My top five tips to help support a healthier relationship with food.
As a nutritionist, an inevitable goal of mine is to help make healthier choices easier and more attainable for you. Improving our health through nutrition is great, but I recognise that health is so much more than just the food we’re putting in our bodies. I strongly believe that one of the most important aspects of our health is cultivating a positive and sustainable relationship with food.
I don’t just speak from clinical experience when I acknowledge that changing your relationship with food isn’t always easy. I can relate when my clients share their challenges with embarking on restrictive diets, being fearful of certain foods, and experiencing disordered eating behaviours - because I've been there too. I completely understand that it’s not always easy to detach from the strings of diet culture and make peace with food, but with the right strategies and support - the journey can be so much smoother.
Something which clients often say to me is “I know everything I need to do, I just need to do it.” For years I thought this about myself too. I felt so much stress and shame around my food choices when I couldn’t stick to whatever (unsustainable) expectations I had put on myself. Like many of my clients, I thought my problem was a lack of willpower. “If I could just be more disciplined” I could achieve my goals.
What I can tell you through my own personal experience, and years of supporting clients to form a healthier relationship with food: willpower is rarely the component which is lacking.
“Healing your relationship with food doesn’t require you to summon more willpower.”
Don’t get me wrong, of course willpower, boundaries and self-discipline can be helpful for a lot of things. But willpower is a finite resource, and by no means our best tool when it comes to actually changing the way you relate to food. To really heal relationship with food, we need a holistic approach which understands the multi-faceted role that food plays in our lives, and to appreciate the many factors which impact our food choices other than simply our nutrition knowledge.
Healing your relationship with food doesn’t require you to summon more willpower. It requires mindset shifts, strategies and support that allow you to build sustainable habits and enable you to take a balanced approach, liberating you from the rules and restrictions of diet culture.
Here are my top five tips that have really helped me on my journey:
Let go of the ‘all of nothing’ approach and embrace the journey. Allowing flexibility and taking a more balanced approach is more sustainable and healthy in the long run compared to the (unattainable) pursuit of ‘perfection.’
Self awareness. Much of what we do is on ‘auto-pilot’ and under the responsibility of the sub-conscious mind. Beginning to recognise where thought patterns and behaviours are not serving you and becoming more mindful and reflective can help allow you an opportunity to change them.
Self compassion. There will always be times where things don’t go to plan and we encounter challenges. Being compassionate with yourself will get you so much further than self judgement and blame ever will. When we judge ourselves for our food choices, we go blind. When we approach ourselves with kindness and curiosity we can begin to see what was coming up for us in that moment, and what support we might need next time.
Learn to eat mindfully. Avoiding distractions, slowing down and tuning in to your body while you’re eating helps to reconnect you with your hunger and fullness signals and build a stronger connection with your body. Eating mindfully will also allow you to enjoy your food more and feel more mentally satisfied.
Stop labelling food as good or bad. When we do this, we subconsciously take on those morals which is just not helpful in healing your relationship with food. Recognise that foods offer us different nutrient value, some nourish our body, some nourish our soul - but stop labelling food as good or bad.
I hope that you find these tips helpful, and I wish you so much love in support in working towards a healthier relationship with food. If you’d like to dive deeper - we cover all of this and so much more, in my course: Nutrition Harmony. Send me an email or message on socials if you’d like to join the waitlist for our next round.
xx Nicole
Please always seek the guidance of an experienced health professional to help support you with your individual relationship with food.