The only food rule you need this Easter

Are you dreading Easter?

Surrounded by all that sugar and cocoa and brightly-coloured candy, designed to attract the human eye?

For anyone on a diet, Easter can feel like one big temptation, waiting to derail all your hard work and healthy habits.

Even worse, it may seem like you have only two choices: either say no to everything (and be that oddball at Sunday brekkie avoiding the hot cross buns in favour of oatmeal), or say yes to everything, on a mission to consume as many Cadbury eggs as possible and make yourself sick.

The fear is that if you allow yourself chocolate and treats once, it might snowball into a fortnight-long bender of indulgence, with hot fudge sundaes for every meal and rapidly-increasing frumpiness.

But did you know there’s a third – and altogether more sane – way of getting through Easter?

The best part is, it’s very, very simple.

Are you ready to hear it?

Two words, one rule, zero stress

Let go.

Let go of rigid rules and restrictive diets.

Let go of guilt and good/bad thinking about food.

Let go of the fear you’ll gain weight and lose control of your eating.

Let go.

Once you ditch the restrictive mindset, you might be surprised to find that eating becomes effortless – and all-out chocolate benders become a thing of the past.

The skinny on diets

The truth is, diets don’t work.

In fact, over 95% of dieters will regain any weight they’ve lost within five years – usually with interest. That’s no new statistic, and yet, people still put their faith in them, policing their eating and feeling anxious around holidays, special occasions, or other social events that put them face-to-face with forbidden food.

Part of the reason diets and food restrictions fail is because humans hate scarcity. When you tell yourself you can’t have something, the lizard brain goes survival-mode-crazy and sets out to prove you wrong. Next thing, you find yourself shovelling in as much of that particular foodstuff as possible, just in case it’s the last chance you’ll ever get. This is why diets backfire and regularly result in weight gain, not weight loss.

The sad truth is, it’s a dieting mindset that causes binges and overindulgence – not weakness, nor a sweet tooth.

Non-dieters and the art of intuitive eating

Interestingly enough, people who’ve never been on a diet are able to enjoy the occasional indulgence and stop when they’ve had enough – because one hot cross bun is no big deal to an intuitive eater.

Think on it: most ‘naughty foods’ become rather rich after a moderate portion, and giving yourself permission to eat them also grants you authority to stop.

How and why to let go of food rules

The beauty of letting go of food rules is that you gradually, naturally start tuning into your body’s nutritional wisdom – because if you listen without judgement, your bod is pretty darn good at asking for what it needs (and saying no to what it doesn’t).

Even though it can feel scary to ‘let yourself eat anything’, it’s precisely this empowered, intuitive stance that enables you to make better food choices.

Our hunch is that (after a little practice), you’ll find yourself choosing foods that make you feel energised, satisfied and well – rather than frumpy, sluggish and ugh.

Sure, you might devour a chocolate egg (or three), but the enjoyment, happiness and relaxation that comes from eating a little of something you love far outweighs any negatives (and beats a choccie binge borne of restriction any day).

Final words

It takes courage to hop off the diet treadmill and trust your instincts – especially at Easter, surrounded by sweet and tempting morsels. But it’s the only way to develop a healthy relationship with food and your body that’ll last a lifetime.

Good food, good luck, and good times to you and yours this Easter!