An unhealthy relationship with food can develop for a variety of reasons. Many have a complicated relationship with food, whether their parents or caregivers were dieters for a long time or they just picked up on the many messages of the $946 billion global diet industry.
In reality, eating disorders are more widespread than you might assume. More than 28 million Americans will suffer from an eating disorder at some point, beginning as young as five. Even if your actions do not meet the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder, you can still suffer from disordered eating patterns.
For example, you may feel guilty about consuming particular meals or not selecting “healthy” options. Or limit your food consumption during the week and binge over the weekend; this keeps you trapped in the same eating patterns and habits that cause tension and anxiety.
Fixing an unhealthy relationship starts with changing how you look at things and how you generally eat. Eating is both nourishing and pleasurable. It’s a necessary part of life and an unforgettable event. You’ve come to the proper place if this is different.
Employ the following practices to build self-compassion, enjoyment, and food acceptance:
This information is not meant to replace medical advice. If you are suffering from any type of eating disorder, we recommend getting professional help.
Reconsider Your Food Terminology
Words have tremendous power. The more you tell yourself a message, the more it will influence your thoughts, decisions, and behaviors.
If you consume dangerous phrases, stress hormones flood your circulation and nervous system. Chronic stress alters your brain’s wiring, affecting your thinking and acting.
Words play a significant role in your connection with food. Consider how you define terms like “good” (to describe a piece of fruit) against “terrible” (to describe a bowl of chips). While one item may be nutritionally superior to another (apple vs. potato chips), that doesn’t mean it has to be ethically superior or reflect on whether you are excellent or evil as a person.
Some people might be more likely to count calories and do other extreme forms of dieting if certain foods sound bad; this exacerbates your unhealthy relationship with food, generating even more tension and anxiety.
To begin healing, seek to remove statements that attribute moral significance to food. Here’s an extensive list of terms that may not affect your connection with food yet can be harmful:
Clean
cheating/cheating day
Splurge
Guilt-free
Can’t/shouldn’t
Bad
Fattening
Off-limits
Instead, add new terms to your lexicon that foster an enjoyable and pleasurable relationship with food:
Satisfying
Tasty
Flavorful
Nourishing
Delicious
Refreshing
Concentrate on the Mind-Body Connection
In theory, intuitive eating is simple: pay attention to your hunger and fullness signs and choose the food you want. Yet, intuitive eating might be challenging to implement if you have an unhealthy relationship regarding food.
For example, suppose you’ve learned to suppress your hunger to limit your calorie consumption. In that case, you might not recognize when you’re genuinely hungry. Conversely, if you frequently reach for food that harms your body to cope with unpleasant feelings, you reinforce the belief that you cannot trust yourself.
Also, it can be difficult to eat “intuitively” if some meals cause discomfort, such as bloating or stomach distress.
It would help if you practiced mindful eating, and awareness of the mind-body connection is essential. Awareness of your hunger cues and meal choices allows you to honor your body’s needs while still feeling fulfilled. This approach to eating promotes flexibility and happiness over rigidity and restriction while simultaneously taking care of your health.
Listening to this inner guidance with mindfulness is effective. Your body understands what it wants, when it wants it, and how much it wants it. This training includes learning to tune into that and then trusting it.
Tuning into your body might be challenging, but Pilates and breathwork can aid with this aspect of your healing.
Assess Your Personal Food Story
Everyone has attitudes, beliefs, habits, rituals, and culinary preferences. Many variables influence these, including where you are born, the culture in which you were raised, and the societal messages you assimilate throughout your life.
A food story is complex and multi-layered, so it’s essential to understand where yours came from and how it influences your relationship with food now. Healing the parts of your food story that no longer serve you will free up space for you to write a new, honest one.
Start by writing down your food narrative or sharing it with someone you trust. Consider your relationships, tales, and experiences with food when you were 5, 10, 15, and so on. At each stage of life, ask yourself:
Did I discover a new food-related belief or story?
Can I recall a specific (good or unpleasant) food-related memory?
What have I been taught about food?
Use this as a starting point and seek extra professional assistance if it feels beneficial or essential.
Increase Stress Awareness
Stress, regardless of its source, can affect your relationship with food. Stress can cause both overeating and undereating. When you eat a lot because you’re stressed, it’s less important to listen to your body and what it needs and more important to use food to deal with stress.
Becoming more aware of what causes stress and how you behave in certain situations can help you replace food with more supportive coping techniques. On the other hand, recognizing stress in the moment can be challenging. Begin by allotting time at the end of the day to reflect. While doing so, consider the following:
Was I stressed or anxious in any way?
If so, what triggered that emotion? Is it a person? Is it a situation?
As a result, how, if at all, did I cope with food?
With this understanding, you can begin to be more alert in challenging situations in the future. As tension or anxiety sneaks in, you can notice it and utilize a supportive method to ease yourself out of it, such as purposeful breathing or light exercise.
Employ a Grace Above Guilt mentality.
Repairing your connection with food necessitates transforming how you think about and handle food, which influences your behavior and relationship. This type of transformation only occurs after some time. It took years, if not decades, to create your unhealthy relationship with food, so healing will also take time.
Sometimes, you revert to old destructive patterns of food relationships. It’s natural to gravitate toward what feels familiar or comfortable, even if it’s upsetting or stressful. When this happens, concentrate on grace and let go of the guilt; this will help you connect with more self-compassion, but it will also help you relieve tension and worry that may be affecting your relationship with food.
The process of change is nonlinear. Accept the beauty of the journey to create a new reality for yourself.
You Can Repair Your Bad Food Connection
It is impossible to let go of food-related habits and ideas; this requires profound healing and patience in many situations, so reaching out for help is beneficial. Here’s a fantastic place to start regarding your relationship with food.
Use these tactics to help you establish a new, loving, guilt-free relationship with food. At the same time, you work on repairing your dysfunctional connection with food. You deserve it, and it’s entirely within your grasp!