Cultivating a Healthy Relationship With Your Body

What is your relationship like with your body? Do you love it? Do you hate it? When you think of your body, do you think of the physical appearance or the entirety of what your body does for you?

In today’s society, when people talk about their body the conversation usually revolves around the physical attributes that make up their body i.e. skin, body type, hips, stomach, thighs, arms etc. When listening to the media or even conversations amongst people, there is often frustration about how the body looks as well as how it is letting us down.
What can we do to be in a better relationship with our body? It is no different than if we wanted to build a better relationship with a friend – we need to spend time with it, acknowledge it, appreciate it and take care of it.
So what does this look like? Spending time with ourselves and getting to know our body is important. Do you know what your body needs i.e. what food, supplements, exercise and mind body exercises work for you?

Let’s take food for example. There is so much information written about healthy nutrition. Many “experts” give their opinion about what is best for all people. For me, I have spent thousands of dollars, countless hours reading and following someone else’s advice to achieve the body of my dreams. Has this worked – NO it has not!! It has been an incredibly frustrating journey and one that has not helped me get to where I want to be.
In the past couple of years, things have changed. I have let a lot of the expert advice go. I now spend time learning to listen to my “inner expert”. I have a tremendous amount of knowledge about healthy nutrition. My years as a nurse, nutrition junky and health fanatic have armed me with hundreds of different theories about what I should and should not do. I have taken all of this advice, sifted it through my life experience and come up with what works the best for me.
This process did not change over night. A turning point for me occurred about 18 months ago, when a very good friend and colleague of mine noticed how hesitant I was about food choices whenever we would sit down for a meal. “Why don’t you just eat what you want to?” Well I was quick to defend my rationing behavior – low fat, margarine instead of butter, low sugar, low calorie, grains, fruits and vegetables, limited meat etc. The nutrition experts had hailed this as the healthiest way to eat. I had tried eating that way for the better part of 30 years. What happened is I became obsessed with food. I was in a constant state of denial around what I wanted to eat, I was always hungry, and looking for food as I kept myself from eating what I really wanted. What I noticed as well was that with all of my rationing I had slowly gained weight over time?
Fast forward to today. I eat very healthily but I eat what I want to eat. When I give myself permission to eat what I really want to eat, do my personal work including PSYCH-K balances with my physical body and let go of the limiting beliefs in my life, I notice what feels good in my body and what does not.
I feel better without gluten or wheat products, my body does not tolerate caffeine in coffee but does not seem to mind the caffeine in black tea. I drink decaffeinated coffee yet no longer crave the baking that I see in the display cases at my favorite coffee shop, or the desserts that are laden with sugar and wheat. I am amazed at how I have lost my cravings for these things in my diet. Never in a million years did I think this was at all possible. Once in a while, I get a craving, give myself permission to eat what I really want to eat and notice how I feel.
Is my body the perfect size? No. Is it the perfect shape? No. Does it feel good and strong as I go throughout my day? For the most part-yes. Do I still have work to do to be in better relationship with my body? Absolutely. Am I on the right path? For sure.
I no longer want to put items in my body that do not make it feel good. As I grow in relationship with my body I have come to love and appreciate it for all of its intricacies.
For today:
Notice how you are in relation to food.
Tell yourself the truth about how you feel when you eat certain foods.
Notice how your body feels when you eat different foodsr
Notice your energy level,
Before you are ready to choose your food, be with yourself and ask your body what it needs at this timer
Listen to and acknowledge your body for all of its hard work. It is with you 24/7, 365 days of the year, in cold and in heat, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad. It is the one thing that is a constant in your life.
Ask yourself, what do you want your relationship with your body to be like?
To create any kind of sustainable change in your life you need to develop awareness as to how you would like things to be different. By asking yourself these questions you are beginning on the path of that awareness.