My story..

Having gone through first hand experience of health and body image struggles, I wanted to use this space to share some insights I have learned along the way. For today, I wanted to share a bit more about me (for those who care to read, thank you for being here!)

Before I became a dietitian, food was something I constantly struggled with. My palestinian roots naturally made me a pure lover of eating, but i was constantly preoccupied with how much I was eating, what I was eating and often found myself not able to STOP. I went through diet after diet, restricting my intake until I inevitably found myself in front of the fridge going to town on a leftover cake.. (true and sad story). Growing up in a naturally thin body, no one ever questioned my eating habits, but I continusoly felt the pressure to stay thin or be as thin as humanely possible.

This pattern persisted throughout my young adulthood and even throughout my dietetic degree, but with time and a lot of reflection, i learned the true meaning of nourishment. nourishing my body with nutrients to support my health didnt mean I could not eat any sweets/high fat foods etc. it simply meant I had those foods when I wanted them, not because I felt I couldnt have them.

You see, when I finally accepted that NO foods were off limits, I began to appreicate their inclusion in my diet - I could take a bite of the food, or eat a whole bowl and not feel out of control.

food is meant to provude us with sustenance, not make us tired or decline our health. once i started valuing myself and respecting my body, i changed the way I ate and lived. when we eat to look a certain way, we completley bypass the inherent knowledge/understanding of all our body does for us. rather than see it as a vessel to allow us to LIVE, we view it as US and build our value systems around it (rather than valuing the human the body holds).

Looking back at my younger self, I would tell her that she, regardless of her body, is deserving of love and respecct. She is more than her body.

The body and the soul. when we feel critical about who we are/insecure about who we are, we try so hard to control what we think we are. our physical appearance is not who we are, there is something deeper that we orverlook when we eat and move without intention.

so from all of this, all I am trying to say is - eating and moving your body is a form of self love. i love myself and I want to keep myself healthy and fit to be able to continue to share the beautiful light within myself.