We’ve compiled our top 3 ways to survive the Easter Egg onslaught. Remember, you can eat whatever the f*#$% you want this Easter, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!
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Be aware of easter-focused diet culture:
Cue magazines, social media and aunty Karen telling us about how this new diet or exercise regime is going to save us from the choc-fest that is Easter. Hello diet culture! It is likely you’ll find yourself in these conversations that may trigger serious guilt and shame. So what can we do about it?
- Detox your social media rather than your body: say goodbye to all those seriously unhelpful and unrealistic pages. Our red flags include; before & after pics, ‘what I eat in a day’, labelling foods as good vs bad and a total lack of size inclusivity.
- Disengage in diet talk: you may find yourself victim to these types of conversations, we’ve been there!
- Be gentle and compassionate with yourself. Reminder: You know your body better than anyone.
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Give yourself permission to eat the chocolate
So you’re thinking about Easter… a time that may bring up big feelings of guilt around food. You’re not sure how you’re going to manage your eating through this holiday period and it’s causing you major stress. We’ve been there and it sucks! Did you know we aren’t born feeling guilty about what foods we eat? Unfortunately, this is something we learn to do throughout life. They’re called food rules. You may not even realise you have them. A food rule is a decision about food that is based on external factors or what you consider to be ‘good’. Some examples are:
- I must not eat after xx time
- Always picking the salad option because it’s the ‘right’ choice
- Not eating chocolate because it is ‘bad’
Have you ever told yourself you can’t have something, then suddenly that is all you can think about? That is exactly what we are talking about! This often leads to ‘breaking’ the food rule, causing us to spiral into negative feelings of guilt. So how do we get break food rules for good?
Step One: To start it may be helpful to write down a list of all your food rules. Challenge your inner critic!! Where did these come from? Why did I start following this rule? What am I trying to achieve in following this rule? How is this rule affecting my day to day?
Step Two: Lets experiment! Pick a rule, ideally your least scary one first. Challenge it daily. Exposure is key. Such as including chocolate in your day, whether it be as dessert, shaved on top of pancakes or in your trail mix.
Step Three: Continue with this food rule until you do not feel guilt/stress/anxiety around it! Yes, easier said than done. It is flippin’ hard. Keep in mind, this takes patience and practice.
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Practice eating with mindfulness
Everyone says this, but what does this even mean? Being mindful means to be present. Mindful eating can help the way the way we respond to food, whether that be physical or emotional. Creating a mindful food experience includes; removing distractions, choosing foods that nourish and satisfy us, using our senses to explore flavour, texture, smell, and using hunger and fullness cues to guide our decisions to start or stop eating with no judgement. In doing so we become more intuitive around food, more satisfied. Less likely to feel out of control or over-eat. So yes, you can have chocolate in the house and eat it too.
We hope our top 3 ways to survive the Easter Egg onslaught was helpful. Want to learn more ways to incorporate mindful eating and smash diet culture today? Download the WIRL app. Use the code: WIRLPOWER when signing up for limited time FREE access until 30th April 2022.
