5 Mindset Shifts To Repair Your Relationship With Food

Do you have a good relationship with your food?

Let’s be honest, healthy is hard these days. There are so many health claims on what, how and when you should or shouldn’t be eating.

This overload of information can be quite overwhelming and very confusing, leading you into an unhealthy relationship with food which can have some severe consequences for your mind, body and your relationship with food.

The issue is your bodies version of healthy is different from another’s version. So, searching for the “right way” to be healthy will only lead you down the rabbit hole of knowledge overload of what works in theory or for another, not necessarily you.

These mindset shifts have helped me repair my relationship with food and helped me find a balance between my mind, body and soul.

Changing my mindset towards my health and repairing my relationship with food has been the pinnacle turning point in my journey, and I hope it can be for you too.

Stop punishing yourself for the foods you eat

There are no good or bad foods, just your experience. Instead of telling yourself that you have to eat a certain way, removing food groups from your diet or particular foods try looking at eating as a chance to nourish and nurture your mind, body and soul.

If you overeat on one day or one meal instead of feeling guilty about your food choices and making up for those extra calories in the gym by overdoing it or restricting your next meal (or evening skipping it!) try balance out over the next few days. This could be simply choosing a low calorie but high protein salad or a protein shake. Listen to what your body needs.

Balance out over the week but don’t make up for it in just one day.

View food as fuel for your body instead of a reward for exercising

Have you ever found yourself thinking that because you went on a 2-hour bike ride that you should now reward yourself with an entire pizza? Or anything you want with no regard of the quality or lack of nutrients you are putting into your body? The very same body that has done you proud by getting you through a 2-hour bike ride in the first place?

Your body requires a baseline of calories to fuel your mind and your body to function daily, and it has this amazing ability to tell you what it is by using built-in hunger cues and signalling to you when you are full.

Your body can also tell you what nutrients it lacks in the form of cravings. It is up to you to listen and choose intentionally what foods you eat to satisfy those cravings. You can either choose salty chips or salty cashews, chocolate or 80% cocoa dark chocolate, sugary treats or fruit. The choice is yours and yours alone.

Educate yourself on the foods you eat

Knowledge is power!

I live my life on the basis that knowledge is power. One does not move forward in this world, knowing only what you know. A huge part of creating a life you love and finding a balance between your mind, body and soul is to always be learning something new and educating yourself on what matters most.

This includes educating yourself on the foods you eat, including the basic understanding of nutritional concepts to help you through your journey. Over time that knowledge will build and help you make better decisions about your health and better food choices.

As you learn, you will start to see that health and nutrition are not just numbers on a scale or tracking app.

Your body is a complex system where not all foods provide the same quality fuel.

Educating yourself on the foods you eat doesn’t necessarily only mean what you read in a book. It means learning how foods affect your body.

Do you know what “low fat”, “no sugar” & “low calorie” actually means for your body? Does it aid in digestive discomfort, give you gas or mess with your energy levels?

What foods give you the most energy? Which foods do you digest better? Are there foods that make you sluggish? Which snacks will provide you with the energy to get through the 3pm slump so when you get home you don’t eat the entire cookie packet right before dinner! Which foods digest better and give you energy to power through your workout?

It also means learning how to cook for your body and implement what you have learned into your everyday life through healthy habits.

Can you replace sugar & artificial sweeteners for natural sweeteners like honey and dates?

Could you start making your own dips over buying store-bought? Possibly make your own granola or muesli bars? Which foods can you make from scratch at home?

Educate yourself on how to cook fresh and colourful meals at home, so you no longer view “healthy” foods as dull and boring.

Fall in love with food again and you will improve your relationship with food.

Practice mindful eating

Sit down, chew and enjoy your food. Take the time to taste your food and for your brain to register that you have eaten something that has satisfied you. If you rush, then your mind will continue to look for foods to satisfy your cravings.

Remember those built-in cues I spoke about earlier? Well, practising mindful eating allows you to engage and listen to these cues. You will be able to hear when your body is hungry and when it is full or if you’re lacking any nutrients and even if you have an imbalance of hormones.

You will be intuned with how many calories your body requires to get you through the day with energy and focus instead of feeling tired and drained of mental focus. I know you know what I am talking about!

Aren’t you just a little curious to know what it feels like to have a well-oiled body? To not feel tired all the time? To have the mental energy to clean the whole house, play with the kids, get all your tasks done and still have the energy to spend quality time with your partner?

Quick tips on mindful eating:

• Don’t sit down with a packet of chips, try placing a serving in a bowl and mindfully eat that single serving. This stops you from mindlessly putting your hand in the bag only to finish the entire packet in one sitting (learn what a serving is to you and not just what the packet tells you, the nutritional information can be 20% higher or lower so not that accurate!)
• Don’t eat or snack while you are on the go, sit down and take a moment. You can’t enjoy your food while you are multi-tasking and it is can be challenging to listen to those built-in cues for when you are full or if you have overeaten.
• Opt for the smaller plate instead of the big dinner plate. You would be surprised how many times you have overeaten just because you felt you needed to finish everything on your plate. Which leads to…
• Stop eating when you are full and adjust your mindset from when you were young, and your parents told you to “finish everything on your plate, or you can’t leave the table” to “I am full now, I will stop” and be ok with that. You can always pack your leftovers.
• Better yet, fill your plate with what might seem like a small portion then if you are still hungry, go back for seconds!
• In a perfect world, we would all eat foods that made us feel good. So try to eat foods that give you energy and fuel your body and avoid foods that give you indigestion and bloat you. Learn your body!

Learn your lifestyle & implement healthy habits will improve your relationship with food

Most of us work in an environment where we have the ability to plan our snacks and meals. I don’t mean the exact time when we will eat, I mean what we eat.

Again, most of us know what our schedule is going to look like. Meetings, phone calls, driving all day to customers etc, so knowing this, information why not use it and plan your food choices around it?

Going to be in meetings all day? Plan for it! Have a snack before going into your meeting, have ready-made meals for when you have time to eat, make those meals something you just have to either heat up or whack into a bowl and enjoy. This can take time but, you have one life so take the time!

If you have a busy day, then make sure you have a high-calorie breakfast and lunch to fuel your mind and body to give you the energy and mental focus you will need.

Give yourself an extra 20 minutes in the morning and make yourself a smoothie so you can either drink it while getting ready for work or doing your morning routine.

Prefer buying your lunch while you are driving around for work? Know the healthier options at the fuel stations you would usually go to. Work in the city? Know the cafe’s and restaurants around you and become familiar with their menu and healthier options.

We all use excuses instead of finding better and healthier alternatives because it is easier to eat foods that are “readily available” in a packet, “tasty” and spike our endorphins but we forget the effects that those choices will have on our bodies and mental health long and short term.

Understand your emotional eating for a better relationship with food

We are emotional creatures, we eat when we are happy when we are sad, content, with friends and families, celebrating our successes, and grieving our losses. You get the picture, emotional eaters.

So when you are home alone, and you reach for that tub of ice cream, and you are not hungry try to listen to what your body is telling you and ask yourself “why am I reaching for the tub of comfort?” “Am I emotionally eating?”

Identify the actual issue and deal with it. Confront the emotion head-on, go for a walk and let your mind wander, or run yourself a warm bath and relax.

Just put that tub of ice cream down! Better yet, don’t have it in the house?

Burying your emotions with food will not help, it will only add further distress. While eating that ice cream you won’t enjoy it, you’ll feel guilty, sad and disappointed that you just ate the ice cream. Adding to the bad relationship you have with your food as it has now become a contributor to your emotional eating instead of creating a good experience.

Imagine this instead, you and a friend plan to catch up at a restaurant or cafe and talk about all that is new in each other’s lives. You have a coffee and a flavour-packed and colourful salad followed by a banana split.

A banana split with your favourite flavoured ice cream covered in chocolate sauce and nuts, topped with a cherry. You eat that banana split and enjoy every last bite. No guilt, completely present of how delicious each bite really is, creating a connection and rebuilding how you view your food.

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Food shouldn’t be a reward for being active, it shouldn’t be used as a cover and guilt trip to your emotions, and it should never be a form of punishment.

As someone who struggled for many years, I would love to hear from other women who have repaired their relationship with food and how they did it or from those still struggling and what they struggle most with.

Please leave a comment below, or flick me an email at krystal@the-wellness-blogger.com or even PM on Facebook or Instagram.

If while reading this post, you thought of someone who might benefit from one of these mindset shifts, please share it via a social platform or an email.

The Wellness Blogger x