Finding Joy in Food - Heal Your Relationship With Food
By: Kendra Bittner, LPC
The weight of what to choose to have for a snack, lunch, dinner, or breakfast is heavy. You quickly label things as “good” or “bad” food. The guilt creeps up and overwhelms you if you have had too much or the “wrong” foods. It’s overwhelming your day-to-day and you’re ultimately not enjoying your relationship with food. It’s exhausting. You want to be finding joy in food again.
Improving Your Relationship With Food
It starts with education on the importance of nourishing our bodies. All bodies require a balanced intake of nutrients to function properly, to have sustainable energy, to promote physical and mental well-being, and weight management.
You might have tried different diets and ultimately, none of them have worked. Diets work in the short term and then lead to a vicious cycle of restriction. When we restrict food or a group of foods, we crave is even more, obsessing over it, and feel guilty if we let ourselves have that it. This can take up so much mental energy on a day-to-day basis that your whole life becomes about food, what to avoid, and what to eat. Ultimately, that increased stress drives us to eat whatever brings us comfort. Allowing our bodies to have all food groups promotes a healthier relationship with all foods, focusing on what each food group does to nourish our bodies. This mentality helps us focus less on food and more on life. It leaves more room for joy and excitement with food.
Assess your relationship with food. Are you often finding yourself labeling, focusing on good vs bad, and having thoughts of food taking up more of your day than you want? Then improving your relationship with food is a valuable step toward a healthier and more balanced approach to eating and living. Are you ready to start finding joy in food again?
Steps To Start Finding Joy Again
Establishing a Support System
Connect with family, friends, and support groups who are supportive and promote a healthy relationship with food. Working with a therapist and dietitian who specialize in disordered eating patterns, intuitive eating, and promoting a positive relationship with ALL foods can help you address underlying emotional issues around food.
Stop Labeling
Foods are neither, “good,” nor, “bad.” Shifting to having a variety of food throughout the day, and yes that includes sugar and carbs, will eventually allow you to enjoy the foods you’re eating.
Eating Meals and Snacks Throughout the Day
Your need nourishment throughout the day just to survive. Working with your dietitian to understand what this looks like for your individual needs.
Practice Intuitive Eating
Listening to your body’s hunger and fullness cues. Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re comfortably satisfied. Internally listening to your body and being mindful of yourself.
Intuitive Eating Resources here
Cultivate Mindful Eating
Slow down, savor each bite, and engage with your senses. Notice the flavors, textures, and smells of the food. This will enhance your enjoyment of meals and help you tune into your cues of hunger and fullness.
Letting Go of Guilt and Judgment
No single meal or snack defines your overall health. Allow yourself to enjoy your favorite treats in moderation without judgment.
Focus On Nourishment
Shift your mindset towards viewing food as nourishment for your body. When everything becomes nourishment we can start to shift our mindset to what nourishment your body might need today. This helps decrease judgment and guilt.
Engage in Joyful Movement
when nourishing your body throughout the day, find physical activities that you genuinely enjoy, and feel good about taking care of your body rather than focusing on weight loss.
Practice Self-Compassion
As always, be kind to yourself throughout this process. Accept that your relationship with food will have ups and downs, and that’s okay! You have been taught from many different places what eating should and should not look like. Changing this is going to be tough.
Finding joy in food and improving your relationship will take time.
It has taken you this long to have your current relationship, it will take time to change that. Sustainable steps that challenge you but do not overwhelm you are key. And know when you need more support. You deserve to live less consumed by food and more engaged in life.