I think that both Olivia and I can attest fact that our incorporating more mindfulness into our lives has contributed to our positive relationships with food and bodies.

Today when we talk about mindfulness - while yes, we do want you increase mindfulness when you’re eating (as we talked about on day 3) - we’re talking about becoming more mindful of the thoughts you’re having, the messages you’re consuming, and the way that your body feels...which will all help improve your relationship with food.

What we want you to do is start paying more attention. Just like we want you to pay attention to your body’s hunger and fullness cues, we want you to pay attention to the messages you’re both consuming and telling yourself.

Say you see a “transformation” post on Instagram of someone’s weight loss, or your coworker starts telling you about how well their diet is going. These instances can provoke thoughts like “I need to start eating better again” but don’t get sucked in. Be mindful and catch yourself when these thoughts creep in and remind yourself how miserable it is restricting food, counting calories, worrying about eating “clean” at all times, etc. Your coworker may be losing weight now, but we’ve been there before and they're likely on the path to a poor relationship with food and eventually gaining the weight back (because as the research shows, dieting doesn’t work long term).

Can we remind ourselves of this when we catch ourselves surrounded by diet thoughts or diet talk? Can we recognize that these thoughts are not conducive to respecting and honoring our bodies and then gently push them away? Just like in a meditation, when thoughts or distractions creep in, acknowledge them and then gently push them away. You don’t need them right now. 

DAY 5 TASK - 5 Minute Mindful Meditiation - see the uploaded file to do the meditation.

How is everyone doing?! I can't believe its the last day already. Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Today's message is about living intuitively. 

Something you’ll notice when you start eating intuitively is that you will also start living intuitively. You’ll stop thinking about how certain activities might sabotage or derail your diet. You’ll stop saying no to opportunities because of self-imposed rules or fear of weight gain, or doing something “unhealthy”. You’ll start saying yes when you want to and no when you want to and being okay with that decision. Your whole world will open up as you realize there are things you used to limit yourself from, and things you didn’t even consider because you were too busy trying to be in control. You’ll realize that chasing the perfect diet or perfect body or perfect life means you are always chasing something you’ll never feel like you truly have. When you live intuitively, you go from living in pursuit of something, to just living.

Whatever it is you need and want to do: give yourself full permission to do it. Your body is extremely smart and can tell you what it needs- as long as you are prepared to listen and honour it. Maybe your body is aching for some movement- a walk, a run, some yoga. Maybe you want to go dancing all night and stay out until the early hours of the morning with friends. Maybe your mind is yearning for an afternoon nap to recharge. Maybe your body needs to sit and rest with your feet up for a while. Don’t question it. Just listen. Trust. And do it.

DAY 7 TASK - Do something you might not have done before starting this challenge because you had rules or ideas in your head that you couldn’t say yes to it for some reason.