This episode invites you to take a closer look at whether you believe you can’t have certain foods because they are ‘bad' and/or block weight loss. I dig into the implications of beliefs like this on how they can create feelings of restriction and create an overdesire for the food we are trying to avoid in the first place. 
 
 I discuss the cult of diet mentality and how this secret belief that you can’t eat certain foods and lose weight keeps us over-desiring those ‘bad’ foods. When we overdesire food but try to resist that; it sets us up to overeat. Then when we overeat, it blocks weight loss. When we don't lose weight even though we are trying SO HARD, it keeps us thinking we are broken. When we think we are broken with weight loss and we can't control our eating, we will continually turn to restrictive programs to ‘control’ that overdesire, and the cycle of thinking we need to depend on restrictive diets continues. 
 
 Are you ready to leave the cult of diet mentality? 

I challenge you to journal on some of these questions to discover if you have work to do to normalize these ‘bad’ foods by giving yourself permission to eat them in an intentional way by planning them and testing your results to see if you CAN have them AND lose weight.  
 
 Your Coach Homework questions to journal on:

 1. What foods have I been thinking are bad or cause me to gain weight? 

 2. Is this just diet thinking or have I actually experimented to see if I CAN eat these foods (without overeating) and lose weight? 

 3. How often am I giving myself permission to eat these foods now? 

4. How often do I WANT to give myself permission to eat these foods? Is there a difference between your answers to #3 and #4? 

 5. What am I going to plan to eat this week? Share your food choice and let me know how it went on Instagram. You can find me @thriveinmidlife over there. 

Support the show

🎁 Become a VIP Subscriber at HBeardsley.com/subscribe
Get two free gifts, subscriber-only tips, and an exclusive VIP discount on my digital Follow-Through Planner.

🛠️ This planner is the perfect tool to help you reach your weight goals & build the habits —and your future self—will thank you for.
Check it out here: HBeardsley.com/planner

📲 Connect with me on Instagram @ThriveInMidlife and join the conversation under this Episode's reel.

Audio engineering by Young Cub Audio.