Stop Saying This One Word and Start Healing Your Relationship With Food
This one word is ruining your relationship with food
Do you ever just crave chocolate, and so you indulge in some ice cream and feel like you probably shouldn’t have afterward?
Are you ever just super tired and decide to finally indulge in a few extra hours of sleep so you can skip the gym, but you end up feeling like you missed out on an opportunity to get a sweat sesh in?
Do you ever order a burger at dinner with friends and decide not to indulge in the fries, and then you end up feeling unsatisfied with your side salad?
I’m not sure if you’re catching my drift here, but the commonly used word that’s ruining your relationship with food is:
INDULGE!
Just say it a few times out loud - indulge, indulge, indulge.
Now, let’s be real - the word feels GROSS in your mouth! It’s something about that “ulge” that just feels...wrong.
Have you ever said that you “indulged” in something and felt TOTALLY confident about that decision? Have you ever said “indulge” with total pride? Is indulging actually self-care and self-love?
The answer to these questions is: probably not.
That’s because the word indulge inherently carries shame and guilt. It’s a word that means “I probably shouldn’t have, but I did”. It carries secrets and whispers. It feels wrong even though you wanted it to feel right. It feels like a one-time thing instead of a habit.
Notice the difference between these two scenarios:
I went to a birthday party the other night, and I decided to indulge in some of the birthday cake!
...or…
I went to a birthday party the other night, and I decided to have some of the birthday cake!
In the former sentence, it feels like the speaker wants to continue by saying “...oops! I know I didn’t neeeeed it, but it just looked so good!”.
In the latter sentence, it feels like a complete thought. There’s no need to justify or explain said birthday cake because it simply is what it is - cake!
By replacing this one word in your vocabulary, you will instantly start to heal your relationship with these “naughty” or “guilty” foods so that you can embrace your love for them without the shame or feeling like you’ve messed up and done something wrong.
Ultimately, self-care is the act of taking care of yourself with love - eating ice cream can be self-care; sleeping in can be self-care; enjoying french fries can be self-care; choosing the salad instead can be self-care too. These forms of self-care are your birthright, not something that you get to “indulge” in from time to time when you really need it.
What matters most is that the decision to ENJOY that food/sleep/shopping spree comes from a place of love and abundance instead of fear and lack.