How to Change Your Relationship With Food

Do your current eating habits make you want to change your relationship with food? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Read on to learn 5 steps you can take to heal your relationship with food.

Our life experiences shape our current relationships with food. Perhaps you picked up some habits from your parents, guardians, or siblings. Or maybe you developed some of your own tendencies as a result of dieting or even trauma. Over time, our relationships with food evolve and become what they are today.

Sometimes the relationship we have left is not necessarily beneficial. Fortunately, this can be changed. By knowing your habits and tendencies, breaking them down, and implementing new ones that incorporate balance, you can change your relationship with food forever.

I want to change my relationship with food

First of all, congratulate yourself for just having this revelation and seek support. Change is never easy, and the hardest part is simply accepting that it’s necessary. So you’re already off to a great start!

When embarking on a journey like this, it’s important to set yourself up for success by using self-compassion from the start. Essentially, give yourself some slack. As we discussed earlier, our current relationships with food take years, not days. With this in mind, does it make sense to expect to change your relationship with food overnight? Of course not. Go easy on yourself, expect bumps, and remember, change takes time.

5 steps to change your relationship with food

Below are the top 5 tips I can give you to heal your relationship with food. They will guide you through the many facets of your relationship and teach you how to rebuild each and every one of them. Don’t forget to take this easy. I do not recommend trying to take all 5 steps at once! Start with one or two, then move on to another when you feel confident.

Let’s get into it!

Practice mindful eating

Here at Nutrition Stripped, we believe there are two important aspects to eating well every day: what you eat and how you eat. The concept of mindful eating is more about how you eat than what or how much you are eating. It’s all about refocusing your attention on your mealtime experience.

Begin to experience your food and be present when you eat your meals and snacks. Remember that food is not an obligation, it is not a job, and it is not a means of exercising control. It is a way to nourish your physical body, experience or share culture, and much more. You can learn more about the specific principles of mindful eating here. If you simply follow this step, before you know it, you will change your relationship with food.

Stop following fad diets and detoxes

This is a big one. Just don’t do it. I promise you it’s not doing you any good. Diets are meant to keep you coming back, they put you on something I call the diet cycle. It is the cycle “on the way” vs. “out of the way”.

As soon as you stop jumping into these trends, you can develop consistency. You will be able to nourish yourself in a way that works for your unique body, rather than someone else’s. Remember, dietary trends are a marketing medium, they are a business. To change your relationship with food, you have to break the diet cycle.

Eliminate food rules

Next, kick the food rules to the curb. Don’t eat this anymore and not that, or this is good and this is bad. Food doesn’t work that way, especially when you want a balanced, positive relationship with food. Food rules are restrictive and controlling. They leave you feeling deprived, stressed, and even embarrassed.

If you’re looking to change your relationship with food, you’ll need to leave the rules of food behind. If you hear yourself following or even reciting a food rule, take a moment to pause. Ask yourself: “Is this a food rule? How can I maintain balance with food without following this rule? In time, you won’t have to pause. You will have changed your relationship with food and those rules will no longer serve you.

Prioritize both nutrition and enjoyment consistently

We absolutely need both. To nurture our physical, mental and emotional health, both enjoyment and nutrition must be prioritized. When we say nutrition, we mean foods that physically nourish your body. When we say enjoy, we mean foods that bring you joy, regardless of their nutritional content.

If you can ensure that the vast majority of your meals and snacks prioritize these two factors, you’ll be well on your way to changing your relationship with food. You won’t feel deprived and eating won’t feel like a chore. Food will become a pleasant and calm part of your life!

Try using the Foundational Five system to add nutrition and enjoy in an easy way.

Stop thinking about food as good or bad

To prioritize eating and enjoying regularly, this one is pretty important. If you constantly feel like you’re eating “bad” food every time you eat enjoyment-based foods, you’ll be constantly plagued with guilt and shame. Also, if you always feel like you “should” eat nutrient-based foods, you’ll feel like eating is a chore.

Take morality out of the equation to change your relationship with food. You begin to think of food as a simple food, an enjoyment, or a combination of both. That’s all! At first, this may require you to correct or remind yourself from time to time, but before you know it, this will become your reality.

Food to go

Changing your relationship with food is possible. It only takes a few simple steps and some dedication. Anyone can have a positive balanced relationship with food. Sometimes it just takes a little support!

Want to experience more balance with your food choices?