Some people have a lifelong struggle with their eating habits and body image.
Self-doubt gets exacerbated by unreliable sources, telling us how we should look and how we can fix our flaws.
All of this leads to a terrible relationship with food that can impact our long-term health and wellness.
Fixing your relationship with food isn’t easy, but it’s worth it.
Here are ten tips for creating a healthy relationship with food and learning to love yourself.
Focus on Adding, Not Subtracting
One of the main problems with dieting and diet culture is that it promotes restriction and subtraction.
The focus is always on what you can’t eat, which starts the whole process off on a negative tone and sets you up for failure time and time again.
Think of it as the culinary equivalent of telling someone not to look down.
The moment you tell someone they can’t have something, that’s all they think about.
Instead of taking things away from your diet, focus on adding new food.
Set goals to increase your lean protein intake and add veggies to each meal. Build on your goals to do a little better than yesterday.
Over time, you’ll naturally start to replace your problem foods without feeling like you can never eat them again.
Learn the Basics
Take some time to learn what your body really needs from someone who isn’t trying to sell you something.
All fad diets are derived from nutritional truths.
However, they’re presented in a way that isn’t necessarily healthy or sustainable.
Instead of hating carbs because you were told to, read about what they do for your energy levels and cognitive function.
Before putting butter in your coffee, read about the different types of fat, and how much your body needs to thrive.
When working to improve your body, your strongest asset will always be your brain.
Fill the Gaps
Do some research and get some screening done to determine which areas need some work.
Even with a well-rounded diet, plenty of people have vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
For example, a common deficiency is Omega-3s, which can be improved by taking krill oil supplements.
There are many krill oil benefits that support long-term health and nourishment.
Other supplements worth investigating include powdered greens, vitamin B12, and even a simple multivitamin.
Starting to make improvements here will support your progress as you fix your relationship with food.
Practice Mindful Eating
One of the reasons Western civilization has such a problem with eating habits is speed.
Eastern cultures are slower-paced and take their time when eating.
In other words, they practice mindful eating at every meal.
Challenge yourself to practice mindful eating by:
- Removing distractions and focusing entirely on your food;
- Slowing down by setting down your utensils or taking a sip of water between bites;
- Thinking about how your food tastes;
- Chew five more times before swallowing each bite; and
- Stopping when you start to feel full.
Exercising mindful eating helps you get back in touch with your damaged hunger cues and reconnect with your meals.
You can also practice mindfulness when indulging in pizza night with the family or a social outing with friends.
Establishing a healthy relationship with food means being able to enjoy food without being emotionally reliant on it.
Break the Guilt Cycle
People who struggle with food tend to experience a guilt cycle.
This phenomenon occurs when someone has an all-or-nothing mindset about their food.
This mindset leads to thoughts like, “I’ve already messed up my diet, so I might as well keep going.”
When you indulge or feel guilty about eating, the best thing you can do is forget about it.
Make your next meal or next day a good one and get back on track.
One bad day isn’t going to hurt you any more than one good day is going to solve your problems.
Get the Whole Family Involved
Getting buy-in from your household is an integral part of repairing your relationship with food.
Furthermore, it helps prevent you from passing along the challenges you’ve faced to the next generation.
Involve your kids in the process by empowering them to choose a new food or recipe each week.
Try new things together and set goals to learn new culinary skills.
Set household rules that nutritious foods have to be consumed before treats and remove temptation whenever possible.
Drink More Water
Your brain is a complex organism that sometimes gets its wires crossed.
Oftentimes when we feel tired or hungry, our brain is mixing up thirst signals.
Drinking water throughout the day improves feelings of fullness and aids in digestion.
You can start tracking your water intake every day before you start to change your eating habits.
Set a goal of drinking a minimum of 64 ounces each day. If you’re feeling hungry or tired, have a full glass of water and wait 20 minutes.
Then, re-evaluate your feelings.
Create Limitations and Boundaries
The best way to make things easier for yourself is to make things harder. Crazy, right?
Make it harder to give in to indulgences and craving by limiting your access to your trigger foods.
You can do this by leaving the food on the store shelf.
Whenever you want a bit of candy or a bag of chips, buy a small, single-serving package rather than a family-size bag that you’ll end up eating.
Using this strategy with mindful eating will help you identify when a craving is just that or when it’s worth the inconvenience of pursuing it.
Ditch the Scale
Having a broken relationship with food and access to a scale is a toxic combination. It creates obsessive thoughts and damaging behaviors.
Be your own best friend and throw out the scale.
If you have weight loss goals, use other metrics to track your progress.
Your energy levels, how your clothing fits, and your confidence are effective indicators of progress and more conducive to a healthy mindset.
Learn to Love Your Body
Finally, learn to love your body, even if you’re not where you want to be.
Your body is a powerful vessel that faces the world each day and takes you where you need to go.
Once you start to love yourself, it gets easier to treat yourself well.
Use positive affirmations, personal development work, and counseling to fall in love with yourself.
Fixing your relationship with food will take time and effort, but breaking free from the diet cycle is worth every moment.