Food and Body Image

Food and Body Image

I want to spend a little time discussing your relationship with food and your body image. Our relationship with food is so important because it’s so often tied to our thoughts about our bodies and our feelings of self-worth and acceptance.

I hope that your relationship with food is healthy. I hope that you use food for nourishment, for energy, and for enjoyment. But for so many of us that is not the case. For many of us our relationship with food is to say the least, complicated. We obsess about what we’re going to eat, when we’re going to eat, how many calories are in what we eat, how much fat is in it. We live for the next cheat meal. We are confused about what’s right to eat and what’s wrong to eat so we often end up on diets that don’t last. Don’t feel bad, many of them are not sustainable in the first place. Plus, at least for me, diets have always taken the joy out of eating.

Are You As Confused As I Was?

We are constantly getting mixed messages about what’s healthy to eat what’s not healthy to eat. New diets come out all the time stating that they’re nothing like all the other diets that have previously been tried. We are bombarded with images on social media of people selling the latest diet and exercise program with side by sides of before and after pictures showing us what this diet will do that no others have done before. And we’re constantly being told about new studies coming out showing that one food we thought was previously bad is now healthy and food we always thought to be healthy is now unhealthy. No wonder we are confused.

I spent most of my 20s in a really unhealthy relationship with food. It took me way longer than I hoped to finally realize that my issue wasn’t so much in my relationship with food as it was in my relationship with myself. I’m here to give you some tips today if you struggle with food and body image.

Make A Change

First, I would really encourage you to stop looking at food is something you need to control and micromanage so that you can get your weight down to some magical size and finally be happy.  Second, I challenge you to silence that inner critic. Most of you know who I’m talking about. It’s the one that tells you that you don’t look good enough when you look in the mirror. The one that tells you it would be better if you were just a little smaller. The one the points out all of your flaws instead of all the things that make you beautiful and unique.

I have yet to meet someone who criticized their way into loving themselves.

I fully believe that many of our issues regarding food are really issues regarding how we view ourselves. I would encourage you to stop the diets. Change your mindset to look at food as something that is meant for your health and for your enjoyment. And be kinder to yourself. If you struggle with being able to do that then seek professional help.

I am a huge advocate for health and wellness. I want all people to be healthy so that they can enjoy life and do all the things they love and want to do for themselves and for their families. But I will always believe that journey starts with mental health – how you view yourself, speak to yourself, and feel about yourself.