Alice Vol. 5 No. 1

“ Accepting all food means that you
will happily allow yourself to enjoy
a dinner (and dessert!) out with your
friends, but you can still honor your
body with daily nutrition.
”
2. Food freedom
Make peace with food. All types of food. From
lettuce to brownies, food IS your friend. The more
we mentally label good versus bad foods, the messier
this process gets. Remember the idea of an adult
telling you not to take the cookie from the cookie
jar as a kid? Which always led to you wanting the
cookie even more? The same subconscious mindset
applies now. If you label food with “good” or “bad”
titles, you’re left craving whatever food you tried to
cut out of your life.
Don’t get me wrong here. Food is the fuel our
bodies need to run on a daily basis. And yes, we
need good fuel to operate at our best. We should
try to pick the most nutritious option available
because it’s important to nourish ourselves. But IT
IS OKAY to have all food types. Enjoy your favorite
treat. Shamelessly have that dessert. Just do it in
moderation. If you create a proper balance, it will be
absolutely okay. Accepting all food means that you
will happily allow yourself to enjoy a dinner (and
dessert!) out with your friends, but you can still
honor your body with daily nutrition.
When you decide to make a lifestyle change
with food, it’s a lifelong journey. That means that
eating the tasty treat will not ruin you because
your journey isn’t over. You don’t have an end goal
because you are pursuing a healthy life each day.
This is all about rebuilding a broken relationship
with food. Part of a breakup is letting go, so girl, let
go of that food guilt. When this becomes a lifestyle,
one cheat day will not ruin you. Learn about
nutrition, how to fuel your body and slowly modify
those steps into your daily life. Allow yourself to
have freedom in your journey to a healthy lifestyle.
3. How to actually make it last.
Let’s talk sustainability. If you want to see a lifestyle
change, not just for an alleged one-week diet or 30-day
challenge; but you want to see lasting results and have
authentic improvement in your body, there needs to be a
change that you genuinely want to maintain.
Start off with committing to small changes in your
current diet. Ask yourself how you can make a meal in
front of you just a little better. Can you add some more
greens? Maybe some healthy fats or smart carbs? Take
what you’re doing right now and try to incorporate
little improvements. By slowly being consistent in small
changes, you will naturally keep it growing from there.
You can also try meal prepping, which also saves
time in the kitchen during a busy week, or incorporating
better snacks to bring with you to work or class. No
matter how you choose to go about this, commit to those
small steps. Watch what happens over time.
When it comes to cutting out certain foods, like sugar
or processed foods, begin with simply minimizing your
intake amount. This may sound silly, but usually people’s
first reaction is to cut it out of their diet completely
overnight. When you instantly remove something that
is fairly normal in your diet without slowly weaning
your body off of it, chances of cravings and binge eating
reach an all time high. For a sustainable change, slowly
decrease your intake and your body handles the rest.
Next, celebrate the little victories. Embrace your
success of small changes. For long-term changes to
your lifestyle, it takes time. And that waiting game can
be the hardest part, but enjoy the journey — celebrate
it and soak it in! After all, it is about the progress, not
perfection.
4. Your food doesn’t define you. Your
shape doesn’t define you.
When you link morality to food, you’re giving
your freedom away to food. You are not a good person
for eating a salad, nor are you a bad person for eating
cheese fries. Absolutely take the time to celebrate the
positive steps and embrace it, but don’t reflect on them
as increasing or decreasing your worth as an awesome
human being. Food is your fuel, it does not define
character. Don’t punish yourself for eating that slice
of cake. Celebrating a healthy relationship with food
doesn’t involve you telling yourself that you are good for
eating veggies for your afternoon snack. It means taking
the time to celebrate that you made a positive choice
and you are going about it in a healthy way. It means
to feel GOOD about honoring your body and loving who
you are. It does not mean depriving or reprimanding
yourself. This is meant to be a fun journey to a healthier
lifestyle through less dieting and more living!
You are going to get busy, tired or maybe just have
a really bad day. It’s OKAY to miss that workout or
grab a meal in the drive thru. Life is going to get in the
way sometimes, so have grace with yourself. Have the
patience to roll with it and create balance, not punishing
yourself through food deprivation or negative self-talk.
A huge part of this journey is embracing yourself.
It’s a big step to choose to make these changes for a
healthier life and commit to small steps, including
treating yourself well. Speak positive words to yourself
in a mirror; lift yourself up in your thoughts. The same
way that we’re working on having a healthy relationship
with food- the way you view yourself is just as important.
5. For when it gets hard…
The hardest part about achieving a healthier
lifestyle and making small changes that lead to
long-term results is the waiting; when you’ve been
making the extra effort for a while and you don’t
see or feel results.
Think about it this way: it’s not about WHEN
you get there, but it’s about how you get there-- the
whole process. What would it be like to embrace
the process, celebrate the little victories, and watch
the small changes turn into bigger ones?
Instead of keeping your eyes laser-focused on
the idea of what it looks like to fully achieve your
goal, whether it’s food or fitness, soak in where you
are right now. Fully embrace the fulfillment of your
journey and know that you are moving toward a
healthy transformation.
Whether you’re working on small changes in
your daily diet, truly breaking up with the dieting
mindset, or learning to live out food freedom:
enjoy the moment. When you shift your joy into
the journey, you’ll want to keep it going. And you
will get there.
100 Alice Winter 2020
Alice Winter 2020 101