An Ayurvedic diet can help with food anxiety
“What should I eat?”
I hear this question all the time! Many of us struggle with food anxiety. What should I eat? Is this food or that food good for me?
An Ayurvedic diet can help us determine what foods are best for us and manage food anxiety.
Another question is: “Why can’t I eat what I used to be able to eat?”
What we want is to be able to eat everything we want to eat without suffering from the consequences!
Is this possible?
At different times in our lives we get different things from the food we eat, and therefore metabolize food differently. When we’re children, food fosters physical and mental growth. When we’re young adults, food gives us the energy we need to accomplish things; to give birth to children or businesses. Later in life, as our metabolism slows down as well as our drive also slows down, we feel called towards acts of selflessness, simplicity and service, we don’t really need to eat as much as we have in the past.
An Ayurvedic diet can help with food anxiety because it adapts not only to the individual, but also to the individual’s time of life.
Sometimes, our food anxiety reflects our anxiety for change
A client recently told me that changing her diet felt like a loss. What we eat or what we crave is connected to memories of good and fun times, times when we received love and affection, as well as times we spent with people we love who are no longer here.
For example, catfish with corn grits always bring me back memories of Sunday breakfast with my dad coming home from church.
So it seems we resist the change that is bound to happen because we’re afraid of losing who we think we are but also the memories connected with who we were at a point in time.
An Ayurvedic diet can help with food anxiety by teaching us how to nourish ourselves properly and improve our digestion.
Negative thoughts create more food anxiety
Thinking that we shouldn’t eat certain foods creates food anxiety as well!
Oftentimes, we beat ourselves up for eating the food we eat, which not only makes it more difficult to digest but also never works. The more we “have” to stop doing something, the more we want to do it!
Right?
The more we resist the way something is, the more it persists.
Can you see?
Has using self-judgement and flagellation ever really worked?
It has never worked for me! Each time I end up rebelling, and finding all kinds of excuses why I need to give in to my craving! Negative will power creates more food anxiety not less!
But then if it doesn’t work, why use negative willpower? That’s because making ourselves wrong is ingrained within us.
“I’m not enough…” “I’m too…” “I should…” (add your story).
An Ayurvedic diet can help with food anxiety when we understand why we crave the foods we crave
Ayurveda is based on the premise that “we’re ok”, that there’s nothing wrong with us. There’s nothing wrong with us for craving foods that connect us to fond memories and experiences; there’s nothing wrong with us for craving certain foods when our emotions are high
I know right now you’re suspicious. You’re wondering… if you make the habit you want to get rid of okay, will you ever get rid of it?
I’m not asking you to make the habit okay. I’m asking you to make YOU okay, and to stop beating yourself up. Start being your greatest supporter, and have your own back. How can you be strong in the world if you don’t have your own back?!
In the meantime, enjoy Oletta Adams beautiful live performance of the iconic song, Everything Must Change
