Food Freedom Fail

[malamusa]

I successfully completed 3 Whole 30’s and a couple of 2 week resets over the past year and a half. I was comfortable with what I thought was true food freedom until about 6 weeks ago, when I left the country for a 6 week extended vacation. I started out making conscious choices to exercise my food freedom, but before I knew it, one more bagel and unfamiliar chocolates all became OK. My biggest disappointment in myself is that I started justifying again...”oh it’s OK, I’m on vacation...’I can’t pass this up’...’It’s my birthday’... ‘ but today’s the baby sprinkle’...’I don’t have the time to prep’...’one more won’t hurt’ ...’I haven’t seen them in sooo long’...etc, etc, etc.  

I thought I had conquered my sugar dragon and healed my relationship with food, but now I find myself back at square 1...maybe square 2 because I do know, understand, and believe in all the technical info and I understand and had been successful (for a time) in exercising my food freedom the right way. I am living outside of the US right now so hiring a Whole30 coach and finding many compliant prepared foods are out out of the question. (fortunately I brought 3 bottles of coconut aminos with me). 

Can anyone PLEASE give me some advise  on how to come out of the woe is me, guilty failure mindset? I am starting a Whole30 on the 15th when I go back to work, jet lag gets better, and I can be fully prepped for success.

Tired of feeling sorry for myself,

malamusa

[ShannonM816]

Have you looked at the Food Freedom Forever book? You might find it helpful. And if you want a whole30 coach, there are coaches in different countries and ones who work with you online rather than in person, so it could still be an option for you.

The most important thing for you to know right now is that finding your food freedom takes work, and will probably always take work, though it will mostly get easier over time if you keep working on it. Very few people do a whole30 and immediately have everything figured out for the rest of their lives, and the few who do manage that probably already had some good habits they were building on. The bigger a change this way of eating is, the harder it is to change and make those changes stick. It is absolutely normal to slip back into old habits. You just have to get yourself back on track and keep working on it. There's nothing wrong with you, you're not a failure, you are a human being working to change your life for the better. 

Think of it this way: food freedom is a skill you are learning. For any skill, there are a few people who are really good at it the first time they try it, but most people have to keep practicing. As long as you keep practicing you'll get better overall, though some days you won't see progress, and some days you may feel like you're going backwards. Those individual days don't matter as long as the overall trajectory is upwards toward your goal.

[Nickleton]

That's a great point, Shannon. Food freedom really is a skill and you need to treat it as such. Meaning, you have to develop it and practice it.