Have Your Cake (or Chocolate Egg) and Eat It this Easter.
Easter weekend is the first opportunity for most of us to take a break from the usual life routines since Christmas.
We have endured three long, cold, wet and dark months.
Easter provides a time to celebrate the new season along with the longer and warmer days ahead.
Unfortunately, Easter also brings food anxiety for many with thoughts of all the goodies being available and chocolate eggs hanging around the kitchen left half eaten by the kids, there is temptation at every turn.
How will you control your cravings and willpower and avoid feeling guilt and shame?
Can You Have Your Cake and Eat It?
Are you a seasoned dieter?
Maybe you have been on a diet for so long that you don’t even realise that you are actually on a diet anymore…
You know the number of calories/points/syns (choose your diet tracking tool) in almost everything you eat and always strive to eat ‘healthily’.
Then along comes a national holiday, such as Easter, and you either miss out or hit the f@%k-it button and completely over-indulge.
I am not here to judge.
I have been there myself.
Before I re-learned the ability to eat intuitively (we are all born intuitive eaters, have you ever tried to bottle feed a baby who knows its full?) my eating patterns were very disordered.
I would skip meals to save calories for cheat foods, and exercise to ‘earn’ my food, I even used to save my milk allowance on one diet I followed so I could use it for wine!!
Did I lose weight?
Yes.
Did I regain it, and then some?
Yes.
I also spent a great deal of time feeling guilty about what I ate and would punish myself with restrictions.
It is not a fun way to live, it certainly didn’t bring me any joy!
Menopause and Dieting
During menopause, many women find their body composition changes.
They also find that the tactics they have used in the past to control their weight no longer work.
Mental health can begin to suffer not only due to hormonal upheaval but lowered self-esteem.
Do you label foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’?
By definition, are YOU ‘good’ or ‘bad’ if you eat them?
The values we attach to food can create feelings of guilt and shame when we choose to eat something from what we deem the ‘bad’ list.
These feelings are stressful for our body and increase the production of cortisol and adrenaline which impacts our hormone balance further.
Following are my tips to support you this weekend and beyond to ditch food guilt and find joy and satisfaction while also improving your menopause symptoms.
Unconditional Permission to Eat
Give yourself unconditional permission to eat, you can read more about this concept in this previous post.
Ditch restriction and ditch guilt.
When you have the freedom to eat anything at any time you also have the freedom to choose if you want it.
Whatever you decide to eat, really tune in with your senses and stop when you have had enough, knowing that you can eat more in 5 minutes or 5 hours, there is no restriction and therefore no need to binge and eat beyond comfortable fullness.
Focus on Joy
Not only from delicious food but the whole long weekend.
Are you spending time with loved ones, spending some time out in nature or even catching up on some work or chores?
However you spend your time do it without guilt.
Maybe this means planning your time so that you are not thinking about work while you’re with family and vice versa.
Look at the Big Picture
Your life is more than this one weekend.
There are 52 weekends in a year, therefore if you overindulge this weekend it’s not the end of the world.
Optimal health and nutrition is all about balance.
Stop looking at one less than healthy meal or snack and focus on balance over a day or a week or even a month.
Women are cyclical beings. We are ruled by the cycle of our hormones, even more so through menopause.
Perhaps your cycles are currently longer or shorter or perhaps you are now post-menopause.
Use my downloadable cycle tracker to understand more about your body and change your nutrition to support the ebb and flow of your cycle as needed.
Plan Your Meals
Cravings are your body’s way of getting your attention.
You may be able to employ willpower for a short time but the noise in your head will just get louder until the body receives what it needs for life – energy (calories) and if it is starving it wants the quickest form of energy possible such as chocolate, biscuits, cake, bread.
Eating well-balanced meals and snacks keeps your body well-nourished.
A well-nourished body doesn’t crave.
It is much easier to adopt the principles of intuitive eating when your body isn’t craving.
When your body is well-nourished you will also eliminate many annoying menopause symptoms.
Non-Food Activities
It’s not all about food.
What projects do you want to start or get on with this weekend?
- DIY
- Start a vegetable garden
- Spend time on your favourite hobby
- Sort out your wardrobe, and get rid of anything that no longer sparks joy.
Happy Easter
Why not use this Easter to practice eating for enjoyment and satisfaction?
Nourish yourself, your relationships and your traditions (start some if you don’t already have any).
If you need support to navigate a non-diet practice and take control of your menopause journey book a complimentary menopause assessment to understand how I can support you to learn how to nourish your body for optimal menopause health.