• Home
  • About me
  • LIFE
  • BODY CONFIDENCE
  • FITNESS
  • FOOD

Wholly Genna

Lessons in food, fitness and self-love

BODY CONFIDENCE, FOOD

Food Guilt

July 5, 2020 Leave a Comment

Do you deal with food guilt?

I certainly do.

And it stems from the idea that there are good foods and that there are bad foods, when the reality is, there is just food.

Barring cultural specifications and concerns, food in itself has no morality attached to it.

We feel guilty about food because we live in a culture obsessed with correlating thinness with health and beauty at all costs – even if it is not the case.

Even now, I preach self-love, body confidence, and eating when you need it, but still, I struggle with eating some things.

I’ll crave a ‘bad’ food, and then put off eating it, until eventually I binge on it. This is followed by feelings of immense guilt, as if I have done something bad, shameful, and should avoid this in the future.

It’s the same as the idea of having one ‘cheat meal’ that suddenly turns into an entire ‘cheat weekend’. The idea that, well, I already blew it by eating something ‘bad’, so I may as well eat it all. It simply doesn’t work and it leaves you feeling as if you’ve lost all ‘willpower’.

And then you gain that willpower back, and restrict yourself and ignore your cravings, until it all happens again.

When we restrict something we’re actually all the more inclined to want it.

A much more sustainable way to eat? Eat what you want, when you want to. If it’s important to you to track your food consumption, eat what you want, and make it fit into your food for the day.

Admittedly, I feared giving up restriction because I thought it meant I would gain weight.

What I didn’t realize was that my body is a lot smarter than I thought. Your body knows what it needs, and lets you know. By allowing yourself to eat without restriction, you’re able to listen to your body’s hunger cues, meet your nutritional needs, and actually avoid binging on foods.

Instead of obsessing over what you ate and feeling shame, think about how you feel after each meal. Do you feel satiated? Did the food make you happy? How did it taste? Did you have any physical reactions to this food? Would you like to feel this way again?

When you listen to your body’s cues, mindful eating practices become that much easier, and you can slowly begin to build or repair your relationship with food.

And if you do find yourself feeling guilty for eating something, let it go. This is the kindest thing you can do for yourself. Move on, return to normal, do not punish yourself for feeding your body.

Most importantly, remember to honour your body by feeding it what it needs, judgement-free.

Genna

Previous:
Body Confident Affirmations
Next:
What is diet culture?

You might also enjoy

What is diet culture?
Diet Culture: Before and After
Body neutrality – and why it might work for you!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About me

I’m all about fostering a healthy and inclusive relationship with food and fitness, and sprinkling a little bit of self-love in there every now and again.

Instagram Feed

whollygenna

A little cliché, but an important reminder 💖 A little cliché, but an important reminder 💖

Self care can mean a million different things to a million different people. It’s up to you to determine how to best care for yourself. 

For me today self care means drinking lots of water, going to the gym, taking a long and hot shower, and sleeping 8 hours minimum tonight.

What does self care look like for you today? 🤍

#mentalhealthmatters #bodypositive #healingjourney #healthjourney #discoverunder5k #humpday #blackmentalhealth #keepgoing #selflovejourney #bodypositivefitness #lifestyleblogger #wellnessblogger
Happy hump day 💖🌞 Swipe through for a lil s Happy hump day 💖🌞

Swipe through for a lil shoulders, chest + triceps action 🔥

Was very reluctant to share the first video as I’m VERY new to bench press and my upper body is quite weak in comparison to my lower body. However, I’m trying to keep it as real as possible on here! I’m getting there and I’m trying!!! That’s all we can ever do ☺️

A few workouts were not recorded because these sessions in the gym are only an hour long rn and we get busyyyy 😅

not recorded:
-deltoid raises
-tricep push down

What’s your favourite muscle group to work out?

#gymworkouts #gymmotivation #blackfitness #blackfitnesswomen #wellnessjourney #wellnessblogger #fitnessmotivation #workoutathome #fitnessblogger #upperbodyworkout #upperbody #healthylifestyle #discoverunder5k #fitnessaccount #fitatanysize #healthatanysize
PSA ‼️ A few years ago I made it my mission i PSA ‼️

A few years ago I made it my mission in life that I would be smaller than my boyfriend. I could swear everyone knew that I weighed more than him, and that they were all judging both of us for it.

My partner never cared what my weight was and he told me this all the time. But that didn’t matter to me, I was convinced I wasn’t deserving of a relationship until I could satisfy the thought in my mind that no one was judging me and no one was questioning why he would ever date me.

Unsurprisingly, when I finally did weigh less than him, nothing changed. I just found new reasons for why everyone was judging us. The problem was never that I weighed more than him before, the problem was that I’d been conditioned to believe that I had no value as a partner, unless I was able to fit into society’s ideals of what a “perfect woman” was. 

The truth is, weighing less than your partner won’t change anything about your relationship. And, yes although some may appear to be “perfect”, no one actually fits that mould of perfection that’s been shaped by society.

Here’s your reminder that you can weigh more than your partner, you can weigh less than your partner, you can even weigh the same. You deserve to allow yourself to exist freely. 

#brave #blackgirlswhoblog #fitnessblogger #motivation #fitjourney #strongwomen #fitnessmotivation #selflove #bodypositivity #survivor #discoverunder2k #discoverunder10k #selflovejourney #healthylifestyle #healthblogger
Load More... Follow on Instagram

subscribe

 

Recent Posts

  • When we finally become enough.
  • Fatphobia.
  • Body neutrality – and why it might work for you!
  • How to be confident in the gym
  • Can I want to lose weight and still be body confident?

Recent Comments

  • Pamela on Transformations
  • cash on Conversation with a Mental Health Counsellor
  • erotik izle on Conversation with a Mental Health Counsellor
  • whollygenna on How to be confident in the gym
  • Jane on How to be confident in the gym
2021 WhollyGenna. All Rights Reserved. Design by SkyandStars.co
Back Top