Coat: H&M (similar here and here); Jeans: AGolde; Shoes: Free People (similar here and here)
Have you heard of The Archetype Diet?
It was created by Dana James, a triple certified nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner and cognitive behavioural therapist. She’s the real deal, I mean, she’s worked with Margot Robbie. I’m constantly reading books and nutrition is one of my favourite topics, so when I stumbled on The Archetype Diet in the recommended section in Audible, I was intrigued.
Interesting doesn’t even scratch the surface. The Archetype Diet is, in my opinion, one of the most eye-opening nutrition books I’ve read. And upon reading it, I knew I had to get Dana on my podcast (one of my favourite interviews to date). I also knew that I had to do a blog post on the top 4 things I learned from The Archetype Diet.
1. It goes beyond food
Have you ever wondered why we have a certain relationship with food? Perhaps you’ve caught yourself not wanting to go to the beach because you had a slice of cake the day before, or perhaps you constantly indulge in some dark chocolate and wine at the end of the day because you ‘deserve it’. We all have certain food habits, and they are a result of our archetypes. Our archetypes are where we derive our sense of self from. Dana identifies 4 archetypes and how each archetype relates to food and why. By addressing these problems on a psychological level, you can change your relationship to food.
2. I’m the Wonder Woman Archetype
…and am prone to high cortisol levels and the need to get everything done. Wonder Women archetypes base their entire sense of self on their achievements, which makes them really Type A. When out of balance, this can lead to high cortisol levels and eventual adrenal fatigue. Upon reading the dangers of this sort of behaviour, I’ve made it my mission to control stress.
3. I was severely out of balance
As I read the part about an out of balance Wonder Woman, I felt like Dana was talking directly to me. Every single thing that she said – rejecting human connection, anger when my schedule was a tiny bit off, feeling too guilty to take time off – resonated so much. It’s like she’d crawled into my mind. Too often, I tend to completely reject my social life because I get too caught up in my work. And it leads to isolation – completely self-inflicted isolation. And no matter how well I do my work, it feels like there’s a void. When I read this chapter, I decided to make a major change. Do nothing. Go out more. Watch TV. Not turn everything into a military-like routine.
4. You can eat healthy and still gain wait
There are so many variables to weight-gain. One of them is the myth that as long as you eat healthy, you won’t gain weight. That just isn’t true. Even if you’re eating the right things, how much you’re eating does matter. Dana talks about how to figure out the portions of your meals in her book, along with a great tip on portion sizes for snacks.
5. The link between weight gain and emotion
Although emotions cannot be measured, Dana explains that there is a link between unexpressed emotions and weight gain. This can be from childhood trauma that you’re holding on to, or residual anger from a fight with a loved one. Point is, emotions have a direct link to fat loss/weight gain.
There were so many more amazing lessons in her book that I could keep going forever, but think of this as a mini summary. In short, if you’re looking to truly get to the bottom of your food issues, give her book a read. It’s one of the best nutrition books I’ve read.
PS – also check out why I write morning pages and an easy hack for creating habits.