One of the most common questions you guys had for me in my most recent content survey was: “how do I make healthful choices around food, while still practicing allowance and non-restriction?”

There’s so much to say here — I could literally write about this for days — but today I want to get back to my most simple, basic answer —

and that is…

I listen to my body,
and I take her needs into consideration when I make decisions around food.
NOT for weight loss, but because I legitimately want my body to feel good.

I like to feel physically well, the same way I like to eat brownies sometimes.

Eating foods that make my body happy,
or not eating foods that make me feel sick,
is a desire of mine. 
A sincere, in-this-present-moment, desire.

It’s not a “should,”
it’s not a rule,
and it’s certainly not a weight loss strategy,
— it’s a want. A right now, have-to-have-it want.

And I know what you’re thinking:
“But I never want to eat what makes my body feel good — I pretty much just want to eat ice cream all day long,”

And if that’s where you’re at, gurrrl, I’ve been there.

This whole “legitimately wanting to eat healthful foods” thing often doesn’t feel possible when we’re restricting — especially emotionally restricting, which might not mean what you think it means. We’ll ALWAYS want nothing more than to eat what we’re not truly letting ourselves have. It’s like emotional eating physics.

That being said, in a world where you are truly and sincerely allowing yourself to eat ice cream whenever you want, there will come a day when you want something else. Craving different foods and food groups was biologically instilled in you at birth.

Now, there are a few exceptions to this whole “listening to your body” thing— times when our bodies can’t always give us perfect feedback. For example, it’s pretty difficult for your body to feel the difference between an organic apple and a non-organic apple, or meat raised on antibiotics or not raised on antibiotics. There ARE times when we have to make decisions with our brains rather than our body, and I will most certainly be discussing ways to deal with those situations in future blog posts.

But first things first.

What do you really WANT to eat, when you consider how your body feels physically before, during and after eating?

And sometimes your true want will still be that brownie, despite how it makes your body feel, for whatever reason, and that’s FINE — that’s your choice and your right as an adult human instilled with free will.

Your emotional “wants” are valid too. 

And denying them through willpower will probably fail spectacularly.

Healing your relationship with food requires meeting both your physical AND emotional needs, rather than denying them.

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