How To Repair Your Relationship With Food In 4 Easy Steps
- Emma Lisa
- Dec 5, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 21
How often have you begun a diet, only to end up feeling unhappy, eventually quitting, and then feeling guilty about it? Diets are often linked to goals like losing weight or building muscle, but they typically these aren't sustainable over time. If you have experienced this, the good news is that there is a more natural, practical, and achievable way to improve your relationship with food. Grab a pen and let's begin to repair your relationship with food together!
Repair Your Relationship With Food
Have you ever heard of intuitive eating? This approach to nutrition is steeped in self-care, and the secret sauce to helping you begin to repair your relationship with your plate. Becoming mor intuitively aware of your food cravings and hunger cues, beautifully intertwines the principles of self-care with the practise of healthy eating habits and conscious food choices, guiding you toward achieving your health goals without ever having to experience dieting, food restrictions, or the guilt that comes with 'sip-ups'.
Repairing your relationship with food begins with adopting this intuitive approach rather than succumbing to the pressures of restrictive diets, obsessively counting calories or adhering to rigid dietary "rules". As you will learn, intuitive eating encourages you to reconnect with your body's natural hunger cues and little whispers. You learn to trust your body to communicate its innate signals that indicate hunger and fullness, and by tuning in to these cues, you can make food choices that truly nourish you.
By breaking away from the cycle of restriction and traditional dieting, you can begin to heal the negative associations you may have with food, being more present and attentive to your body’s signals. This helps you to better understand what foods serve you, and which ones are detracting or sabotaging your best efforts. In a short matter of time, you can make more informed choices that better align with your personal health goals. Listening to your body and honouring its needs, is a game-changer and can ultimately leading to a more balanced and joyful life.
Here are some of the easiest ways that you can start eating more intuitively and begin to heal your relationship with your plate. I'd love to hear which ones you identify with, pop down in the comment to share your experiences.
Stop Ignoring Your Hunger Cues
Restrictive diets only ever focus on teaching you to ignore your body's natural hunger cues and demand that you to must eat smaller portions or avoid entire food groups to achieve your health or weight loss goals. But the truth is, hunger is your body's signal that it needs nourishing or a boost of energy, and I believe it is important to always pay close attention and honour your body's hunger cues. It'll teach you exactly how to separate hunger from emotional food cravings.
When you begin to work on distinguishing hunger from your emotional triggers, such as boredom, stress or sadness, it is simply wild how your weight and energy levels naturally begin to rebalance more effortlessly. When you pour into your body what is truly needs, instead of quick energy fixes or emotionally fuelled food choices, it's like the stars suddenly align. So, let's try this together right now and start to tune into your body. Breathe and try to figure out what it really needs or is asking you for right now, without judgement or automatically reaching for food. This might take a little bit of practice, but starting to listen to your body's hunger cues will help you give it exactly what it needs, not a Band-Aid.
"Good" Foods & "Bad" Foods
Oh how I wish this one would just die on the vine, there are no good or bad foods, just choices. The idea of good versus bad only re-enforces a toxic diet mindset of restriction, feelings of guilt, and only serves to further your negative relationship with food. It's time to let that negative thinking go, and start asking yourself whether the foods you choose to eat are serving your best self, instead of bad or good.
ASK YOURSELF THIS:
Does this bag of Doritos nourish or detract from your healthy eating efforts? It's an obvious answer, but stay with me. Now, ask yourself, will a few chips satisfy (if consumed with a healthier snack) rather than trying to restrict yourself only to eat the whole bag?
Another obvious answer, and that's a big yes. However, you don't need to ban everything that doesn't support your healthy eating goals, but you do need to eat more consciously. If you lead your food intake with prioritising nutrient-dense foods that nourish and support your health goals, eating less of the junk foods, you'll discover the perfect balanced approach. You can do this by only having a little taste, a few chips with your carrots and celery. If you practise this regularly, you've just successfully cut back on empty calories and junk food without sacrificing taste. Now, keep it going a few weeks, and you'll be surprised how the need and caving for Doritos fades into a thing of the past. Promise!
Identify Your Cravings
Have you ever been on a diet that made you eliminate all sugar, restricted carbs under 20 grams per day, or made you feel like the joy was sucked out of eating? I think we've all been there once or twice, maybe more. And it can feel like there's nothing you want more than to eat those "banned" foods when that are off-limits--hello, Domino's pizza and iced Frappuccino, my good friends.
I have some good news, though. If you really want to eat something on your banned list, it is okay to allow yourself to satisfy that craving--if you do this one thing first! Ask yourself if your body is really craving the food item or if you are actually experiencing an emotional craving. The serotonin-laced carb coma that comes with greasy pizza might be to help dull a stressful week, or maybe your iced Frapp is justified pick-me-up because your energy fell flat, hubby is MIA, and the kids are driving you nuts.
The hard truth, both are in fact, a mental escape. Food cravings are telling you something, and it's usually relatively easy to figure out where they're coming from when they pop up. Before you grab UberEats, tune into your body and see whether the cravings originate from; is it from feeling stressed or upset, being dehydrated, or feeling overtired and sleep-deprived. These stressors are common triggers for sugary, fatty, carb-rich food cravings. Knowing if they are underpinning your desire for KFC or a packet of TimTams, is a powerful step forward in repairing your relationship with food.
Food Is Nourishment, Not Punishment
I feel this one so strongly as a Nutritionist. The food you eat should never be viewed as a form of self-punishment or a reward if you want a healthier relationship with your plate. The notion that you must 'earn' your meals through hard exercise or by adhering to strict dietary rules is a toxic diet mindset, and a fast track to feelings of guilt and anxiety around eating. Instead, I encourage you to embrace food as a basic human need, a source of natural joy, and a means of building healthy, happy body.
When you shift your mindset away from the idea of food as a reward or punishment, you open yourself up to a more balanced and healthy approach to eating. This perspective allows you to start appreciating the joy of food again. It also leads to a greater awareness of how different foods make you feel, allowing you to make conscious food choices that better align with your health goals and preferences. It's time to start recognising that food is a source of nourishment, self-care and joy and begin to shed the negative, self-defeating diet mindset that has been holding you back from your goals and happiness.
Nutritionist Note
Did you recognise some of the ways you may be looking at food that could be holding you back? It takes a little self-reflections and inner work, however once you start working toward a more positive relationship with food, you'll see dramatic changes to your overall wellbeing, both physically and mentally. Come join this conversation in my free Facebook Community, I'd love to hear from you, just click here.
Emma Lisa, Women's Nutritionist & Recipe Creator
Emma Lisa is a Nutritionist & Women's Health Practitioner with over 14+ years experience in clean eating nutrition, meal planning and health coaching. She is a published cookbook author, passionate food recipe creator and lifestyle blogger, and an advocate for women's health and anti-diet culture. When she's not in clinic, Emma is mum to five kids, cooking in her test kitchen and a wellness digital creator. She lives in Sydney, Australia.
Healthy + happiness,
Emma Lisa xx
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Thank you for this, some great tips Em!!! Sara xx