Geneen Roth is an American bestselling author and authority on compulsive eating. She believes that our relationship to food, money and love is an exact reflection of our deepest held beliefs about ourselves and the amount of joy, abundance, pain and scarcity we have ( or are allowed to have) in our lives.
She says “You eat the way you live”
When I first heard her say it, this simple phrase took up residence in my head. It sashayed it’s way around trying to attach to memories of dark places, eating disorders and self hatred. It burrowed its way in deep and still I could not make sense of it.
Until finally I was able to unhook from my stories, detached from myself and take a good hard look under the hood that I had kept so brilliantly closed for so long and finally I understood what it meant for me.
When I live my life fully, follow the good, trust my heart, have faith, but detachment from all outcomes , I eat well. When I express my soul’s desires, I eat well. I eat to nourish and fuel myself because I am sustained by so much more.
I eat badly when I’m not living in alignment with my values and my beliefs, when I hunger for more from life, but allow fear to restrict and confine me, when I listen to the stories and ignore my calling. I eat badly when I don’t value myself.
This good or bad has nothing to do with what I am eating and everything to do with how I eat it.
I used to feel powerless like I was at the effect of life and not attracting the life I desired. Even when I thought I was creating life on my own terms I really wasn’t. I was locked into the WHEN and IF game.
“When I lose 5kg I will feel free, sexy, feminine” and “I will be so good if I just have 3 green smoothies today” The more I focussed out there the less in touch within I felt.
I thought the emptiness could be filled with food so I used it, like a drug, to numb the feeling and to dim my light. I used food when I wanted to escape, to leave my body, to be living a different life.
There was no pleasure in eating. I didn’t know how to savor the crisp bite of a tart apple or revel in the silkiness of just one piece of chocolate melting over my tongue. I didn’t taste food because I used it to leave the present moment, to escape for just a nanosecond.
When I wasn’t using food to escape, I devised so many rules around how I was allowed to eat that there was no room left for enjoyment.
I didn’t recognize that what I really hungered for was connection, adventure, freedom, creative release and meaningful work. Once I did I set out discovering how to bring those into my life and the most magical things began to unfold.
Today I make it a conscious, daily effort to savor and enjoy food and to not use it. I eat healthy good food most of the time, but not always …do I get it right every day? Absolutely not, but I try and that for me is eating well.
I don’t think we take enough time to focus and direct our light within these days. We watch contrived snapshots of peoples lives on Instagram and hunger for more from our own, yet because we are so disconnected and out of touch we can’t distinguish between real hunger and wanting more from life.
So open your heart wide and fully.. listen to that whisper within because it’s gentle tugging is pulling you in the direction of your wildest dreams. Stop the sabotage, stop the numbing. Embrace nourishment of your soul, of your body and of this one precious life.
You eat the way you live… You eat the way you feel about yourself.
It is a way of being first and doing second…. a journey with no destination. This is about living your life now, in this moment and loving it because you choose to.
So tell me, because I would love to connect over this topic, how does the way you eat reflect in your life?
Wow what great advice!
I am standing up on my chair applauding you!! LOVE this post Jo! Amazing work gorgeous one xx
Awe you!!! Love.
Absolutely! Great post and a timely reminder x
You are speaking from my soul. I sadly recognize my own self in your words. Wish I really knew how to change that….
Adina, thank you for your comment and I am sending you so much love and light
I’m a fellow blogheart and I’m so glad I found this post as it so strongly resonates with me. I’ve never really thought about how food affects me but I too, don’t eat well when I’m not happy and fulfilled. Thank you for sharing this, I’m know your wise words will bounce around in my mind for days.
hey Tara, I’m so glad my post resonated with you. xxx
This is such a beautiful post and such an incredible mindset shift. Great work! Look forward to reading more x
Thanks Katherine xxx
Giving you the slow clap, Jo. Seriously. Thank you for that post.
P.S. I am a fellow African – from Zim. x
Hey Tracy how awesome to have a Zimbabwean here. I have cousins that live in Harare still.. Honeydew farm is their business. I love Zim and went back 2 years ago to see them. ow long have you been in Australia for ? I also love a good slow clap so thank you kindly 🙂
Love this Jo – what a great way to look at it. My food issues have just sat with me for so many years now- but this is shining a great light into those corners – thanks for your post.
Hey Lisa so great to “see” you here and I’m looking forward to connecting more at the next Bloghearted meet up.
Such a true and beautiful post, I also find what I eat can affect my emotions so it can be such a vicious cycle if we aren’t aware of the why and how of eating!
I SO agree with you Lila!! I know too much sugar for me sends my emotions on a roller coaster! Even natural sugars.
I love this post. My relationship with food has changed the last couple of months. I’ve been eating big portions, but not really enjoying the food. When I tune in, I know it’s because I am feeling anxious about money and change, and am getting more comfortable with sitting with these feelings and asking my body what it needs, and most of the time, it’s healthy well-proportioned meals. Thank you again for this! xx
It took me a LONG time to learn this lesson. For so long, I was trying to “fix” things by just changing my diet again or tweaking things. When I realized that I can’t satisfy my emotional, spiritual, social, etc. needs with food, things changed. I addressed the real problem, and of course, then, my relationship with food started to change with ease. Thanks for the wonderful post!
Oh Miss lovely Jo, this hit so close to home. I have pretty much gone through all of the above emotions when it comes to food and eating, such a roller coaster and not a fun one.
Everything changed for me when I started becoming more in tune with what I was actually craving and hungry for (and it was not the pastry’s)…When I started yoga (game changer), started connecting with my inner self and when I started eating intuitively. Just like you I am not perfect all the time, and still have some inner battles of they never said the road was short or easy.
Thanks for sharing this post, I loved it xx
Oh Jo!! I absolutely adore this post!! It needs to be shared far and wide! Thank you for giving me some thoughts to ponder today and even more motivation to go out and get Geneen Roth’s book! xxx