Peace, Love & Joy with FOOD & BODY

That Christmassy time of year is upon us once again. The frosty mornings, cosy nights, and that warming feeling inside where life itself feels like the blissful scents of nostalgic spices, hot chocolate and sweetly mulled wines.

For many of us, this is ‘the most wonderful time of the year’. But, for those of us who have learned the dark art of developing a negative relationship with food and body, Christmas can bring more anxiety and self-hate than it does random presents.

It doesn’t have to be this way though. And, just like Christmas has been established as a time for Love, Peace and Joy with other people, so too can you create Love, Peace and Joy with Food and Your body.

In a Nutcracker shell, this means stepping into a place of trust with food and yourself. Trust to believe that you have a full entitlement to enjoy the festivities of Christmas without guilt, shame, or self-hate. Trust to become self-accepting and loving of yourself, regardless of what you eat, weigh or how much you exercise.

Yes, this means that as many mince pies and chocolate sweets out of nostalgic tins and boxes can be devoured without remorse or heading to the gym soon after. If santa can, why can’t you?

Just like the Nourishing Routes Philosophy, Christmas time endorses that we dance our way back to a place of loving connection - with ourselves, with our families, with our friends, and with our food. Food is not about numbers, calculations, or worrying about how it will affect your weight. It is a time of letting go, and feeling as though your worries are as light as careless snowflakes.

Embracing Love, Peace and Joy around food and your body at Christmas means that you can connect with yourself and your values in the most authentic way. You can feel liberated enough to indulge in the activities and experiences that light you up - even as much as the most gaudiest decorations.

You can twinkle as bright as you want, in the most sparkliest of little black dresses or suits, knowing that what size it is DOES NOT matter. What matters is that you feel free to be you, and become part of something amazingly magical. Something that has been an intrinsic part of our culture for hundreds of years, and will probably stay for many years to come.

However, I too can resonate strongly with how Christmas can feel so far apart from Love, Peace and Joy. Many a time I have spent the build up and Christmas day nibbling on measly amounts of food, power walking around the block on freezing mornings, and worrying for hours about how to say no to any food offerings.

But, through finally leading a more compassionate lifestyle, I learned that such a restrictive approach to Christmas was not for the benefit of health, or myself overall.

Now Christmas signifies something to look forward to rather than dread, because I have learned to love, make peace with and find utter joy with food, body and my whole self.

P.S. Under no circumstances will I ever weigh myself or count Calories at Christmas ! or any other time of year for that matter ...

I have utter faith that you can do this too, no matter how hard you have previously found Christmas times. You can break free, and experience all of the unique joys that Christmas brings.

Think of it as an opportunity to get back on your own sleigh of life, so that you can lead the way into a new year filled with meaning, purpose and compassion for yourself and the amazing life you can lead.

You deserve love, you deserve peace and you deserve the joy to savour that deep sense of connection with food and your already beautiful body.