I CAN’T EAT THAT! IT HAS TOO MANY CALORIES!

I CAN’T EAT THAT! IT HAS TOO MANY CALORIES! I am sure you are familiar with that line. That good old calorie counting line! Oh ED – how I hate you.

I was talking with my clients about this whole calorie counting concept and I thought to myself – ED is actually a very uneducated nutritionist – that formulated all of his ideas around nutrition based on diets.

To make matters worse he forgot about the fact that people are not meant to live off of diets – and that combining all of the different diet rules into one way of seeing food is, well, really, really plain stupid!

So I know that many of you are calorie counters – you know the people that see numbers when they look at food and drinks, versus actually being able to see what is there – just food and drinks!

Tons of my clients are, I was and then I wasn’t – depending on if I was having a “good” – meaning restricted, diet filled type of week or “bad” – meaning binging, eating anything and everything in sight until I could no longer stand my own reflection anymore. You can probably guess which way of being involved some calorie counting. -GOOD OLD RESTRICTION!

If I only knew then what I know now about calories, nutrition and ED himself, how I would have saved many years of my life worrying, obsessing, and being overly preoccupied by food, calories, the number on the scale and the size of my pants!

The truth is the definition of the word calorie is, “A calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius.”  Now the important word I want you to think about from that definition is ENERGY!

ENERGY:

The number of calories in a meal is a measure of the stored energy in that food. Your body uses calories from food for running, thinking, breathing and every other bodily function.

For someone living with ED who convinces them that the word calories = bad, means you are going to get fat etc

I want you to try to start seeing this word as ENERGY.

If you really think about it, every single type of food has calories in it.

With this new definition in mind that means that every single type of food has ENERGY in it!

Sure some foods have more nutrient dense types of ENERGY sources,  while others have less nutrient dense types of ENERGY.  Yet, that is not the point of this blog.

So then why am I telling you this?

Well, I believe that in order to truly break free from ED we need to start changing our language around certain ideas and concepts that he has convinced us to believe is the truth.

An example of this is that he believes that … calories = you are going to get fat and they are something you need to try to get the least amount of in a day or burn the most off in a day.

Honestly, ED is such an idiot who thinks he is smart, because the truth is….

Your body uses calories for ENERGY to be able to LIVE!

ED doesn’t really give a shit about your life and whether or not you are happy LIVING it, all he cares about is what your body should look like and how it currently doesn’t look like it should.

So what does he do?

Trick you into believing that you need to start counting calories, cutting calories or burning off calories.

So let me get this straight ED…

You are pretty much convincing me to believe that in order for me to be happy I have to start counting the amount of ENERGY I am allowed to have in my life and basing that according to a particular number you made up to be perfect?

You are telling me I have to start cutting down on the amount of ENERGY I have each day – so what? So I can have less energy and in turn feel like shit?

Oh and lastly you are telling me to go and burn off all of my ENERGY so I feel exhausted and depleted after?

I don’t know about you – but that is the craziest, dumbest thing I have ever heard! ED may have fooled me for over a decade and maybe he is still tricking you today, but he doesn’t have to manipulate you forever.

If you are ready to live a life free from ED then start changing your language and the lens upon which you see food.

When you think of the calories in food, think about all the amazing ENERGY you are giving your body in order to live the life you truly love living, not all the BS that ED feeds you!

Remember,

Your body uses calories for ENERGY to be able to LIVE! So go live it through eating and enjoying your food, through exercising solely to allow your body to move and for loving yourself and your body today!

PS. Leave your comments in the box below!

Paula Galli, Motivational Coach, Nutritional Counsellor & Self-Esteem Expert