How to Change Your Relationship with Food
Are your current eating habits prompting a desire to change your relationship with food? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to learn about the 5 steps you can take to heal your relationship with food.
Our life experiences shape our current relationships with food. Perhaps you’ve picked up some habits from your parents, caregivers, or siblings. Or you might have developed certain tendencies as a result of diets or even traumas. Over time, our relationships with food evolve and develop into what they are today.
Sometimes, the relationship that has stuck with us isn’t necessarily beneficial. Luckily, this can be changed. By learning about your habits and tendencies, breaking them down, and implementing new ones that embody balance, you can change your relationship with food forever.
I Want to Change My Relationship with Food
First and foremost, pat yourself on the back for simply making this discovery and seeking support. Change is never easy, and the hardest part is simply accepting that it’s necessary. So, you’ve already made an excellent start!
When embarking on this journey, it’s important to set yourself up for success using self-compassion right from the beginning. Essentially, relax. Just as we discussed earlier, our current relationships with food develop over years, not days. Keeping this in mind, does it make sense to expect that you’ll change your relationship with food overnight? Of course not. Stay relaxed, expect setbacks, and remember, changes take time.
5 Steps to Change Your Relationship with Food
Below are the 5 best pieces of advice we can give you to heal your relationship with food. They will guide you through many aspects of your relationship and teach you how to rebuild each of them. Remember, take it slowly. We don’t recommend trying to tackle all 5 steps at once! Start with one or two, then move on to the next when you feel confident.
1. Practice Mindful Eating
We believe there are two important aspects of good eating every day: what you eat and how you eat. The concept of mindful eating is more about how you eat, not necessarily what or how much you eat. It’s all about bringing your focus back to your experience during meals. Begin to experience your food and be present when you eat your meals and snacks. Remind yourself that food isn’t a job and isn’t a means of control. It’s a way to nourish your physical body, experience or share culture and much more. You can learn more about the specific principles of mindful eating here. If you simply follow this step, before you know it, you’ll change your relationship with food.
2. Stop Following Diet Trends and Detox Juices
This is a big one. Diets are designed for you to return, they put you in something we call the diet cycle. It’s the on-track vs. off-track cycle. The moment you stop jumping into these trends, you’ll be able to develop consistency. You’ll be able to eat in a way that works for your unique body, not someone else’s. Remember, diet trends are a marketing tool, they’re a business. To change your relationship with food, you’ll need to leave the diet cycle behind.
3. Let Go of Food Rules
Next, put food rules aside. Stop eating this, not that, or this is right, and that is wrong. Food doesn’t work that way, especially when you want a balanced, positive relationship with food. Food rules are restrictive and controlling. They leave you feeling deprived, stressed, and even ashamed. If you want to change your relationship with food, you’ll need to leave food rules behind. If and when you catch yourself adhering to or even reciting a food rule, take a moment to pause. Ask yourself, “Is this a food rule? How can I maintain balance with food without adhering to this rule?”. Over time, you won’t need to pause. You’ll change your relationship with food, and those rules won’t serve you anymore.
4. Consistently Prioritize Both Nourishment and Enjoyment
We absolutely need both. To nurture our physical, mental, and emotional health, enjoyment and nourishment have to be a priority. When we say nourishment, we mean food that physically fuels your body. When we say enjoyment, we mean food that brings you joy, regardless of their nutritional content. If you can ensure that the majority of your meals and snacks prioritize both of these factors, you’re on the path to changing your relationship with food. You won’t feel deprived, and you won’t see food as an obligation. Food will become an enjoyable, easy part of your life!
5. Stop Thinking of Food as Good or Bad
To consistently prioritize both nourishment and enjoyment, this is pretty important. If you constantly feel like you’re eating “bad” food whenever you eat indulgent food, you’ll always be filled with guilt and shame. Additionally, if you always feel like you “should” eat nourishing food, you’ll perceive food as a burden. Take morality out of the equation to change your relationship with food. Start thinking of food as simple enjoyment. That’s it! Initially, this might require you to correct yourself or occasionally remind yourself, but before you know it, this will become your reality.