What Does Having A ‘good Relationship With Food Mean? 4 Ways To Know If Youve Got One

While traveling by train recently, I couldn't help but overhear two women talking about their obsession with food, including the emotional triggers that lead them to chocolate and pizza.

They share feelings of guilt about their lack of commitment to food and regularly search the refrigerator for snacks to help calm their emotions. They both complained of not being able to stop before eating.

Far from discussing them, discussing the physiological requirements of food to meet the body's nutritional and basic nutritional needs. On the contrary, it is very emotional.

It got me thinking about the meaning of a healthy relationship with food, how human eating behavior has evolved, and how a "good" relationship can be developed. This is what a "healthy" eating relationship looks like.

What does it mean to have a good relationship with food?

You can see if your relationship with food is "healthy" by seeing how many items you check "yes" on this list. Six:

1. In tune with your body's signals, ie do you know when you are hungry, when you are not and when you feel full?

2. Do you regularly eat enough and varied foods from all food groups to meet your nutritional, health and wellness needs?

3. Are you comfortable eating alone as well as eating with other people?

4. Can you enjoy food without feeling guilty or taking over your life?

If you don't eat a lot of mint, you may want to work on improving your relationship with the food.

Why is a good relationship with food important?

Many "no" answers indicate that you are using food as a coping mechanism for negative emotions. The problem is that it activates the brain's reward center, which means that even when you feel good, the behavior is reinforced, so you're more likely to continue eating in response to negative emotions.

Emotional eating and binge eating were more likely to be associated with eating disorder symptoms and poorer diet, including lower intake of vegetables and higher consumption of nutrient-poor foods.

A review of research on food addiction and mental health found that healthy eating is associated with a lower risk of eating disorders and food addiction. Higher fruit and vegetable consumption was found to be associated with lower perceptions of stress, tension, anxiety and lack of joy in a cohort of over 8,000 Australian adults.

How to Create a Healthy Eating Relationship

There are ways to improve your relationship with food. Here are some suggestions:

1. Keep a food mood diary. By recording when and where you eat and drink, who you're with, what you do and how you feel, you get personal information about when, what and why you do what you do. Helps increase awareness of emotions, including stress, anxiety, depression and factors that affect eating.

2. Think about what you write in your food mood journal , especially the "why" when you eat. If the causes include stress, a bad mood, or other emotions, make a list of distractions, including activities like walking or listening to music, and post it on the fridge, bulletin board, or phone for easy access.

3. Practice mindful eating. This means slowing down to become acutely aware of what's happening in your body and mind, moment by moment, as you eat and drink, without judging your thoughts and feelings. Mindless feeding occurs when you eat without thinking. Being aware means taking the time to check if you are really hungry, or if it is "eye" hunger caused by food, "nose" hunger caused by smells coming from a shop or cafe, "emotional" nose" hunger caused by real feelings or Object. Hungry stomach hunger. Roaring hunger

4. Know your nutritional needs. Learning why your body needs certain vitamins and minerals and the foods that contain them instead of just mentally coding them as "good" or "bad" can help you overcome guilt. Banning "bad" foods makes you crave them more and appreciate them more. Mindfulness will help you appreciate delicious and nutritious food.

5. Focus on enjoying your food. You can reduce mindless spending by focusing on the enjoyment of food and the satisfaction that comes from preparing and sharing it with others. Interventions for women concerned about eating patterns and weight control use workshops to increase their awareness of food cues that motivate them to eat, including emotions or being in places where they are normally associated with eating, and sensory aspects of food, including taste and touch. . , smell, sound and texture. The project aims to teach them to enjoy the social, emotional and cultural aspects of food. The intervention resulted in a reduction in binge eating in response to emotional cues such as sadness and stress. Another review of 11 intervention studies that promote food enjoyment and enjoyment found promising results for healthy eating, including better food quality, healthier portion sizes, healthier food choices, and healthier food enjoyment. Participants also reported that healthy foods taste better and are often prepared at home.

Where to find help to improve your relationship with food

A healthy relationship with food means avoiding eating disorders, including binge eating, bulimia, and anorexia.

If you or someone you know has symptoms that may indicate an eating disorder, such as frequent restrictive measures to limit food intake, skipping meals, eating rituals that dictate which foods or combinations of foods should be eaten at certain times, overeating, feeling tired If you control your food intake, eat secretly, induce vomiting or take diet pills, consult your doctor or healthcare professional.

For more information, visit InsideOut, Australian Institute of Eating Disorders. Try their online food connection "checkup" tool.

The Butterfly Foundation has dedicated resources for parents and teachers, as well as a helpline open seven days a week from 8am to midnight on 1800 334673.

Claire Collins, PhD student, Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Newcastle University and Newcastle University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Important steps to becoming a "normal eater" (someone who doesn't eat emotionally and doesn't need to restrict themselves)