Leveraging what you believe in, and the people that you love, to sustain behaviour change

We are sold interventions to lose weight from the starting position that we are somehow defective and a problem to be fixed.

Following diet plans and routines designed by others has the implicit message that we are not to be trusted to steer our own behaviour change and are somehow deficient.

I disagree: we are perfectly human, living in a brain and body which we did not choose, and which evolved to thrive in circumstances vastly different from the one we now find ourselves in.

Our body is perfectly evolved to succeed in environments where food can be scarce and when we need to walk throughout the day to find it.

Our older reptile and mammal brains have the newer human brain overlaid on top and these amazing brains are unique in our world and are the reason we are the dominant species.

However, the interplay between the two can also be 'tricky', for example, our brain can't distinguish between a picture of food on TV or our phone screen and the availability of food in real life - hence why food advertising is so effective!

So when we are living with overweight in this obesogenic environment it isn't our fault - we are not deficient and we are not to blame. And, we are responsible for taking wise action to maintain our physical and emotional health because this brain and body is the only place we have to live.

Compassionate Nutrition fuels behaviour change through kindness and self care: by calling on the things that you believe in and the people whom you love then aligning your health behaviours to honour these. This produces a sustainable approach to health behaviour change by orientating our daily life in ways that align with our values and unique place in the world.

Let's do this.