Monday Motivation - Restrictive Eating Doesn't Breed Healthy Behaviors

Restrictive Eating

I had this conversation yesterday and believe it’s important to share. 

She expressed how restrictive eating lead to bing eating & why restrictive dieting is not heathy. 

Although I see her point of view, I beg to differ. 

DISCLAIMER: 

I do not advocate for long term restrictive diets.  However it is effective and necessary in certain scenarios, when trying to lose weight and meet certain goals. 

Here’s the deal... 

Restrictive eating is ok for a short period to reach those goals. However it should never be looked at as a long term lifestyle. (Unless of course it is for heath reasons/ allergies/ etc). 

Whole Foods should always be the main percentage of your consumption PERIOD!  

That’s not restrictive eating, that’s eating the way we were designed to eat and for health!

Also, I believe it’s about living for health, not perfection. 

Allow yourself treats... but treat yourself smarter!(Trying to avoid the poison that’s in most processed foods >>> get educated!) 

*************

When we look at the root of eating disorders or behaviors, restriction actually isn’t the problem. 

The way we view ourselves & our motives & beliefs of our selves, are. 

When we do not believe we are of value the way we are, we begin to place our value on how we look and what the scale reads.  

When this is the case, we then do things to control our food intake or exercise in order to increase our belief in our value. 

It breeds the belief of...

“If i only weighed X  amount then I would be (pretty) enough” 

As a result, image becomes an obsession, and yet although you may actually lose the weight, you still fall short and are never enough.

Our behavior is driven by our belief. 

In the past, when I was starving myself, obsessing over the scale, working my self to death in the gym, 

it was not driven from the restriction diet, the restriction diet was driven by my lack of self worth and value. 

When you have a high belief in your value & worth, 

the reason behind how/what you eat, and exercise comes from a place of love, and not distain. 

It removes the striving for something, and instead gives you the freedom & motivation to eat properly and exercise out of a place of already being valued. 

You no longer obsess over the scale, you no longer beat yourself up, you no longer starve yourself... 

The root is never the behavior... it is the belief.  

So work on that! 

Work on building a healthy BELIEF first, to breed healthy behaviors 

XO