Our body may not be able to learn all the information possible about nutrition, I mean that’s what our brains are for; that doesn’t mean that our minds know what’s best for us though.
Our mind contains thoughts, beliefs, memories, and more. Did you ever think your body is actually the thing we should consult, since it really is the vehicle that knows what we need most in the moment.
Instead of having trust in our bodies, we often fear the very thing they are trying to tell us. Our bodies are able to tell us when we’re hungry, tired, hurt, thirsty, etc.
{ For Dinner, last night I had a homemade zucchini turkey burger with roasted cauliflower, asparagus, broccoli, an avocado sauce, and nutritional yeast }
In the past, I’ve been the victim of trusting beliefs my mind had, instead of what my body wanted. If I was tired or hurt, I couldn’t rest because I had false beliefs imprinted on my mind; rest was for lazy people and being hurt wasn’t an option if I want to be skinny.
Even worse was being hungry. My mind would try to tell my body it’s not hungry, I don’t need food or calories because I have all the self control in the world and don’t need food to be satisfied.
It was always a constant struggle of mind versus body.
Even though I constantly tried to outsmart my body, it was able to put up a strong fight.
Sometimes, we may be tempted to listen to other peoples beliefs and try and accept them as our own.
{ I picked up some strawberries at the store and had them with coconut milk. So good }
People say carbs are bad? Well then, my body has [insert make believe issue] so I can’t digest carbs because others are saying they’re bad to eat. Silly and untrue statements.
With all these new studies, we likely try and go against our bodies by telling them what we think is best for it.
Often, I look in the past where I knew nothing about nutrition, calories, carbs, fats, protein, and wonder if I was actually smarter as a child.
When I was tired, I took a nap. Hungry? I ate. I didn’t restrict, eat too much, over exercise to compensate. I just lived and acted as my body asked for what it wanted.
Never questioning my hunger because I trusted my body to tell me what it needed.
Many beliefs I once had as a child are long gone since I’ve adopted other peoples beliefs as my own, as well as trying to adapt to a type of lifestyle other people preach.
{ My two favorite teas right now. }
Instead of living life freely, it has changed so that I constantly question, control, and manipulate my body. Somewhere in my life I stopped listening to my bodies needs, instead telling it what it needs.
Which obviously didn’t end well, since it developed into a horrible eating disorder. Even though my body tried to tell me otherwise, my mind wouldn’t let it.
Denying our bodies is a very strong belief stemmed from others, so that we can have an “ideal body”. It’s hard to not listen to those beliefs when they are all around us.
It’s sad how hard it is for many of us to truly listen to our bodies. My mind really believed that by controlling my body, I would be content in life.
People would finally like me, I’d be prettier, have more confidence, and could do whatever I put my mind to.
{ still obsessed with Christmas oranges. I’ll be sad when they go out of stock }
In reality, I ended up losing control and gave that control to the disorder instead.
Eventually my mind couldn’t keep up, I was on the verge of death and I had to finally listen to what my body was asking for. Now I’m living with the constant nagging of two voices.
My healthy voice and the eating disorder voice. Sometimes, I don’t know which one is which. It is a constant fight, but I know I just need to keep pushing through to reach a point of living a life that is best for me.
Remember that your body is smart, it may be tempting to listen to others beliefs, but your body knows what’s best for your health.
Do you have a hard time listening to your own body?
Have you ever fallen victim to fad diets?
What’s the last positive thing you did for your body?
Sending lots of love your way today! Have a great one!
About Lisa
Love this post!
I also feel like a lot of people have a hard time listening to their bodies. I used to too and I learned the hard way to always listen to MY body.
The last positive thing I did for my body? I worked out, drank tea, ate dark chocolate, and prayed.
Have a great week, Lisa!
Childhood is (should be) magical. In the throws of my ED I used to pray to have that way of viewing food/ exercise again. No thoughts or worries at all!!! Definitely there is a lot I could learn from kids!
I love this post! It is amazing what are bodies are capable of and if we just put full trust in them they will guide us to where they need to be. This is something I am definitely working on because my mind takes way too much control over my body!
Everything is so true what you say and I am happy for you that you are in such a better place now! My mind is still taking over a lot, but comparing to the years when I was deep in my ED, it’s so much better. The body knows it all!
Love this, Lisa!!! Love me some carbs
Listening to your body is so important!
So much truth in this post! I wish I had the same abilities as I did when I was little – listen to my body and give it what it wanted without a second thought, as opposed to trying to fight my bodies instincts and desires, and be determined to think that my mind knows better than my body.
And the fad diet thing? Absolutely – my ED started with my own perverted version of South Beach. And i convinced myself and everyone around me that I had a bad reaction to wheat products and couldn’t eat them. Of course, at the time I would feel bloated if I ate bread because I hadn’t let myself eat it in so long! Deep down I knew that, but I still resisted it and told myself that my body didn’t like it so I could never eat it again. Ridiculous.
One thing I am trying to work on is listening to my body.. I often binge eat and then feel crappy and then binge eat. It’s an awful spiral that I am not proud of. I am trying to take more control of my body and listen to it.
Love this post, Lisa – you have such a beautiful spirit! When I got into fitness, I was brainwashed by fitness mags/media about how athletes are supposed to eat – balancing macros, _g of protein per meal, etc. What a huge effing waste of time! I quickly learned that our biochemistry is so unique that what may work for the majority doesn’t necessarily work for me. I’ve shifted my focus onto eating intuitively – some days I want high protein meals, other days it’s an all out carb fest.
It all balances out in the end.
xo
that constant nagging of two voices will quiet, i promise you that. it just takes time, time to give in more to healthy voice and shut down the ed voice. listening to your true genuine self is the first step.
I nodded my way through this whole post. It’s spot on. We need to let our minds and bodies work in tandem so that we can feel good, be truly healthy, and make good choices. I have an extremely hard time listening to my own body, but I work on it al the time
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You really touched my heart with this one. Listening to my body has got to be one of the hardest things for me right now. I totally understand what your saying about your mind controlling how your “supposed to feel”. I love this post. It is such a wast of time to be so focused on eating and working out “perfectly”, when in reality nothing is perfect. Listening to your body is much better for you. Thank you.
I swear that the more I learn about nutrition, the less I actually know. I actually gave up reading about the latest health news and views because all that did was mess up what I actually did know – that it’s best to listen to your body. Remember being a little kid and eating whatever the heck you wanted, whenever you wanted? I miss that. Whenever I find myself struggling with two warring thoughts, I ask myself what my 10-year-old self would have done… I know she never would have forced herself to go hungry or felt guilty for enjoying a treat. It can definitely be a struggle to listen to your body after your mind has been dictating things for so long, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes… especially when you see how much better it makes you feel.
Beautiful post, Lisa! I loved what you said about how maybe you were smarter as a child. I had eating issues even then, but I certainly wasn’t on obsessed maniac either. So proud of you!
Keep making space for that healthy voice–it will get easier to pick out!
xoxo
I love this post!!! It is hard to trust yourself to listen to your body after you have mistreated it for long. Keep listening though… it will be so worth it once we both break out of that nasty cycle of not listening!
as a nutrition consultant, i actually have stepped away from consulting for a while. I was sick of all the “trends” and reteaching everything. I love nutrition, but it’s true, sometimes the mind takes over. I wish we never learned about fad diets, only about good food, not exercise but only about movement.
I don’t have a lot to say, but what I can say at least is that I love this post of yours. I do think children know best. They are uncontaminated by all the false medical theories on food and many other subjects. Ultimately doctors and dietitians will never know as much as we know about ourselves. Nothing or nobody will convince me otherwise.
xoxoxoxoxo
Francoise
I definitely have a hard time listening to what my body is telling me, at times. It is very hard for me to rest when my mind is telling me that I HAVE to workout. Or, I have difficulties eating more than my mind tells me is “okay” to eat. This is a struggle that I have certainly improved upon in the past several months, but eliminating the guilt that can sometimes occur from listening to my body is something I will continue to work on.
I love you! Listening to our bodies when we’re young — before we’ve been influenced by the media and “education,”– is so easy, yet *re-learning* to listen to our bodies might be one of life’s toughest emotional battles. We’re born with an innate sense of what we need, yet over the course of our lives we are taught to reject that sense (“you MUST finish everything on your plate!” or “you already had dessert today, no more!” etc). The messages come from all angles. Even though I feel at peace with food now, I realize that societal influences are unavoidable. Some days I’m able to eat 90% intuitively, and others are a bit more of a challenging. But that’s okay! What’s most important to me is that I keep striving to be true to myself and my body.
The last positive thing I did: I took a hot bubble bath and ate a piece of chocolate. It’s one of my favorite ways to unwind at night! xoxoxo
My sweet girl, this confession is simply beautiful.
LOVE this post! This is going to sound random, but whenever I watch the BBC Planet Earth series and watch the animals eat, I always think of this too- similar to how children eat. So care-free and effortless. They just listen to their BODY. The animals sometimes have to eat a lot at one time because they don’t know when their next meal will be- and they don’t have a panic attack because they feel full! Ground breaking!
Our minds try to steer us in all kinds of wrong ways- the body is where it’s at! Listen to it, trust it, and all will be well 
what a bold and genuine post there Lisa. i came across your blog today and I am glad I did because at some point few years ago, I had similar issues. I am so glad that you are able to recognize that you have two voices coming because most people have difficulty not being able to distinguish. You are aware and you are fully accepting which is a first step
Based on my personal experiences, I surrounded myself with positive people, things I enjoyed doing, loved ones because it felt good to be loved, accepted and recognized and food/my body image was not constantly on my mind. Continue with your positive lifestyle, positive people, and listen to your body . will be following your post from now on 
Our minds sure can be tricky! It’s interesting how much our brain can control our bodies. I’m so glad you’re in a better place now and have recognized all of this.
Makes me smile!
I am terrible at listening to my body. Really struggling with an injury right now and not being able to work out. But I just can’t bear the thought of sitting around and not working out, even though I’m hurt. It’s bee something I’ve been struggling with…
I love everything you bring up in this post. I think it is so important to listen to our own bodies, regardless of what others/media/etc. are saying at any given point.