Sooo, I came home Thursday afternoon to the most delicious smell. My daughter decided to make a home-made apple pie- one of my favorites. Immediately I thought, how am I going to survive a two-day holiday with this yumminess screaming my name. I put on my Registered Dietitian hat and decided I would have an average size piece after dinner. Fast forward to Friday morning and I easily had half the pie with a nice cup of iced coffee. I loved every single bite of it. Ate it slowly with such enjoyment. My daughter came downstairs and saw me basking in my apple pie glow and she asked- “would you tell your clients that you ate that”? I immediately responded- not only would I share it with them, but I will post an article about this very incident.
I folded. I decided I was not going to continue this power struggle anymore with the pie. I was going to lay my cards down and go in with clear ownership and full intent. We haven’t baked a pie in my house in well over 6 months, and after all, it was a holiday. Guess what happened? That guilty feeling that has its way of creeping in and making you feel like a total loser for making such a poor decision- IT WAS NOT THERE! In fact, I waited for it, ready with such good comebacks to try and defend my own actions….to myself. Carpe Diem. Go me.
Now let’s be blunt, I am not suggesting we all incorporate excessive pie-eating into our daily food intake. Clearly, it is an indulgent food choice and it should be something you enjoy in moderation. However, learning to listen to your body is something I firmly believe in. Sometimes, my body will say let’s go out for a run. Other times it might say let’s sleep a little later today. And clearly, it may want to just be glutenous. To enjoy, without feeling like I am “out of control”. In fact, quite the opposite. I made a controlled decision and moved on. I knew W.T.F. – When to Fold.
Now I wish I can say that I leaned out the rest of my day to make up some room- but nope I didn’t. And still- that was okay with me. I took the day and made the choices I wanted. Some may call it intuitive eating, I would not. More went into that decision than pure intuition. I was tired and had lots of “extra” stuff going on in my mind. When I made that choice - I was listening to my body, mind and heart. I didn’t let my mind overtake me with the ‘should and should not’ of that decision. That style of thinking is what feeds the shame, disappointment and guilt that oftentimes follows us when we choose foods that we deem as “bad”.
So my dear friends- here it is a nutshell. Allow yourself the room to make food choices that you really just want. Get a fork, sit down and slowly enjoy. No one is chasing you and no one should be judging you- ESPECIALLY your own self. We all have a tendency to be our own harshest critic, and at the end of it all- ask yourself honesty….does it truly matter?
Dalia Abott, LMSW RD is a Registered Dietitian and Social Worker with a private practice in Woodmere. She specializes in adolescent and family therapy with a focus on Eating Disorders, Body Image and Self-Esteem.