Easter...How was it for you?
Happy Easter! How have all your Easters been? I know it’s the time of year that can bring a lot of anxiety and panic for us intuitive eaters, especially if you are navigating your way through your first one, so how was it for you?
In this post I want to fill you in on how my Easter went. This was my first one as an intuitive eater and I had no idea how it was going to go.
For me in the build up to Easter I kind of had mixed emotions. Being back at work has thrown up a few triggers for me. It is very 50/50 at work. There is a lot of diet talk but thankfully there is a lot that don’t follow diets and eat what they want. There being a lot of non-dieters is really helpful but even so the diet talk has been a bit of a trigger and I must admit I did find myself having a bit of a wobble. Feeling a bit self conscious has also been lingering. If you do have a wobble like that I’ve learnt it’s ok, it will happen and it doesn’t mean your doing intuitive eating wrong or you have failed at learning to love yourself. I just remind myself that diet culture is a very big thing in society, it was part of my life for 20 years, that way of thinking does not just disappear but the pull towards it is getting less and less. When I do have a wobble (which happens way less now) every time it gets easier to push the thoughts away. So on the lead up to Easter I was feeling a bit mixed but I worked on it and by the Easter weekend I was fully back in my intuitive eating mindset ready to just enjoy my Easter with my family.
That is exactly what I did. As I said this was my first Easter where there were no food rules and it’s safe to say it was the best Easter for me in a very long time! I ate chocolate without guilt, I ate my roast dinner and profiteroles for pudding without guilt! If I wanted a hot cross bun with butter I had one! I listened to my hunger cues, I trusted my body, I honoured my hunger and as a result I didn‘t binge on chocolate eggs! I wasn’t raiding my kids Easter eggs for any chocolate they didn’t like in the panic that I couldn’t eat chocolate again after this weekend for goodness knows how long! I probably actually ate the least amount of chocolate this year than ever before. Ive still got some left and it feels good because I can eat it whenever I want, there’s no rush! This was a big win but I have to say that the biggest win for me was actually being able to enjoy Easter with the kids and not have the worry and the fear of food guilt hanging over my head! I was so much happier and we had a lovely weekend despite still being In lockdown.
I fully believe that was because I am in a much better place. I’ve said this before and I will never stop saying it but being free of that constant feeling of guilt, not letting food rule your life definitely has a massive impact on your overall well-being. If you need proof of this just stop and take a moment. If you are on an intuitive eating journey, really think about how you were feeling overall in yourself 6 months ago, now compare that to how your feeling now. What is different? Your happier right? You have more energy? You love yourself that bit more? What else has changed? See, told ya! I’m not lying you are in a much better place! If you haven’t started your journey yet or you are unsure that following IE can have this kind of impact please feel free to read over some of my old posts and you will find plenty of proof there.
Im so thankful that for the first time I was able to enjoy the Easter weekend and make it enjoyable and happy for my kids. I truly hope that Easter was the same for you? If it wasn’t please don’t beat yourself up. It just means you have a bit further to go in your IE journey but you will get there, you have got this! Wherever you are in your journey I’m sure you are smashing it!
Thank you for reading, stay safe and happy eating!