A Reframe: How to Look At Food in an Entirely New Way

We don’t have to “fatten up” for winter anymore!

Pearl One

Okay, somebody has to keep saying it. I guess it’ll be me. You may want to sit down, but hear me out.

All of us need to stop framing food and weight issues as “it’s up to the individual,” when in reality much more is at play than “she just didn’t have the willpower.” Our greatest of great grandparents were survivors of a very harsh environment. They survived using their smarts and cunning. Others died off, but ours flourished. Ours went from hunting/gathering to farm life, to finally our Twinkie-generation where we practically mainline Big Macs and supersized fries. In other words, you come by issues with food and weight honestly. A billion years ago, it was that kind of intelligence that kept our great grandmas alive through the winter.

When you feel like you’re constantly fighting food and weight, train yourself to remember whose DNA lives inside of you.

Imagine having all that kick-ass DNA and still live within our food-gone-wild culture. We can hunt and gather at Dunkin’ Donuts all day long, no problem. And because our DNA tells us to eat as much of the high-calorie pizzasuras as possible, we comply. Because our DNA is rigged to get us chowing all summer and fall so that we’ll successfully survive the winter.

Problem is, that same strong DNA also figured out pretty quickly how to make the best junk food, the best fast-food, and even incredible food-food the planet had ever seen. And don’t forget that we eat the fabulous food in immense portion sizes. Our DNA tells us to fatten up now and we’ll survive the winter.

What can you do with this information.? Cut yourself some slack. When you eat too much at the Mexican restaurant, or at Christmas or over the summer, you’re merely being guided by your DNA.

My suggestion for engaging well with our DNA and not allowing it to run the show: keep our body fed. If you’re imagining how good a bowl of ice cream would be, you’re still hungry for real food. Don’t get ice cream, get the apple with a smear of peanut butter. Always take your cold-tote with you packed in smart bites. And never sit down for dinner, run errands, or shop without “eating before you do anything else.”

Does it sound like a lot of planning? When it comes to DNA and food I’m firmly in Team Yes! ❄️

Pearl Two

Our journal-writing pearl!

• When i think about my weight, whose voice (or group of voices) do i actually hear in my head?
• How has society’s focus on thinness or dieting influenced my self-esteem or behavior?
• If your eight-year-old could talk what would she tell you about weight and food?
• What would you tell her?
• If you give a name to your deepest wound around food and weight, what would that be?
• Now write how you might heal from the food and weight wound. ❄️

Pearl Three

Sequencing is taken directly from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The purpose of sequences is to help us move from reacting to circumstances to responding. I encourage you to do a sequence a day in your journal. Powerful stuff. Apply to your own life.

Initial Sequence

• Situation: Mandy who is 66 has a 16-year-old granddaughter who drove her car into Mandy’s garage, but hooked the side of the car onto the wooden railing that takes you into the house. The entire railing fell off.
• Initial thought: “When I heard the noise in the garage my heart sank. Just what I need: another house bill.”
• Feeling: Some annoyance because her granddaughter bristles every time she tried to share her driving-wisdom.
• Action: She plasters on a smile and told her granddaughter “no problem we’ll get it fixed.”
• Results: Later Mandy talks to two friends about her granddaughter’s driving problem.

Chosen Sequence

• Situation: Mandy who is 66 has a 16-year-old granddaughter who drove her car into Mandy’s garage, but hooked the side of the car onto the wooden railing that takes you into the house. The entire railing fell off.
• Chosen thought: “I need to chill and take a deep breath. Before she go the garage, she remembered how important it is to have a good relationship with her granddaughter.
• Feeling: Somewhat jittery, but happy that she hadn’t gotten angry at her granddaughter.
• Action: Tells her granddaughter, “I was planning to take the railing off anyway. All is well. So thank you’s are in order!”
• Result: Mandy and her granddaughter go into the house and over tea and cookies, Mandy tells her granddaughter stories about her first few years of driving.❄️

Pearl Four

I’ve only just cracked this book open, but I was excited to see that the book has over 300,000 4.5 reviews and it just came out in January 2025. None of this isTrue by an author who has a immense fan base. Apparently this book is one of Lisa Jewell’s best jewel. Also, I love how I was immediately drawn into story from the first page. Tasty book-dessert.

Pearl Five

The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”❄️

Jalaluddin Rumi

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Have a peaceful week!

♥, Wendy

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