A shift in mindset with food and body can help us move from feelings of guilt to feelings of gratitude. Here are four ways to practice an attitude of gratitude with food and your body.

1. Celebrate and appreciate the body you are nourishing.

Focus on the things you appreciate or love about your body. If that’s not accessible, consider the amazing things your body does with and for you without you asking it to! That food you’re eating, its taking the nutrients you need out of it and bringing them where they’re needed. That water you’re drinking, it knows exactly where to put, store it, and eliminate it. Those hands and feet; think of all the things you do today with their help.

2. Celebrate and appreciate all the hands and hearts that contribute to your food.

Give thanks to the hands that planted the seeds, nourished the soil, tended the land. Give thanks to the hands that harvested, stored, shipped or delivered the food to you or your store. Give thanks to the hands that stocked and bagged. Give thanks to the hands that bought the food, then prepared the food. Of course, it’s not just hands we’re talking about. It’s also the hearts, energy and time of the people who feed us.

3. Celebrate and appreciate all the food you enjoy.

Yes, all the foods. It’s impossible to appreciate and celebrate food and feel guilty about eating it simultaneously. So why not choose where to invest your attention. Love your food, savour your food, enJOY your food. The more you can practice enjoying your foods and meals, the more you normalize eating (sans guilt or shame). Let your attention rest on these things so fully that guilt no longer sits at the table.

4. Celebrate and appreciate the love and spirit that created and sustains your body.

I think we forget that beyond the ways we physically and mentally nourish and care for our bodies, there is a presence within every cell in our body that is creative, loving, resilient, healing, and life sustaining. I wonder how remembering this and appreciating this more frequently might transform how we look at and relate to and care for our bodies. A little reverence for the intelligent life force that animates our body might go a long way.

Inwards and upwards, friends. 💜

Jennifer

Which mindshift will you try this weekend? Let me know how it goes!