©Maria Paredes, PhD, LPCS, CEDS-S,
Julie Duffy Dillon, MS, RD, NCC, LDN, CEDRD
Do you feel like you're constantly fighting against your body, against your hunger, or against a particular food you either crave or abhor? The energy output it takes to sustain such a battle can leave you exhausted and discouraged.
If you've found this blog, perhaps you're ready to consider a ceasefire. Perhaps you're ready to consider making peace with your body and with food.
Find a comfortable place to sit and reflect, or to sit and journal. Take a few, deep cleansing breaths and consider the following guided imagery. The word "food" below can be replaced with a specific food, with a specific body part, or with a more general "your body."
Imagine yourself on a battlefield
facing across from a food you most fear. Your infantry are ready and poised to attack and defend. The food's infantry are ready and poised to attack and defend.
You've battled this food before.
Sometimes, you may have felt you won.
Sometimes, you may have felt this food won.
Most times, you may have felt you both lost.
This may be a food that scares you, and at the same time comforts you. This may be a food that holds much power over you or a food you feel you must continue to try to control.
This may be a food that has let you down or caused you pain.
This may be a food that you feel has tricked you at times, or that you feel you owe much to.
You may not even remember when or how the fight began between you and the food, but now you feel you have no choice but to fight.
Here you are again on the battlefield facing this food.
And though armed and ready for battle, you feel exhausted thinking about the energy needed to battle this food again. You start to remember what you will miss out on because of tending to the all-consuming battle with this food.
Consider this: instead of battling this food, imagine what it would be like to meet on neutral territory, to form a truce, and make peace with this food.
What would it be like to forgive this food?
What would you forgive it for?
What would it be like for you to apologize to this food?
What would you want to say?
What would you apologize for?
What would you experience if the food apologizes to you?
What would the food say?
What would you want to hear?
How would you experience this food now that you've made amends?
What would need to happen to maintain this truce and keep peace?
Imagine what it would be like for you and the food to join forces.
What would it be like to realize you have common goals and don't have to be against each other?