If you're anything like me, you spend an obnoxious amount of time on Pinterest.
I've had an account for years, but only this past year have I actually gotten involved in it.
It's the perfect place for quotes, affirmations, spirituality inspiration, blog ideas, and of course, health and fitness motivation.
When I was at height of my eating disorder, I was completely invested in looking for ways to stay fit. Whether it was exercises, meal plans, grocery lists, foods to avoid, you name it, I searched for it.
Since entering recovery, I've weeded out the majority of those toxic posts. While I know some pins were genuine, a lot of them only set off triggers within me, so I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
Well, a couple of nights ago, I was scrolling through my Pinterest home page as usual, when this photo showed up (sorry about the grain quality, but I wanted to share the exact photo I found.)
I was disgusted.
Absolutely disgusted.
So, the message here is, if your body is giving you signals you need food, let's ignore that and find something else to distract us. We're probably just lacking self-control over food, right?
I've seen other posts on Pinterest about things to do to stop eating out of boredom and those I completely understand. Sometimes we only eat food because it's available to us or we need something to do with our hands while we watch Netflix. It's simply a habit we've formed. That's not what I'm talking about here.
This post is directing us to find other things to do when we're hungry. Not bored, hungry.
The thing is, if our body is telling us we're hungry, we need to eat. I don't care if you're trying to lose ten pounds. Maybe you're trying to control your eating times or believe that if you get a grasp on your eating habits, everything else will fall in to place. The weight will finally come off or we'll feel the sense of gratification we've longed for.
If you don't feed your body when it asks, you're essentially putting your body in to starvation mode. It's going to freak out.
If your body needs food and you're not providing that, it will stop trusting you. The second you put any food in your body, it will store your meals as fat because it has no idea when you're going to feed it again. It's scared. Food is necessary for daily body functions, to limit that is to limit your potential.
It's difficult to live your best life when you're nothing lethargic and cranky over missed meals.
Dieting does not work. At least not for the long-term.
Sure, you can follow any diet plan you find to its core and try to cut out sugar for the hundredth time, but life happens. While this week you may be 'on track', how about the following week? Let's say your office holds a going away party for a co-worker. There's a huge cake, cookies, chips, and pretty much everything you've avoided.
You give in.
Well, shit.
There goes that diet.
Either you sit there in self-loath, exercise to burn off the calories, or the most common, claim "I'll try again tomorrow."
By that, most usually mean eating less and essentially punishing their body for falling off the wagon.
This is such a warped mindset to have.
The thing about eating is that none of us can avoid it. I'm not diminishing other addictions or obsessions, but all I'm saying is you don't need heroine to survive. You need food.
Food is also such a social event. How many times have you caught up with friends over dinner? Gotten McDonald's at 2am after a fun night out? Bought all the candy at Five Below to bring to the movies with your boyfriend?
Food is more than just fuel. There are countless other factors involved.
Putting yourself in a state where you hate feeling hungry and hate yourself over any 'slip-up' is not a way to live.
I'm not going to push going vegan on you because we get enough wrath for that already, however, the second I went vegan, my relationship with food changed forever.
I eat in abundance now and practically live in the produce section of the grocery store.
I started treating my body as a vessel. I'm only on Earth for this brief period of time and this is the body my spirit was chosen for. I'm learning to accept that more and more each day.
Did I really want to be remembered as the girl who was really good at dieting? What kind of legacy is that?
As long as you eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full, your body will balance itself out. There's no need for these crazy diet plans. The results are brief and once the plan is over, most people tend to gain the weight back.
The second you approach your eating habits as a lifestyle adjustment instead of a formula to lose weight, everything will change.
Eat the right foods and as much as you want of them. No limits.
Also, let yourself have dessert too. I make a non-dairy ice cream sundae once or twice a week when I have a sweet tooth and this has been life-changing.
Sweets used to be my biggest binge food. I could eat an entire carton of ice cream and half of a birthday cake, no problem. So, when I stopped tracking and starting listening intuitively to my body, I let myself have my previously forbidden foods.
I used to have that ice cream sundae every single night when I was fresh into recovery. Now, I don't crave it as much. I know if I don't have it tonight, there's always tomorrow.
The binge-eating mindset is revolved around the fact that you're 'back on track' tomorrow. So, you need to stuff your face with as much as you can fit today since all these trigger foods will be off-limits again. You tell yourself this is the last time, tomorrow will be different.
It won't. Even if you manage enough 'self-control' to starve your body and resist certain foods, eventually, shit hits the fan. Birthday cake will come up. Grease-filled barbecues will occur. Self-control can only last so long.
So please, stop avoiding your hunger. Eat when you're hungry, always.
Your body knows what you need and the second you stop doubting that, you may start to love the person you see in the mirror. You aren't punishing yourself anymore. You're listening to your hunger cues and maybe even moving your body in a way that you love (not cycling for an hour to burn off last night's binge session.)
When these posts come up on your Pinterest board, just laugh.
Laugh at how completely ridiculous it is. Share the post and invite others to laugh too.
If we break the mindset collectively that hunger is a curse, we slowly remove the skinny stigma from society.
Think about it, the reason a lot of people want to lose weight is to look good for others or because we're told there's a certain size we need to be. If we all come together and realize we're all miserable trying to achieve this, the pressure is off.
Who are we trying to impress anymore if we bring our struggles to light?
This is why I feel a need to share my eating disorder story so transparently. It was a rough time in my life and I'm still dealing with the repercussions, but the fact I could use my voice to get at least one person out of their distorted mindset, I know I'm doing the right thing.
Please eat. Don't treat it like a chore. Chew each bite and savor every flavor.
Our world doesn't have to be like this.
Share body-positive posts on social media. Change the stigma around food and health. Skinny does not equal healthy and starvation is never the answer.
Stop settling for the diet culture we've been raised on.
In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
