Weight Loss and a Healthy Relationship with Food

Okay, friend. This email may hit close to home, but I promise it's all out of love and a place of hope that you will succeed, reach your goals and live a healthier, happier life.

Weight Loss Tip #14 - assess your relationship with food

At a very young age, we begin building our relationship with food. Maybe your childhood memories of food involve your mom’s home cooked meals, sitting at the table with your family and asking each other about how things went during their day at work or school.

Or may your earlier memory of food is less positive. Maybe you remember your parents commenting on your weight negatively at meal times, being hurt by people comments or even attending Weight Watchers meetings as early as 12 or 13 years of age.

Our experiences mold us so much that we may not even recognize that our relationship with food is less than optimal.

​ ​Some questions to ask yourself:

How often do you feel guilty about what you eat?

Do you avoid certain foods or food groups due to fear that they will cause you to gain weight?

Do you have a long list of rules surrounding food?

Do you eat when you are hungry and stop when you're satisfied?

Do you make food choices based on foods you enjoy?

Do you trust that if you eat when you're hungry and stop when you are satisfied that you will be able to maintain your weight?

Do thoughts about food, weight and dieting take more of your focus than important aspects of your life like relationships and work?

Is your diet balanced with a combination of "healthy foods" and "fun foods"?

If you noticed a trend in your answers above, you may benefit from working on your relationship with food. ​ ​ ​ ​What does it mean to have a healthy relationship with food?

Just like any other relationship in your life, a better relationship with food must be something we nurture over time. It takes effort, time, and mental energy. ​ A positive relationship with food includes giving yourself permission to consume foods without extreme rules and avoidance. It looks like removing typical labels like “good” and “bad” from foods. Avoiding the term “I can’t have that” or depriving yourself from entire food groups.

​ Some tips to improving your relationship with food:

• Don't consider any foods off-limits. Food avoidance only leads to feelings of deprivation and is not sustainable. ​

• Listen and respect your body's natural hunger cues. Eat when you begin to feel hungry and stop eating when you feel satisfied. ​

• Choose foods that make you feel your best - focus on how foods affect your energy level and how you feel mentally and physically following meals. ​

• Remind yourself that you are not defined by the foods you eat (or the foods you avoid). ​

• Enjoy all foods in moderation. ​

• Practice mindful eating - be fully present in your eating experience

Though it may seem impossible to take some of these steps towards a healthier relationship with food, it is possible to get to a state in which food no longer controls you and instead fuels your body and well-being.

As you navigate your relationship with food, remember that food isn’t inherently good or bad. It’s the labels you put on it that give it power.

My challenge for you this week is to assess your relationship with food. Recognize when you are having negative thoughts around food and shift your self-talk in a more positive direction. Make a conscious effort to implement the tips above one day at a time.

If you need help improving your relationship with food, reply to this email and I'd love to help! ​

I'm here for you and I believe in you! See you next week.