Letting joy in

This is a magical stack of sourdough pancakes with sausage, eggs, watercress, daikon radishes and red onions towered on top.  My partner made it for my birthday weekend breakfast a few days ago.  And, I almost didn't let it happen.

Recently, when we asked some women what the words anti-diet meant to them, they said words like anti-rigidity and sigh of relief.  I completely agree with these words and feelings, so much so, that they actually flashed through my brain when I was having a particularly rigid moment last weekend.

Brief backstory: last month, two professionals advised me to stay away from gluten due to an acute skin condition.  This made sense to me based on the inflammatory effects gluten can have on the system as a whole and based on the specifics of the condition.  I told myself, "It's a therapeutic adjustment to my diet, not a "diet" diet.  People do all kinds of therapeutic diets under the care of professionals for a variety of conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, etc."

And this is true.  A therapeutic diet is a totally separate thing and Love Body is not opposed to medically necessary, therapeutic diets.  But then I asked myself, "How necessary is this?  Am I being too rigid?  Is this condition perhaps created by a kind of rigidity, a kind of inflammatory resistance to the current circumstances of my life?"

And in the moment that I almost refused my birthday pancake miracle (which probably doesn't even have much gluten anyway due to the fermentation process), I realized that I needed to let go of that rigidity and embrace Love Body wholeheartedly.  If I thought I was really in danger of a serious condition, of course I would do what I needed to do, but this wasn't the case here.  I was temporarily reverting back to a rigid way of being.  Because the principles of Love Body are so deeply ingrained in me and because we are constantly talking to other women about their experiences with their bodies and with eating and dieting, I was able to catch myself, release the rigidity and move on with joy and freedom.  And sometimes joy and freedom means choosing a pancake tower.  It was delicious and I felt a sigh of relief when I allowed it to come into my life.

Want to join us for a conversation about choice, anti-diet, self-love and togetherness?  Conversations with Women is taking place Sunday, February 23rd from 10:30am-12pm.  We'd love to have you!  

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