Written By: Kate Clark, from Nourishing Minds Nutrition and The Rooted Place

In case you couldn’t tell from the shiny red heart shaped decor that is quickly growing throughout your local grocery store, Valentine’s day is on the way.

I know, some of you just threw out an eye roll.

Traditional marketing has you convinced that this day is about using cherry filled chocolates and lacey lingerie to prove that you are worthy of someone else’s love.

As if our self-worth is in the hands of a partner or a crush.

How confusing?

They have tragically forgotten that we are in charge of this, completely.We don’t need to count how many candy grams we’ve received to determine our worth. We cultivate this self-empowerment all on our own.

Let this be the year that you decide to love you. To be enough, for you.

Look, do whatever you want on the 14th. But, in addition to your plans, let this day be a reminder of how important it is to cultivate LOVE within yourself, for yourself.

This is not relationship advice. This is soul searching guidance, my dear.

You can love up on yourself daily in so many ways. Here are just a few favorites:

Little love letters stuck to your mirror

Hanging up your own art

Hanging up someone else’s art that speaks to you

Taking an extra 15 minutes in the warm shower

Order the fancy kind of coffee

Masturbate

Dress up

Dress down

Feed yourself

Bake yourself fun foods

Trash your kitchen just to make dinner for one

Buy edible flowers to garnish your toast, only so you can eat them seconds later…

The list goes on!

As you can see, self-love can melt into self-care… so, what does that tell you?

That self-care IS SELF-LOVE??

Oh. Heck. Yes.

Self-love can be as extraordinary as planning a solo vacation across the globe, and as frugal as feeding your hungry self.

It’s true; just by satisfying your hunger cues and listening to your body, you are strengthening the trust within it. You are telling your body and your mind “I love you”.

There is no act of love more primal than being fed.

So, if nothing else, can we just hang onto this one this year; Feeding ourselves?

I know it can be hard to consistently feed yourself in an organized way each and every day, life happens. That’s why I am such a big fan of meal prep.

Before you roll your eyes for a second time, I want to challenge you to reframe your thoughts on meal prep.

I’m not talking about perfectly stacked Tupperware with exactly ½ cup of bland ass brown rice in each corner and 2 tablespoons of almonds in zip-lock snack bags. I’m simply talking about the literal preparation of meals… this is a very broad term!

There are many different ways you can do such a thing.

HERE ARE A FEW IDEAS

Troll through Pinterest and pick out 3 main dishes you want to make.

Then, ask yourself:

“What can I do today to make these 3 meals easier for my future self to complete this week?”

Possible answers:

Go to the grocery store to get what I don’t already have.
Wash all fresh ingredients so they are ready to go.
Gather ingredients and keep them in separate piles in the fridge or pantry.
Chop up half (or all) fresh ingredients and organize all other ingredients in the pantry.
Soak/ marinate/ chop… do the rest on the day of the meal
Complete meal 1 and organize ingredients for meals 2 & 3
Complete all 3 meals tonight and heave them ready to heat and serve

The possibilities are seriously endless! The point is to make it easier for your future self to honor your future hunger needs. This is not meant to be rigid and should still give you 100% freedom to follow your cravings as an intuitive eater.

Not a meal-plany-person?

Neither am I.

I like to cook bulk staples and then let my creative-self put together the meal on the spot. I also only cook and feed myself, so, I find this easier. If you have to feed a large family than this might not be as convenient for you, but it might be perfect, too!

Options for this style of meal prep:

Buying/soaking/cooking 2-3 types of:

· carbs (pasta, rice, quinoa, buckwheat, orzo…)

· proteins (lentils, beans, chicken breast, ground beef, burgers…)

· fats (cheese, avocado, nuts, nut butters…)

· fun foods (date balls, banana bread, energy muffins, trail mix…)

This is a great way to make your grocery list as well. In addition to the 2-3 items you make of each category, remember that you will also have things in your pantry to fill the gaps.

BOTH options are intuitive!!!

I know that as someone who is learning to follow their hunger and honor their cravings that you may not end up wanting what you prepared in advance. For these situations, you have so many options! You can take one bite of what you prepped and see if your taste buds changed their mind. You can put the meal in the freezer and start over with a new one, or grab take out if that is in your budget. You can add or take away from the meal that you have already prepared in advance and turn it into a whole new thing (ex: turkey burgers turned into meat sauce for pasta). You could meal swap with a roommate or friend. The possibilities are again, endless.

Most importantly, you must GIVE yourself permission to not eat what you have prepared if you truly do not want it and would not enjoy it. Just because you have meal prepped, does not mean that rules are now involved. You are an intuitive eater; you get to do whatever the f*ck you want to do with your food and eating.That is the best part about practicing intuitive eating!!!

With all this being said, anything to help your future self be less hangry and allow her to satisfy her needs is incredible. That might mean you just make yourself a pot of rice and figure the rest out as you go. That might mean you subscribe to a food delivery service for the month or the year. Anything helps, babe. Your future self deserves it.

Show that girl some love.