Finding equilibrium in your dietary habits may appear to be a vague concept—what exactly does balance entail when it comes to food?
While balance will differ for each person at every meal, there is a crucial insight to grasp about achieving and sustaining balance, and this is what I’m discussing in this video.
The Range of Eating Patterns
Visualize a range.
At one end of the range, we have the rigid mindset of strict diets, plans, and food regulations that feel confining and necessitate self-regulation. This is the point where you consume “exceptionally healthy” foods and avoid all “unhealthy” foods.
At the opposite end of the range is disregarding your nutritional requirements.
Occasionally, this may involve consuming anything you desire, whenever you desire. This commonly occurs when an individual believes that the ideal way to achieve balance is by never rejecting foods they previously deemed “off-limits” or “unhealthy.”
It can also involve failing to pay attention to guaranteeing that you obtain a variety of nutrients or not feeling confident about understanding what your body requires for nourishment without adhering to a particular diet.
If you simply abandon the diets without also learning how to concentrate on your nutritional necessities in a more encouraging and sustainable manner, you may eventually feel unwell, deviate from your well-nourished weight, or your physical well-being may suffer. And all of these factors may lead you to feel drawn back to desiring to go on a diet, which propels you right back into the opposite end of the range.
You must nourish your body well in order to simply feel your best and also to care for your health and wellbeing.
Remember, nutrition is the impetus for all facets of our health and it’s what enables us to relish and partake in life. You deserve to find a way of nourishing yourself that bolsters you without necessitating you to regulate or constrain yourself.
Characteristics of Balanced Eating
Our aim is to achieve a contented middle ground—balance.
When some people hear contented middle ground, they may assume it involves spending time at one end of the range and then at the other end, vacillating between the two.
An example of this might sound like stating that you’ve been “disciplined” all week, so now you’ll indulge in whatever you desire over the weekend.
Or it could be the converse, where you mention that you’ve been so “undisciplined” all week, so next week you need to compensate for what you consumed and eat very healthily.
However, this is not truly balanced. It involves oscillating between two extreme states.
This not only fails to support your wellbeing, but it also doesn’t provide you with a sensation of ease, tranquility, and pleasure with food, which is crucial.
Rather than alternating between the two extremes, balance genuinely involves hovering directly in the center of the range with some compromise on a daily basis.
This is where you make very deliberate decisions that enable you to nourish yourself well without needing to restrict or regulate yourself, and also have the freedom to relish foods you like without disregarding your nutritional requirements.
Balance can take many shapes and may differ for each individual, every day, at each meal!
This may entail savoring a slice of pizza with a side salad.
It may involve opting to have dessert one evening because you genuinely desire it, you have your favorite dessert available, and you have provided your body with the nourishment it needs.
It may entail choosing to create a more nourishing rendition of your preferred comfort food so that you can integrate more whole foods into your day while also transforming it into a truly enjoyable meal.
The objective of achieving balance with your dietary choices is to bring mindfulness to what you want and need, and make a conscious decision that assists in keeping you in the contented middle ground—regardless of how it may manifest.
This balance enables you to acknowledge your desires and requirements, develop confidence in your capacity to make the best decision for yourself, and experience considerably more ease and tranquility around food so that it no longer serves as a source of anxiety or occupies your mental energy.
Finding and Upholding Balance
In order to discover this balance and remain in this contented middle ground rather than oscillating between two extremes, you need to cultivate new, more encouraging habits and mindsets that enable you to hover in this middle, balanced state in the long term.
If you’re interested in learning about these habits, sign up for our complimentary workshop. In it, I divulge the three crucial pillars to concentrate on in order to regain balance in the way you nourish yourself. You’ll walk away knowing what those pillars are and why they’re so crucial if you wish to attain this balance in your dietary habits, providing you with the flexibility to feel at ease and serene with food for life.
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