Healing Your Relationship With Food
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If you have reached this article, it suggests that you have recognized the need to enhance your relationship with food. You may have come across intuitive eating or anti-diet nutrition and are interested in understanding how these concepts can benefit you. In this guide, we will explore the fundamentals and provide step-by-step instructions on improving your relationship with food.
Remember, improving your relationship with food is a journey that requires patience and self-compassion. Each step forward, no matter how small, brings you closer to a healthier and more harmonious connection with food.
What is a relationship with food?
A relationship with food includes your feelings, thoughts and actions with food. Our culture of dieting normalizes having a negative relationship with food and may even praise it. This can leave us confused as to what a positive relationship with food even looks or feels like.
How do I know my relationship with food needs some attention?
If you are finding the following things are happening quite often (one or more) it may be helpful to consider if you’d like some support working on your relationship to food:
Skipping meals (even though you are hungry)
Choosing only low-calorie foods
Meticulously reading labels and buying only foods with low sugar or fat or organic foods
Going off/ on diets for weight loss (yo-yo dieting)
Feeling chaotic with your eating – meals and snacks are not planned, grabbing food anytime you can, feeling stressed about it
Counting calories or macros
Beating yourself up about eating certain foods or amounts of food
Believing you are an emotional eater and feeling out of control with food
Keeping certain foods out of your house because you feel very out of control with them around
Trying to be “good” during the day and restricting and then feeling out of control with eating in the evening or on weekends
Not eating even if you’re hungry – trying to suppress hunger
Negative thoughts causing food choices and/or food choices leading to negative thoughts
What can a positive relationship with food look like?
A positive relationship with food is unique for each person and there are general similarities we can also find. Some common things I hear from people who find a positive relationship with food includes:
Eating regular meals and snacks
Allowing all foods into their diet – no restrictions
The negative thoughts about food and their body quiet down
Eating to fullness, sometimes more and sometimes less. Trusting their body to make up for the eating less/ more during the day and not stressing about it.
Planning some meals and also having flexibility in food choices
Feeling nourished – not hungry all day or ravenous when coming home
Having more calmness with food overall
Feeling little or no guilt or shame about eating certain foods
If you’re identifying with a lot of the things on the first list and wondering…. “what can I do to improve my relationship with food” stay tuned for the next blog post! In this post, I will share ideas to get you started on the healing process.
If you are ready to take action now, I am accepting new clients who live in Alberta.
You can use this booking link to book a free 30-minute connection call. In this call, we can chat about which areas you are wanting support in and it provides you the chance to ask any questions about my practice as well.
Meet Renee Little, RD
Working from the Health at Every Size™ and intuitive eating approach, Renee is a Registered Dietitian in Alberta who supports adults who want to heal from chronic dieting, disordered eating and eating disorders to fuel their ambitious life.