BREAK UP WITH YOUR FOOD
Have you ever helped a friend get out of a toxic relationship, or with the process that followed thereafter?
Looking from the outside, in…it’s not always easy to understand why they chose to trust that person or be with that person for so long.
Toxic food relationships are similar in many ways…
Watch what happens when I replace “significant” other, with the word “food”:
Our food routine can provide us with a sense of comfort, stability, and happiness.
We attach our food with memories, good and bad.
We can love our food…we can hate our food. (We can love/hate our food)
Our food can be used as a distraction or as an unnecessary safety blanket.
Oftentimes, something in our past has motivated an unhealthy cycle. Maybe it was our upbringing: how we saw other people relate to their food growing up.
The biggest difference is that we actually need food to survive…regardless if your bursting heart “would just die” without a person in your life.
Most often, we formulate excuses for our behaviors…
As a server I encounter so much food negativity from customers on a daily basis.
And overcompensation to maintain a status.
Particularly from females.
Some even take special care to note how “they don’t eat like this every day” or how “this is a special occasion and they are going to treat themselves”.
A person with a good relationship doesn’t mind the “bad days” because the good days outweigh the bad.
Healthy compromise is an active aspect of the partnership.
A person with a good relationship doesn’t reason or make excuses if things go sour.
Reasoning implies guilt.
I can only imagine this guilt follows them around a lot…
(So much that they have to verbally address it to their server, a complete stranger.)
Fresh starts are underrated.
What’s holding you back?
We are always changing.
More so we always have the ability TO CHANGE.
And the best part is….
When you make it to the other side…
Like getting out of a bad human relationship
You’ll wonder what took you so long in the first place!
Check yourself:
Most of us know if we are in a bad food relationship, but one way to test this is to ask yourself these questions:
Do I reason with my eating behaviors?
Ex. I can eat this ice cream because I went to the gym today.
Ex. I deserve this because I’ve had a rough day…I’m on vacation…I am feeling sad for myself right now, etc. etc.
Has eating become a burden for me?
(Or on an opposite track, is the prospect of eating the most fulfilling aspect of your day because I lack fulfillment in other areas of my life?)
Does eating make me truly happy or do I use my eating behaviors as compensation for something else?
Do I fight with my food habits?
Do I make excuses for my choices when out with friends, on social media, around my roommates?
I answered yes to one or more of these questions…what’s next?
Not to toot my own horn but that’s part of what i do as a health coach. among many other things, we could work on ways to reverse the negativity surrounding your food relationship and build a better platform for you…
With gratitude,
Christina
* Side note: I know “bad relationships with food” can vary on many levels including, but not subject to, eating disorders. If your bad relationship with your food is significantly impacting your way of life to the point where living “normally” is a struggle, please seek help. This article is more geared towards recognition than any sort of medical diagnosis.