Learn 5 ways to have more confidence in your food choices, love yourself more and ditch diet culture by tuning into what makes you feel your best inside and out.
If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you may recall that I’ve been talking about this idea of “food confidence” for a while now. As I reflect on my own journey of health and nutrition, I realized one thing — at a point in my life I did’t have any confidence in any of my food choices at all.
I would jump on every fad that I heard about and constantly feel like I was never doing enough to be “healthy” based on what I heard in the media or things my friends would say. Never confident in my own nutrition choices, constantly chasing the next thing that was never right for me and my lifestyle, not to mention stressful, sometimes expensive and totally not sustainable.
As I worked with clients and chatted more with my people on social media, I realized having confidence in our food choices is something a lot us of don’t have, and it’s totally not our fault.
With the constant news cycle of fad diets and celebrity trends, anecdotal recommendation from friends and family say (of course most of this is always well meaning, however sometimes even comments with the best intentions can be triggering), and seeing things on social media that makes us feel like we’re never doing the right things for our health — how can we be confident that what we’re eating and doing is the right thing?!
I want to give you back the confidence in your food choices because you deserve to eat foods that you really enjoy, feel good about yourself and love your body.
So let’s learn a little more about food confidence, shall we?!
Having food confidence is knowing that your food choices are the best ones for you — not anyone else! It’s about making healthy choices as much as you can and not stressing in situations when you can’t. It’s trusting your body, feeling good in your skin and creating a beautiful balance of caring about what you eat, but not obsessing over it.
Food confidence goes hand in hand with body love. Having confidence in your food choices helps you to feel good in your own skin too. It’s an approach of gratitude for all of the wonderful things our bodies allow us to do versus constantly being at war with our bodies and wanting to change them.
It’s hard work. It’s definitely not automatic or natural but it’s something that I truly believe is one of the most rewarding act of kindness you can work towards showing yourself.
Food confidence recognizes that healthy eating, wellness & self care look different for all of us and there’s no such thing as perfect. Your routine should look different than other people’s and thats a good thing.
It gives you the ability to actually enjoy food in a fun, nourishing and lighthearted way through each and every season. What’s healthy for you is personal. It’s nourishing for your mind, body and soul.
Food Confidence Manifesto
Here are a few food confidence principles. Practicing these things will help you have more confidence in your food choices, in your own skin, and in all your choices on a daily basis.
#1 You don’t have to jump on every diet bandwagon. Food confidence means acknowledging diet trends come and go, and that not every single one is for you. I think this is one of the most freeing parts of food confidence. Knowing that you don’t have to try every single new diet or healthy fad and stress yourself out in the process.
#2 What other people might be doing for health might not be the right thing for YOU and that’s ok. Food confidence empowers you to focus on YOU! Wow. It seems simple but you and I both know it’s hard when you hear many conflicting opinions, comments and philosophies. It’s hard when you’re at dinner with your friends and your friend says “I haven’t eaten all day” and you suddenly flash back to everything you ate and feel bad about it. It’s in those moments food confidence can waiver but that’s exactly why I want to teach you how to not let that comment make you feel bad about your own food choices and how to continue on making smart choices for yourself.
#3 Honor how your body feels in the moment vs. constantly forcing workouts, certain meals and routines that just don’t suit your lifestyle. This is why most diets don’t work. They don’t cater to you or your lifestyle AT ALL. You have to cater to them and when it becomes too stressful or not fun, you stop and feel like you failed when in reality they almost always are not meant for long term use. Instead of that pattern, it’s time to get curious about what health and nutrition habits make you feel good on a daily basis, don’t stress you out, and work for your lifestyle. It’s time to enjoy exercise and celebrate your body for everything it allows you to do on daily basis. Which brings me to the next one!
#4 Practice body love everyday. It’s hard to love every part of yourself when you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see. I totally get it. But that’s when it matters most. Practicing unconditional body love everyday is hard, it takes practice, but as I said earlier it’s one of the most rewarding acts of kindness you can do for yourself. Can you start small by writing down three things you love about your body daily?
#5 Care about what you eat but don’t obsess over it. When we stress about eating certain foods we totally forget what foods we actually enjoyed eating in the first place and how certain foods made us feel because we’re so wrapped up in questioning if something is healthy. Or worse, eating things we don’t really want to just because they’re “healthy”. I love that saying on social media: “what’s healthier than a salad? Having a healthy relationship with food.” That’s what food confidence enables to you do! Enjoy salads, but equally enjoy a burger when you want to without stress that your diet is ruined or that you’re being “bad”. Food has no moral value. You’re not being bad for eating one thing vs. another.
Did any of this resonate with you? If you found this helpful, I’d love to know!
xoxo MAGGIE
