FOOD FEAR – Does this control your diet?


Food fear affects many of us, whether we know it or not. Some swear off a certain food or food group because it is deemed “bad” for their health. Others simply stick to poor food choices because there are too many conflicting stories as to what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Nutritionist Danielle Roberts wants to help people regain their personal power and steer them on a path of self-discovery, to enable them to learn what is right for their body.

Food fear has not always been as rampant as it is now. Over the last five years it has grown to new heights.

Food fear has naturally trended upwards due to the many restrictive diets which have been promoted recently. The upside to this situation is that more people are starting to really focus on improving their health and lifestyle in order to live a better quality of life. Unfortunately, the mixed messages have confused so many that it is making sustainable changes hard, as they are “trying everything but nothing is working”.

Examples of food fear I see regularly are; not having fruit in their daily diet, or keeping away from anything carbohydrate-related (even the nutrient-rich ones like pumpkin, quinoa etc.) because now a high fat diet is the way to go (apparently). Does this sound familiar to you?

“The answer to being healthier doesn’t lie with one food group dominating our diet.”

Everyone is trying to discover the ONE way of eating that is going to make them healthier and lose weight. However, I believe we are not going to find it by those means.

Why won’t it work? Our bodies are sophisticated.  I’m not sure we really understand the saying ‘no two people are the same’ and what that means when it comes to making sure you are full of health and vitality. Our bodies respond to external and internal environments slightly differently. This also means that some types of foods are going to affect them in a different way, depending on what imbalances are happening in their bodies at the time.

The answer to being healthier doesn’t lie with one food group dominating our diet. The environments and situations we go through in life constantly change. This means our body’s reaction to these environments also changes. So our eating habits may also need to change and adapt.

I’m also not sure people have truly grasped the health effects of stressing about what they should and shouldn’t be eating and how this affects their self-esteem and personal power. If you follow my Facebook page, you will have noticed I have started to teach a lot about how our emotions and mental state can actually affect our physical being.

For example, when you are nervous or stressed, I’m sure many of you feel this in your stomach. Imagine what constant stressing about food will do to your health.

If you have read my previous Fitness Journal articles you will have learnt about how eating disorders or disordered eating can arise.

foodfear2Food fear is one sure fire way to spark this downward spiral. When it comes to fear, your body, in an attempt to protect you, will stop you from losing fat or it can even make you gain it. This is because fat is protective to the body. In order to holistically address an overweight problem involving too much fat – you must also look deep into all of the fears that you carry, then work on forgiving and releasing them. You will be astounded at the freedom and results you will gain by doing so.

The truth is that the health journey can be hard work, because in order to achieve outstanding and sustainable results you need to address every aspect of your life; physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. All parts are interrelated, and affect each another.

What I suggest, when it comes to nutrition, is that you start gaining wisdom from nature. Nature gets it right every time, it’s our human belief system where we are striving for the constant ideal of perfection which mucks it all up.  Think about this for a second, how does a tree know to drop its leaves in autumn? And how does a flower know to open its petals in the presence of light? This is because the plants flow with nature’s environmental cues and react in a way that is favourable to the balance of the plant’s existence and healthy growth. We are a part of this nature, so to nourish our bodies we must learn to listen to what the body needs, when we are faced with different environments.

Things for you to ponder and experiment with to reclaim your own personal power when it comes to eating the right nourishing foods:

Release the food fear
This will reduce your mental and emotional stress and leave your mind open to hearing the messages from your body. Rather than being drowned out with the never ending conflicting information rampant on the web and in the media.

Learn to listen to the body and identify what you need
Often we second guess what our body tells us it needs. For example, for breakfast one morning you may feel like fruit or even soup, but then your mind says “No, fruit is full of sugar” (because you heard that somewhere) or “No, you can’t have soup for breakfast, that’s a lunch or dinner meal”. So you have toast or a bowl of muesli (because they are Holy Grail of breakfast foods).

My point is you may have missed a perfect opportunity to fill your body with more nutrients that will nourish you in ways you don’t realise, i.e. balancing your body out biochemically and energetically because it is intuitively calling for those foods.

Obviously, you have to be reasonable and discerning – if you find yourself craving for pizza that’s non-nutrient dense, that craving is probably not coming from your body but your mind. In fact craving for easy non-nutrient dense foods is often a cry from the body to eat more – but more of the nutrient dense, natural foods.

Eat nourishing whole foods from nature
As we are a part of nature we flow with the seasons also. The old wives’ tale that we should be eating foods in season, is not so old. The foods we naturally grow this time of year biochemically and energetically help us stay balanced with the changing environment.

Of course there will be some people who only try to eat in-season foods and may still not balance themselves out depending on what health issues are going on. If you are unable to figure it out through trying then you may need to speak with someone who has experience in this field.

Never get discouraged at the discovery of what doesn’t work for you, as it means you are one step closer to finding what will improve your health and vitality.

This information may resonate with some of you, but you may not know where to begin. I am always eager to help people turn around their health and lifestyles, so please contact me for more information


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