HOW’S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD?

I have something I have to admit...

And you’re not going to like it

I know I said last week that I love Chicken and I do,

But I left something out

There’s also something else that I love and I’ve always been ashamed of it

I don’t know what it is but every time I see one I want to get it and 9 times out of 10 I do.

It’s like I see it somewhere once, I say no and then it shows up everywhere and I’m like, I have to go get one.

My wife is the only one who sees me eat these and she still doesn’t get why I love them so much 

I can’t really give her an answer except ‘I’ve always loved them’

I hate to admit this

But I have an absolute MASSIVE soft spot…..

...for Whittaker’s Peanut Slabs.

It started when I was young, 

My Dad used to buy those 3 packs from the warehouse whenever he went into Gore and He’d always hide it in his slippers.

Now I think about it they were probably his bedtime treat but I knew they were there so every time I felt like chocolate

Of I went tiptoeing into my parent’s room looking for my Dads slippers.

I used to blame our dog for taking them and even chucked my dad’s slipper in his kennel once or twice to plant evidence at the crime scene

I used to think I was so sneaky but looking back now, I’m pretty sure he knew the whole time.

It was then that started my relationship with the Peanut slab.

Through my uni years, it was part of my pregame snack kit. I’d have that, a Powerade and egg sandwich before every game. 

Even when I played in Melbourne, my bag always had a peanut slab in it.

Looking back now, I think it was quite comical to have a chocolate bar as a staple through the early years of my life

But at the time I thought I need it to help me through what I was going through.

It’s relationships like that, that tend to identify who you are.

I don’t eat them much now, I do from time to time if I want a treat, but it’s more as a gentle reminder of my past more so than something I rely on like I did.

The mental breakdown I would go through if I didn’t have my peanut slab before a game was real!

I once ran to a petrol station 4 blocks away from the fields to get one and almost missed the start of the game.

I wonder how many of you reading this has had this similar experience?

I wonder how many of you still have this?

I talk a lot about context

I never judge a situation until I understand the context of it.

It’s the same when I discuss food and my client’s relationship to it instead of presuming they just eat badly because they enjoy it.

At times, things like food can become part of who we are.

Islanders joke about it all the time (i can say this because I am one by the way and it is my favourite also) but if you asked any Islander their favourite fast food, they’d more than likely say KFC.

You can either embrace it or let it control you

Embracing is the light side of it

Letting it control you is the dark

If you’ve had bad experiences with food, you may not go near that stuff that caused you so much pain and therefore suffer in other ways.

It’s not a great way to live and no one should live in that sort of prison.

What I’m getting at is we all have our different experiences with food

We all have different relationships with food

But I challenge you today to identify those relationships and ask yourself, is this a part of who I am, or is it a part of who I was.

The latter is a powerful mindset to be in because you’ve proven to yourself, it’s lost control over you and it will no longer hold you down.

Getting your nutrition right is something we’ll never completely get right, once we feel like we’re on top of it, our body changes and then we have to change it again.

Use your experiences to guide you not lead you. If you do this, you’ll start using that experience as wisdom and your relationship with food will vastly improve. 

I hope that helps someone today. Take care and talk again soon!

James