Appetite Nutrition

Geneen Roth was the first person to open my mind to a non-restrictive approach to eating. Both for ourselves and our children... Unconditional permission to eat cancels out the need to binge and eat in secret. What is your reaction to her "chocolate cupboard" idea?

A mother of an 8-year-old was desperate. “My daughter is gaining weight by the second,” she told me. “I am so afraid that I have passed on my troubles with food to her, and I don’t know whether to remove all candy from the house, take her to a doctor, or put her on a strict diet.”

“What is your daughter’s favorite food?” I asked.

“Chocolate.”

“Is her health good?”

“Yes.”

Desperation calls for radical measures, so I said, “On your way home, stop at the store and buy enough chocolate to fill an entire kitchen cabinet. Designate it The Chocolate Cabinet and fill it to overflowing. Now, tell your daughter that this is hers and hers alone. Wait three weeks and let me know what happens.”

She looked at me in disbelief. “If I give Gracie free reign over chocolate, she will devour every single piece before I can get to the store and buy more. I will create a monster!”

“Try it,” I said.

Fast-forward three weeks. The mother says, “When I first told Gracie about the new plan, she didn’t believe me. Then she plowed through the contents of her cabinet before I could change my mind. I filled up that cabinet many times that first week. But when Gracie realized I was not going to criticize her, she ate less and less. By the second week, I only had to buy a little chocolate and by the third week, none at all. She is more relaxed around food. I am a chocolate-cabinet convert!”

Have you come up with 25 reasons why this wouldn’t work at your house? You are not alone.

However, while some of your reasons may be based on fact, most of them are about your own relationship to food and hunger and abundance, not your children’s.

After you begin exploring your own relationship with food, be mindful about what you communicate to your children. If you judge your children, if you withhold your approval based on what they weigh, nothing good will come of it. They will begin judging their bodies, hiding their food, and defining their worth by what they weigh.

Commit to being lavish with yourself with what you really need. As you do that, you will become a living example of self-care and trust and love. You will be who you want your children to become. Believe me, they’ll notice.

This is an excerpt of "The Other Side of Desperation." Read the full article on my website: https://buff.ly/3qm86ZK

Our Youth Cooks have been hard at work in the kitchen! This week they made Teriyaki Noodle Stir Fry and Asain Peanut Coleslaw. Later in the month, they will be making sushi! Stay tuned for more photos (and maybe even a recipe)

I'll take it! 🏆

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