Is This Gifting Me?

It was honestly one of the best things I’ve had in my mouth,
Which if you know me,
You know that's probably not a hard thing to accomplish.
 
The ‘samurai bowl’,
An acai base,
Topped with what looked like a tablespoon of cashew butter,
Half a banana,
Two adult servings of granola,
Bee pollen,
Coconut meat,
Protein powder,
And of course,
Agave syrup.
 
As I sat in the 47-degree Texas shade,
Sweating entirely through my apparently sweatproof shorts, 
I listened to Tim Spector yet again in my ears,
Telling me not to pay attention to the calories in my bowl,
That it was purely feeding my gut,
And my gut is responsible for my entire life,
Hopefully including my past life choices,
That it was $15 (plus tip I’m not an animal) well-spent,
That I was doing the only thing I can do for my health,
Spending vast amounts of money on plant-based diversity.
 
Ah.
Another day,
Another white man on a podcast talking about nutrition,
Reminding people to drink their kefir,
And that calories don’t count.
 
I see your eyes rolling as you reach this point of the email,
The voice in your head saying,
Oh god Emilia,
Please don’t waste another email talking about white men with podcasts,
We get it already.
 
I’m not ok don’t worry.
 
But rather,
I was reminded in that moment of the most game changing nutrition hack of all time,
One that entirely changed my relationship with food.
 
It’s not meditation,
Mindful eating,
Self-compassion,
Emotional regulation,
Working on your body image,
Or any of the other fundamental pillars of the ETPHD method.
 
It is, 
However.
A tool that we all use at ETPHD as coaches,
And one you can implement right now,
In this moment, 
That will change the way you think about food forever.
 
As you sit down to eat,
Or stand up to snack,
Ask yourself,
How is this food gifting my body?
 
I was actually on Facetime earlier to a friend,
He was making fun of my soyrizo,
Mostly because I had to give it a handjob out the casing,
And the juice that dripped out the side was not one that could be improved with the consumption of a pineapple or two.
 
And I told him to be quiet,
That the imitation sausage was gifting my body,
With some plants that she needed,
And protein for post-gym recovery.
 
You can replace ‘food’ with so many other things:
Exercise
Story I’m telling myself,
Action,
Words I’m expressing to a friend,
How is this (insert action here) gifting me?
 
You might be reading this thinking,
But I don’t deserve to be gifted,
Or worse,
You might find yourself resisting this tool,
Without acknowledging why,
Without acknowledging that your low self-worth stops you wanting to gift your body.
 
Nourishing ourselves is a way of honouring our own fragility,
Recognising the delicateness of our bodies,
While the resultant fullness is like a wave that carries you into wholeheartedness,
Allowing you to live fully in this moment,
As a cared for,
Loving soul.
 
I’d love you to try this tool from the moment you next eat or move,
Talk negatively towards yourself or about others,
Because not only is our food nourishing or punishing,
Our thoughts are too.
 
Let me know how it works for you,
I love to hear it.
 
I’m always here,
Em x