5 ways to reset your relationship with food
In today’s blog I’m going to walk you through 5 ways to reset your relationship with food so you can stop obsessing over the scale and feeling terrible after every meal.
If you’re here it’s because you probably have spent many years of your life stressing about food. What you’re allowed to eat, what you’re not allowed to eat, would it make you gain weight, was it clean enough, did it have too many calories. Thinking about food has somehow become a full time job AND you’re not even happy with how your body looks.
Something has to change. Here are 5 ways to reset your relationship with food.
1. Stop thinking about food in terms of calories and start thinking about it in terms of how it makes you feel. I’ve created a framework for this called the nourishing/satisfying/satiating eating lifestyle. This shifts the focus from eating only clean, “healthy” food to eating nutritious food that fills you up and tastes amazing. Why is this important? Because if you’re not enjoying what you eat and you’re always feeling hungry after meals, it doesn’t matter how healthy or clean your food is—you’ll never be able to sustain that way of eating. Which means whatever results you get are temporary at best and you will circle back around to square one again (aka yo yo dieting).
When you start to prioritize enjoying your food and eating enough to feel full alongside the nutritional quality, that’s when things start to change. Suddenly you’re not thinking about food as much (because you’re actually full after meals), you’re not constantly looking for snacks (because you actually enjoyed what you ate) and you’re getting the protein, fiber and carbs your body need to have energy. Which means you can actually do this AND stick with it….forever. Which means the results you get will finally stick.
2. Stop labeling foods as good and bad and start thinking about the job of that food instead. Here’s what I mean. We typically think about potato chips as bad and broccoli as good. Because whenever we eat chips, we usually eat a lot. Sometimes we even feel out of control around them and feel like we can’t keep them in the house—so we decide those chips are “bad”. But here’s why—when you grab chips because you’re hungry or eat them without any food that is going to fill you up, of course you’re going to eat a lot. Chips are not filling—so you’ll keep eating until you feel full (you’ll also keep eating because chips are inherently easy to eat a lot of because of the salty/crunchy taste combo and hand to mouth eating experience). So the issue isn’t that chips are bad, it’s that you’re using them to do a job that they aren’t designed to do. If you start eating chips alongside a nutritious snack that will actually fill you or as part of a meal that has an efficient protein and veggie then the chips get to do the job they are meant for—to taste damn good and bring pleasure. That’s it.
3. Use a timer when you want more food. Whether it’s a snack, dessert, seconds at a meal. Sometimes we feel like we need or want more food and we just instantly react and eat it—and then end up regretting it pretty quickly because we feel too full. So when you get the urge for more food…grab your phone and set a timer. Depending on the situation it could range from a few minutes up to 15-20 minutes. See what happens—most of the time the urge to eat will pass. And if it doesn’t, you always have the option to eat…or set the timer again.
4. Eat bigger meals and fewer snacks. This is one of my favorite of the 5 ways to reset your relationship with food. Most of us have been conditioned to think about eating as little as possible to lower calories. But then we end up so hungry later on that we end up eating more than if we had just eaten a bigger meal to begin with—so this approach to weight loss always backfires. Prioritize a large serving of an efficient protein, a high fiber veggie or fruit, a starchy carb and some fat at each meal and you will drastically reduce the amount of snacking you’re doing.
5. Eat dessert when are you full, not hungry. The whole idea of “save room for dessert” is actually setting you up to fail. No you don’t want dessert to make you feel stuffed and sick but if you’re eating dessert when you are still hungry you will over eat it, every single time. Eat a full, complete, nutritious meal (using the reset from number 1!) and THEN have a dessert. It will be so much easier to have a portion that feels good and is in alignment with your goals, especially if they include fat loss.
So there you have it: 5 ways to reset your relationship with food so you can finally enjoying eat without obsession. We work on all of these skills (and more) in online nutrition coaching. Click here to learn more!
Next on your reading list: