DIET! What emotions do you experience when you hear that word? If we are honest with ourselves, the majority of us feel an emotion with the word. We often associate “diet” with losing weight. If we are eating the “right things” we view that as success (happy emotion), or if not, then, failure (disappointed, sad emotion). In my coaching sessions, especially during the holiday party season, I consistently hear our clients say, “I failed,” or “I fell off the wagon,” or “I cheated”.

To help us rethink the emotional journey, let’s start with the word’s definition as a noun.

/ˈdī-ət/ (noun) food and drink regularly provided or consumed.

Consuming food is a necessary fact of life. We must eat to live. With this fact in mind, it should level the playing field of emotions. Food is vital and necessary and must be consumed. There is no “failure” or “wagon to fall off,” there are only healthy, or less healthy choices to be made. Each choice is an opportunity to grow and learn.

Understanding and conquering the emotions helps us to focus, not just on healthy eating, but on building a lifestyle that keeps you in balance. Sometimes the food choices struggle is big, sometimes, small. Being conscious of the choices you are making is step one in giving yourself grace with the choice. Secondly, learn to balance your choices. My coaching sessions often involve providing input on achieving balance. If the same struggle keeps presenting itself, perhaps a little more time needs to be spent on discovering alternate habits or choices.

THINKING! That’s the important choice here. Without a healthy mind no matter what changes we make to our daily eating habits.