The Inner-Work of Diet Transformation
by Mark Powell, Diet Transformation Coach
www.transformyoureating.com
“If you try to transform how you eat but you’re anxious about ‘digressing’ or ‘slipping back into old patterns,’ the very tension around these possibilities actually attracts you to them.”
Phytochemicals…antioxidants…EFAs… nutritional information has its place (and I’m just nerdy enough to love reading nutrition journals for fun before bed while my wife reads novels.)
Where I differ from many nutritionists is that I don’t believe nutritional information is all that useful in truly and permanently transforming people’s diets. Certainly nutritional education plays a role, but it rarely inspires a genuine lifestyle shift. It cannot create an awakening!
Over the years, I’ve learned that truly changing over to a regenerative way of eating is ultimately a very human affair. It’s a process that involves emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and even spirituality. It comes from the inside out – in short, it’s a unique “inner path” of its own.
For example, in helping my clients transition to vibrantly healthy diets, one of the many “inner” areas we work on is something I call mastering the art of failure.
Most of us jump into a new endeavor full of hopes that can turn into anxiety about “succeeding.” But the process of learning requires boundless and even playful permission to fail - a lot! Constant trial and error. Every great artist, creator, inventor knows this deeply. An artful balance is required: your intention to change how you eat should be clear and unwavering, but also humorous, worn as a “loose gown.” You’re passionately involved in many action steps, but your basic okayness is not so invested.
If you try to transform how you eat but you’re anxious about “digressing” or “slipping back into old patterns,” the very tension around these possibilities actually attracts you to them. Being uptight about so-called “failure,” even unconsciously, is to meditate on failure! And you become what you meditate on. As the old saw goes, “If you’re not okay without it (i.e. without “succeeding”), you’re not okay with it.”
In truth, there is no such thing as failure. Every so-called “backsliding” is just more information, grist for the mill. Each digression is only a new invitation to learn to relate gently to oneself, and to discover that, lo and behold, gentleness spurs far more dietary transformation than whipping oneself. Go figure.
In summary, if you’re changing your diet to a radiantly healthy one, yes, nutritional education is vital, and of course the practicalities like delicious recipes are even more vital—these are obviously large parts of my work with people. But if you’re like most people, it’s attention to the deeper human, emotional stuff that truly makes all the difference.