Hello!
Today I wanted to talk about food confidence. This is an interesting topic I’ve come up with and today I am going to share 5 tips with you about having MORE food confidence!
I am a Certified Holistic Nutritionist but before I started nutrition school I had a pretty solid base in what worked for my body. This is because I had done so much work! I tried many diets and there was so much (so much) trial and error. I realized typical diets failed me. I didn’t want to use willpower, restriction or following something strict. I wanted more flexibility.
You can check out the video below or keep scrolling!
By the time I got to nutrition school I felt pretty confident but wanted the certification and depth of knowledge. I love learning anyways 🙂
In nutrition school what was interesting was that the way I was eating didn’t sway very much (all my learning and trial and error paid off). I did learn a lot though. I learned about different aspects to health, herbology, symptomatology, in depth supplement protocols, and SO much more. I was able to add in foods, supplements and other things to tweak my eating foundation.
This was 6 years ago and at that time the majority of my class was trying the paleo diet while I was plant based. I consumed a lot of information about various diets and philosophies and took in all the information. I looked for what made sense and if there were more deeper levels to look at.
Not mentioned in the video: For instance sprouting or fermenting grains is not addressed in a lot of anti-grain diets. Sprouting can make grains more digestible by removing the phytates.
This is all to say I had a foundation. This is what I want to install in my clients; to be confident in the choices they are making in their food because they know their body best. I can guide them and support them with tools and go deeper with emotions BUT at the end of the day they are in their body (and need to know how that feels!). Onto the tips!
Tip 1: Learn
Learn everything you can about nutrition. When reading see if what you are reading resonates. Does it make sense? Did it wake something up for you. Usually you will get an ‘aha’ and your body will light up. I say follow that inspiration.
So, you will read a lot of things. For example, eating fat first thing int he morning. This doesn’t work for me, I prefer lighter foods that digest well. I don’t desire to feel full for 6 hours. I want food to move through my system so I am absorbing the nutrition. I want that food to get to my small intestine, food in the stomach is not delivering much nutrition. There are other reasons for my preference and hopefully if someone is having fat they are considering all angles.
Tip 2: Experiment
If something resonates, try it out for a month or 3 months not just a few days. To see your skin change may take about a month and a few months for your hair. There are different rates of cell turnover so it takes some time.
Tip 3: Say No to Things that Don’t Feel Good.
This can be a bit tricky. You want to choose from that deep clear space (calm) in you not the addictive part (which is usually in a tizzy).
This is where the deeper work with your emotions comes in.
For example, if you are thinking fries make you feel good ALL the time that is probably an addiction. BUT if it is once in a while and you want it (from a clear space) then by all means go for it. (And of course no one is perfect and sh*t happens)
Tip 4: Find Recipes that Make You Feel Good.
Sometimes this is tricky with clients when we first work together. They think certain recipes are healthy when they are not in my opinion. We work on this obviously. You can switch out ingredients in recipes so they are made of organic whole foods. For example, you can sub out white flour in your grandma’s recipe for organic spelt, sprouted spelt or sprouted gluten free flour and see how it goes.
Tip 5: Have Strategies AND Intuition
I love strategies! And I also love intuition! So how do we marry both? Start experimenting with strategies and see how they make you feel. Eat more veggies but see which ones you are drawn towards and light you up.
I have tons of strategies on the blog – when to drink water, chewing your food, food combining etc.
I work with clients with specific strategies and we develop them and then see how they feel.
So, there you have it, 5 tips to give you more food confidence. If you are struggling reach out for help! Leave a comment (if a specific question) and if you need more in depth support let me know.
I hope this guides and supports you 🙂
To more confidence 😉
~Michelle
Certified Holistic Nutritionist.
