Why one local food blogger no longer preaches eating “clean”
Do you find yourself struggling with food and your relationship with it? Have you tried a million and one diets only to feel like a big failure in the end? Do you feel guilty when you eat something that you think you should not be eating? I am here to tell you that it does not have to be this way. It is truly possible to live a life free of diet and restriction and be healthy too.
I used to be a lot different than I am now.
I used to calculate and count it all—every bite, every morsel. And let me tell you, it had to be perfect. I mean, squeaky “clean” or else.
For a long time, and I mean a LONG time, I thought I was healthy. I thought that I was taking such good care of my body and that I was nourishing myself in the best way. There was a lot of pride in eating so “clean,” or eating a plant-based (yes, another phase), or eating the greenest smoothie I could possibly whip up.
In fact, my work as a food blogger was all about preaching how amazing life can be if you give up refined flours, sugars, and anything remotely processed. As in I made a living on this way of life. And I was miserable.
I recall numerous times hearing friends and family say, “Oh no, Lorie won’t eat that,” or, “That Lorie, she never eats anything bad!” They were right. I didn’t eat those things they were talking about. I didn’t eat a lot of things.
It took some deep soul searching to realize that I didn’t eat those things because I was afraid to eat them. There was good food and there was bad food in my rule book. And if I ate from the bad list, then a whole lot of guilt quickly sunk in. How was this healthy?
The time in my life that I thought I was the healthiest was probably the least healthy I ever was.
After years and years of struggling with my own body and striving for this perfect form of eating, the perfect body, etc. the day came that I realized enough was enough. That is what I am here to tell you about.
My name is Lorie Yarro and I am here to talk to you all about intuitive eating and finding food freedom. I promise you it is possible, and it is so far from any “diet” that is out there because it is not a diet, not at all.
Is it easy to get up one day and throw out all the food rules you have lived by for so long? No. Is it worth it? A million times yes. And it all starts with one rule—allowing yourself to eat anything you want. Yes, you heard me, anything.
Say it with me, “I can eat anything I want.”
Before making this big “shift,” we were anxiously waiting to become parents through adoption. Up until that point, I had done everything in my power to consume the healthiest, fertility enhancing foods so that we would be blessed with a baby. Time after time, month after month, I was met with only one pink line, and my heart sank even deeper.
When we shifted to adoption though, lots of things started coming up for me. I started thinking more and more about our future child and how I wanted this child to have a healthy and positive relationship with food—far from the one I currently, or really ever had. I wanted to share ice cream cones and freshly baked cookies. I wanted to nurture a way of eating that allowed him to feel confident in listening to his body. But how in the world was I going to teach and model this if I couldn’t live it myself?
I needed a healthy relationship with food to model it
The only answer was to learn. I had to learn to listen to my body, to listen to my hunger cues, and to eat in a way that was satisfying and not restrictive.
And so I did. I am here to share my own story and my own experience with my journey of intuitive eating, the relationship with food that we are born with and somewhere along the line, thanks to society, diet culture and the pressure to be nothing but thin—is lost.
My hope is that soon you will share the same rule with me—the only rule I live by in relationship to what I put in my mouth. So it begins here and all you have to do is say it with me, “I can eat anything I want.”
If you want to learn more about intuitive eating before we meet again, check out Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch’s book, Intuitive Eating. Until then, start listening to your body—what does it want? Start thinking, what do I want to eat versus what should I eat? Try it on and see how it feels.
P.S. here are the recipes for the images above: Black Bean and Rice Soup, Blueberry Flax Pancakes, Mediterranean Steak Bites, Birthday Cake Cookies.
