In today’s societies, we often think of food as a means to an end; it either helps us to lose that extra five founds, or it keeps us from enjoying the things we love in life. But food has not always been perceived that way. In the past, during times when we hunted and gathered our food, it was seen as the primary method of staying alive and providing for ourselves and loved ones. This perception is still shown in some parts of the world, where survival and community are most impactful, but in others, food can disrupt daily living.

Food is an essential part of our being because it provides us the ability to live, think, move, and grow. We often take it for granted and see it as our enemy, when it is here to give us life. We can sometimes use it to escape negative thoughts and environments, but it provides us the opportunity to learn and experience our own existence. Our connection with food can be defeating and destructive, but it can also be uplifting and wholesome. The way we perceive food is essential to how we live our lives. Below are some ways to create a healthy relationship with food that may help you to reach your goals and still enjoy the process along the way.

Find Your Form of Balance

While some fads and diets can work if you are consistent, it is more often you’ll lose body fat see it come back and them some, after cutting on your weight-loss journey. Rather than look at food with spite and limitation, recognize it as a means of nurturing your body with love and attention.

One way to start is to identify the macros within the foods you are eating. Counting macros is not just a trend; it is a method of identifying the foods you eat based upon the nutrients it provides. Macronutrients represent the energy structure of the foods you eat in terms of 3 primary categories – carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. These three nutrients, along with others like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, are necessary for you to sustain energy throughout the day, prevent disease, and fight viruses and free radicals. While looking at food labels and counting can be confusing, consider filling your plate throughout the day with a mixture of healthy fats, protein, vegetables, and fruit or starch.

Similarly, you cannot expect yourself to be eating salads and seasoned chicken all week and not crack at the sight of a bag of your favorite chips. This may lead you to binge the whole thing during a Netflix marathon. You also cannot expect yourself to give up your favorite dessert for some time without pain because guess what? You already started thinking about it, the very moment you said NO MORE!

Rather than go cold turkey, plan out your meals strategically so there are no surprises. Carve out time in your schedule to find recipes and go shopping for the needed items. Stay focused by preparing your meals ahead of time and create “grab and go” items for busy days. This will help to set you up for success throughout the day, save money by not spending on pre-made and mostly processed foods, and eliminate the negative thoughts like  “I ate too much” or “I shouldn’t have had that.” This process does not serve a purpose but to stress you out, break your bank, put yourself down, and keep you from reaching your goals. Stay focused and balanced.

Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat

Most often than not, dieting causes you to look at some foods with either hatred or sadness – you’re either eating something bland that you don’t enjoy or craving that one food you know is not “good” for you. But no one expects you to stick to your “diet” if you hate the majority of the foods listed on the “good” list. Rather than focus on the foods you do not like, look at meal prepping as a means of finding what you enjoy consuming. Maybe you enjoy spinach and green beans but dislike kale and brussel sprouts. Look for recipes that spark your interest and include your favorite food items in your search. And instead of grabbing that bag of frozen peas you disgust, incorporate more of those carrots and onions you love.

Although, you do need to balance your meals with fruits and vegetables to help you to sustain your energy and fight disease, remember that you get to choose what you eat. Do not restrict yourself from the foods that you enjoy just because it has a lot of sugar or may not have any nutritional value. Let yourself enjoy that scoop of ice cream or cheeseburger because you deserve to feel good as you eat it. You deserve to fuel your body and soul with what it craves. You deserve to feel good in your skin, despite what you eat. But do moderate the amount you eat, so you may still align with your goals and keep your spirits high.

Know Your Limits

As you start to age, you may find that your body cannot tolerate some foods like you used to. Maybe you were once able to eat 4 slices of cheese pizza as a teenager but now can barely eat one slice without acid reflux. Or maybe you used to have peanut butter sandwiches as a child every day at school, but now get a little tingle in your throat when you eat a spoonful.

Just like your taste in food can change, your body can also react differently to food over time. Oftentimes, a person may not recognize they are reacting to a food until they begin eating it on a constant basis. Similarly, not all food allergies and intolerances are made the same; while some individuals may react with severe symptoms like itchiness, inability to breathe correctly, and anaphylactic shock, others can be triggered with minor symptoms, or even have a delayed reaction to food.

Food allergies can lead to symptoms like bloating, inflammation, abdominal pain, headaches, and fatigue, and even skin reactions, like hives, rashes, acne, and redness. In thinking about how your body reacts to foods, you can have an increase in well-being by having less pain and more enjoyment of life. If you find that your allergies or intolerances are becoming more severe, contact your physician and seek an allergy panel test to see if foods are triggering your reactions.

Eat with Awareness

We don’t usually think about the culture around food, but in western societies, we often look at food based upon the ingredients, price, or its position on the diet standard. Instead of idolizing some foods while putting other foods down, we should be spending some time thinking about our relationship with food, which foods make us feel good, and how our food is sourced. While fruits and vegetables are good for us, some items may be sprayed with pesticides and chemicals, which causes more harm than good. Similarly, not all processed foods are bad for us, but we should still consider how it is made or created. Food sustainability is not just about the earth and being humane to animals, but also as a means to create abundance for us and future generations to come. By becoming more aware of our thoughts towards food and the companies we purchase from, we can begin to see real change in our health, the sustainability of our systems, and the well-being of our communities.

If you are interested in diving more into your thought processes towards food, check out the photo below with some questions to think about. These can also be used as journal prompts if you like writing. Lastly, if you found this post to be helpful or if you want to know more about similar topics, feel free to let us know!