It’s… THANKSGIVING!!! Well, almost. In the spirit of giving THANKS, why don’t we attribute some gratitude to your BODY. Your BODY does AMAZING things. Every. Single. Day.
The ability to even eat is a true gift. As someone who once came back from Mexico with a parasite and could barely tolerate broth for two weeks, and as a Crohn’s patient who would suffer debilitating pain with the smallest bite of food, know that as I (Monica here!) lay on my IV bag waiting to go into a procedure with my mom, we made lists of all of my favorite foods and restaurants I would eat at when I was healthy again.
We at Essence all worked in hospitals before we went private. We cared for adults and children with trauma, burns, cancer, genetic conditions, you name it. Sometimes, these children can’t eat temporarily or even permanently. We have to feed them through tubes in their noses, their stomach, and sometimes even their veins. TRUST US, the fact that you can chew, taste, swallow, and digest, is SO incredibly precious.
Let’s REMEMBER some things:
- Food is to savored, enjoyed with family and friends in a cozy environment
- Fat-free products are not from this planet.
- Banish the diet mentality, the guilt and anxiety associated with food, and the ability to make the best choices to nourish yourself physically and spiritually
- Make peace with your body and food. Be the best you can be by choosing only the best foods; you deserve it. You’ve worked so hard to attain a prominent status in life. You choose gorgeous exquisite shoes. Why would you eat a bag of beef jerky? You are a giraffe. Pick from the tops of the trees.
- Remember that nutrition at its core is a SCIENCE, not a dogma. We took biochemistry, organic chemistry, a whole class on vitamins, and metabolism. We don’t “believe” in foods, this, or that. We have published peer-reviewed research. There is so much we don’t know yet, but we can empirically hypothesize. It’s important to eat for happiness, yes, but it’s equally as important to eat and ensure you are meeting your nutrition goals, which are highly individualized.
- There’s no one size fits all. There’s no DIET. There are ways you should eat, she should eat, and she should eat.
- As much as possible, we should eat minimally processed things, and things that come from the earth. Fruits? Absolutely. Nutri-grain bars? No. Our Eastern European grandmothers would think that was an alien creation.
It’s SO easy to feel pressured to eat a certain way, to look a certain way. We were dancers/athletes. We had to eat to survive. Then we’ve been sick. We had to eat to feel better. You really begin to resent food in so many ways for the power you think it has on you. In reality, YOU are the intelligent human being and you have power over food.
If you can learn to self-monitor now and find balance with food, it will serve you in the future – forever – so you can focus on the IMPORTANT things in life – and not obsess over your body and food.
Our Thanksgiving holiday wish for you is to find the peace within yourself to make peace with food. And by all means, save us a slice of pumpkin pie (Vitamin A!)
Your body is a GIFT.
Essentially Yours,
Your Essence Dietitian Team