How not to let your diet add stress to your life.

Just like everything else in life, there will be ups and downs in the way that you eat.

No human eats perfectly all the time.

But healthy individuals make healthy choices more times than not.

Instead of looking at the way you are currently eating as “good” or “not good”…

Consider how you are eating now… is it how you would eat for the rest of your life?

Choosing to make healthy choices MOST of the time means there will be times that you don’t. That’s normal – and ok!

Feeling stressed because you ate too many carbs or had a big piece of birthday cake won’t help your goals. Either eat the cake or don’t.

When we are stressed, we want to be comforted. That is human nature.

And we often look for external things to take away the “pain” of stress… food, alcohol, smoking, etc. Read the post on cravings here.

Have you ever eaten that big piece of cake or binged on something not-so-healthy and then felt guilty or stressed about it… so then decided that you might as well eat more unhealthy foods?

You comfort yourself with more of the things that stress you out to begin with…

Why?

Because these things can release neurotransmitters in the brain that temporarily make us feel good – at least in the short term (but not in the long term because we are no closer to our weight loss goal).

And since we like immediate gratification and we like to feel good, we want to repeat the behavior… looking for that same “feel good” feeling.

This is why we must learn to manage stress without looking to external things (like food) to comfort us. We must learn not to allow our diet – which is meant to help us long term – add stress to our lives.

This takes intention, work, and time. It doesn’t happen overnight.

This serves as a reminder that wellness is so much more than having a physically healthy body.

Wellness encompasses all of the areas in life that bring joy and peace – and also stress and anxiety.

Wellness also includes your mental health, emotional well-being, and social belonging.

So you may be feeling really good about your physical health but struggling to enjoy your job, which brings stress and unhappiness.

You may be moving up the ladder in your career but feeling isolated or lonely.

You may be planning the wedding of your dreams while dealing with the loss of a loved one.

Life is hard.

And different seasons in life bring different struggles and joys.

It is unrealistic to think that we can balance everything in life well at all times. The scale may constantly feel like it is teetering back and forth or tipping right over to one side.

Learning to recognize and understand our emotions and thoughts can help us cope and enjoy whatever life throws our way.

Choosing to lose weight or get healthy purely for physical reasons will leave you feeling unfulfilled. And it will make the journey long and challenging.

If you have a physical goal – like to lose weight or get stronger – dig deep into why you want to achieve that goal. This deeper motivation will keep you going when life gets hard.

As a certified holistic nutrition practitioner, I recognize that physical health is one piece of the puzzle.  I work with you not only on a personalized nutrition, but also on mindset and emotions around achieving goals and balancing wellness.

Book a 30 minute complimentary discovery call here and find the right wellness path for you.