Feed What’s Real: A Trail Tool for Reclaiming Nourishment

We’ve been taught to talk about food in terms of control.

Good food. Bad food. Clean eating. Cheat days. As if your body is a machine, and your worth is calculated by what goes in.

But here’s the truth no diet culture ever told you: Food is a relationship. It’s how you care for your body. It’s how you honour your energy. It’s how you stay tethered to life when everything else feels untethered.

And for those of us with trauma histories or years of chronic stress, feeding ourselves—gently, regularly, with kindness—can be a radical act.

The Wild Way of Eating

In the wild, animals don’t count calories. They eat what nourishes. What satisfies. What’s available. They rest when full. They forage when hungry. They listen to instinct.

But many of us were taught to ignore that instinct. To override hunger.To eat what we “should” instead of what we need.To fear food.To see it as a transaction, not a relationship.

No wonder so many of us don’t feel safe in our own kitchens.

Nourishment Isn’t Just Nutrients

Food is also memory.

The toast that tastes like Sundays.The soup that got you through winter.The cup of tea that feels like a soft place to land.

It’s okay if your relationship with food is complicated. It’s okay if you’ve used food to cope. Or withheld it to feel in control. It’s okay if some days, just feeding yourself feels like a win.

Because it is.

Trail Tool: The “Check-In Before You Eat” Practice

This isn’t a rule. It’s a pause. A chance to listen inward instead of reaching outward.

Before your next meal or snack, ask yourself:

1. Am I hungry for food, or something else—rest, comfort, connection?

2. What would feel satisfying, not just healthy, but grounding?

3. Can I eat this with kindness, not judgment?

If that feels too much, just take one deep breath before your first bite. Let your nervous system know: We’re not rushing. We’re here now.

That moment of presence is the beginning of healing.

Feeding the Body You Live In

This pillar isn’t about eating perfectly. It’s about choosing nourishment over punishment. Listening over overriding. Care over control.

Whether you’re healing disordered eating, chronic stress, or years of self-neglect, food can become a place of return.

A place where you meet your body, not to fix it, but to feed it.

If food has felt like a battlefield or a burden, you’re not alone. Reach out if you'd like support unravelling the stories, shame, and patterns around nourishment—and building something softer in their place.

With warmth and wildness, Sarah x

BACP & NCPS Accredited Psychotherapist

Rewild your mind. Come home to yourself.