Why do we obsess so much about food? Why we can’t stop thinking about it?
As we are all so different, we have different thoughts about food, we treat food differently and also some of us have different emotions about what food represents or mean to us.
Here are few potential reasons why you really struggle with food and food is the main topic your mind is processing daily:
1. You are unhappy with your body.
2. You are constantly on the diet trying to restrict foods you love.
3. Every time when you feel out of control, any negative or positive emotions, you seem to dive into food. This cycle in your life probably happens more often than you want it to, so there is a lot of thought how to stop it.
4. You have anxiety around food, because you believe what you are eating is wrong, unhealthy.
5. You are trying to eat a perfect diet, but whatever that is, you never seem to be happy.
6. You know what you need to do, but all you think about is “junk” & “unhealthy” foods.
7. You feel ashamed of your eating habits & you are constantly trying to do your best without success.
8. Fear that eating certain foods will damage your health or weight and you spend a lot of time thinking and preparing your food.
Our opinion about food/nutrition is normally very far from what nutrition actually is. Eating balanced diet is just one part of our daily habits that contributes to our wellbeing and health, but it is definitely not the most important one.
What do I mean by that?
Our health, wellbeing, weight, quality of life is directly related to how we feel on a daily basis. I am just going to summarise here few things that impact our life every single day and looking only one part of our life as an exception, such as nutrition and if we change only that one part is not going to improve our life, if other things are not involved as well.
As you can see our nutrition/eating habits play just a small part of our life on how we feel. But unfortunately if we don’t address it on time, it can become our main focus, main frustration and the main reason of our unhappiness.
How you can overcome this issue, so that food isn’t in the main focus of your life that controls how you feel every single day:
1. First you need to have an understanding/knowledge of how nutrition, food, eating behaviours affect us on a physical, mental and emotional level. You have to be willing to open your mind to learn a new way how to see food in your life.
2. Increased self awareness – become an observer of your own thoughts, emotions, habits and behaviours around food and how much food affects you and learn new skills how to manage those thoughts, emotions, change habits and behaviors to serve your wellbeing and health goals. Be willing to stop judging yourself, as you are doing the best you can, with the information you have.
3. Have clarity to what is exactly you want your physical and emotional health to be like. Know exactly what you want to work towards.
4. You have to be willing to let go of past beliefs and opinions about food, to create a space for new experiences, to explore tastes and food without criticism, judgment, shame and guilt.
5. Have trust in yourself that you can overcome this challenge. It is possible to let go of old, to embrace new and live life freely where food becomes just food to enjoy, rather than the enemy to destroy your life.
Please watch this video below to gain a proper understanding of energy balance and how we can impact it with our behaviours to serve us long term.
If you are looking for support, accountability and coaching, please feel free to message me for more information or email me on adrijana@adrijana.co.uk
I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments in the section below.
Wishing you a wonderful day!
Adrijana x