Do your current eating habits make you want to change your relationship with food? You’ve come to the right place. Read on to learn about 5 steps you can take to improve your relationship with food.
Our life experiences shape our current relationships with food. Maybe you’ve adopted some habits from your parents, caregivers, or siblings. Or maybe you’ve developed some of your own tendencies due to a diet or even trauma. Over time, our relationships with food evolve into what they are today.
Sometimes the relationship that remains is not necessarily beneficial. Fortunately, this can be changed. By getting to know your habits and tendencies, breaking them down, and introducing new ones that bring balance, you can fundamentally change your relationship with food.
I Want to Change My Relationship with Food
First of all, pat yourself on the back for simply having this revelation and seeking support. Change is never easy, and the hardest part is simply accepting that it is necessary. So, you’re off to a good start!
When embarking on a journey like this, it’s important to prepare for success by exercising self-compassion from the start. Essentially, cut yourself some slack. As we’ve already discussed, our current relationships with food develop over years, not days. Is it reasonable, therefore, to assume that your relationship with food will change overnight? Of course not. Be gentle with yourself, expect speed limits, and remember that change takes time.
5 Steps to Change Your Relationship with Food
Below are the 5 best tips I can give you to improve your relationship with food. They will guide you through the many aspects of your relationship and show you how to rebuild each one. Remember, take it slow. I don’t recommend tackling all 5 steps at once! Start with one or two, then move on to another when you feel ready.
Let’s get started!
Practice Mindful Eating
Here at Nutrition Stripped, we believe there are two key aspects of a good daily diet: what you eat and how you eat. The concept of mindful eating is more about how you eat than what or how much you eat. It’s about refocusing on the experience of eating.
Start experiencing your food and be present when you consume your meals and snacks. Remember, eating isn’t a chore, a job, or a means of control. It’s a way to nourish your physical body, experience or share culture, and much more. Learn more about the specific principles of mindful eating here. By simply following this one step, you’ll find yourself changing your relationship with food before you know it.
Stop Following Trendy Diets and Detoxes
This is a biggie. Just don’t do it. I promise you, it won’t serve you well. Diets are supposed to get you healthy again. They put you in what I call the diet cycle. It’s the cycle of being „on track“ and „off track.“
Once you stop engaging in these trends, you’ll be able to develop consistency. You’ll be able to nourish yourself in a way that’s suitable for your unique body, not someone else’s. Remember: Nutrition trends are a marketing tool, they’re a business. To change your relationship with food, you need to leave the diet cycle behind.
Take Away the Food Rules
Next, you should turn food rules upside down. Don’t eat this and don’t eat that, or else that’s right and that’s wrong. That’s not how food works, especially if you want to have 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 need to leave the food rules behind. When you hear that you should adhere to a food rule or even recite it, take a moment to pause. Ask yourself, „Is this a food rule?“ How can I maintain balance with my eating without following this rule?“ Over time, you won’t need to pause. You will have changed your relationship with food, and these rules will no longer serve you.
Consistently Prioritize Both Nutrition and Enjoyment
We absolutely need both. To promote our physical, mental, and emotional health, both enjoyment and nutrition need to be a priority. When we talk about nutrition, we mean foods that physically nourish your body. When we say enjoyment, we mean foods that bring you pleasure, regardless of their nutrient content.
If you can ensure that the vast majority of your meals and snacks prioritize these two factors, you’re well on your way to changing your relationship with food. You won’t feel deprived, and eating won’t feel like a chore. Food will become a pleasant and relaxed part of your life!
Try the Foundational Five System to easily provide both nourishment and enjoyment in your meals.
Stop Thinking of Food as Either Good or Bad
This is quite important in regularly prioritizing both nutrition and enjoyment. If you constantly feel like you’re eating „bad“ food when you consume enjoyable items, you’ll constantly be plagued by guilt and shame. Additionally, if you always feel like you „should“ be consuming nutrient-dense foods, eating will feel like a chore.
Take the morality out of the equation to change your relationship with food. Consider food as simple nourishment, as enjoyment, or as a combination of both. That’s it! Initially, this may lead you to self-correct or occasionally remind yourself, but before you know it, this will become your reality.
The Takeaway
It’s possible to change your relationship with food. It just takes a few simple steps and some dedication. Anyone can have a positive, balanced relationship with food. Sometimes it just takes a little support!
Want to Experience More Balance in Your Food Choices?
Then find out your balanced nutrition type!
Take this 45-second free quiz to discover which balanced nutrition archetype you are and what your unique type needs to maintain balance with the way you eat. This way, you can finally break free from food and diet obsession, maintain a balanced weight, and foster a positive relationship with food and your body.
