wanted without it being a “cheat day.” This was incredibly freeing!! When I wasn’t physically restricting myself from eating those foods or mentally punishing myself for being “bad” or “unhealthy,” I was able to eat, enjoy, and move on.
If you feel like you’re stuck in the restrict-binge diet culture cycle or have no control over food, I am here for you. In fact, I was you! It is a lot of hard work of unlearning, but it is possible and so worth it!
If you are looking for resources, I encourage you to check out:
Marissa Kai @binge.nutritionist for more on binge eating disorder.
Tiffany Ima’s @tiffanyima work on body confidence and ED recovery.
Barb Puzanovova @nondiettrainer for a non-diet approach and joyful movement.
Deanna Wolfe’s @dietitiandeanna information on food freedom.
If you want to take action, I’d love to help you get started with a free 1:1 coaching session. In this no-pressure call, we work together to create actionable steps toward living your best life! Message me here to schedule today!
