Love Your Cravings

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot is how to love myself well + be the best, brightest, funniest, sexiest, Jesus-loving, yoga-practicing, hip-hop dancing, teacher, dietitian + student that I am.

In Gay Hendrix’s book, Learning to Love Yourself, he teaches that simply taking the time to FEEL our feelings – pleasant + unpleasant – gives us the power to then live in a place of true authenticity where we experience ease + flow in our lives (sign me up!).

Last week I ate an entire quart of chocolate truffle ice cream by myself ya’ll. Truth be told I loved every bite of it. I didn’t feel guilty for a second!

But too many times I’ve eaten a cheesesteak or pizza or bag of Tate’s chocolate chip cookies + felt AWFUL after. It’s hard to explain but I kinda knew that it wasn’t what I really wanted, my body was craving something fresher/healthier, but I ate it anyway for some imaginary reason that sounded reasonable enough at the time even though it was total BS + I ended up totally, utterly unsatisfied.

So today I’m wondering… How can we make food choices that consistently bring ease + flow into our lives? (Because I am OFFICIALLY UNAVAILABLE FOR THE STRUGGLE from now on!)

Not how can make sure they’re the healthiest. Not how can we make sure they’re the “cleanest” (whatever that means).

How can we make sure that our food choices are HONEST + EMPOWERED?

I believe that the answer is always + forever inside of you. I believe that if you can practice taking a moment to connect to your intuition, your body will tell you exactly what it needs. And I believe that answer will sometimes be “enjoy that ice cream, girl.”

Enjoy it not because you earned it. Not because you’ll work it off tomorrow. But because you love yourself enough to trust that your body knows what’s best for the WHOLE YOU (not just your waistline).

Sometimes that answer will be “get the veggie wrap instead.” In those moments, when the answer isn’t what you were hoping for, then what? TRUST. STILL TRUST.

Sit with your craving. There’s no use in fighting it. It’s there, it’s reality, you’re really craving the Rueben on rye with fries + fighting reality is fucking insane. Just let it be there for as long as it takes to dissipate – ride the wave.Don’t push it down or reason with it or bargain with it – just FEEL IT.Move forward, trust your intuition, love yourself + order the veggie wrap that’s GUARANTEED to satisfy your belly + heart SO MUCH MORE than the other thing (whatever it was).

This advice works whether you’re a flexible eater, like me, or if you follow a more defined style. You can use this to make loving food choices any time, under any circumstances.

Every time you practice trusting your inner wisdom, it gets easier. According to Gay, all you have to do is be WILLING + OPEN to fully experience any feelings that come your way.

Dropping resistance + giving space IS LOVE.

xoxo,