How to have a healthy relationship with food.

Make peace with what you eat and nourish your body. Here I will be sharing a few tips on how to have a healthy relationship with food.

Disclaimer: In no way am I trying to tell you what to eat and how to eat it. I’m just sharing my journey to how I have personally developed a healthier outlook towards what I eat. I will always recommend seeing professional support you with your dietary needs.

You can check out my video here or read the full blog post below

So many of us may be struggling with emotional eating, binge eating, overeating or even undereating. I will be sharing my journey of how I overcame emotional eating and built a healthy relationship with what I eat.

For those who know me, I love food, always have and have had a huge appetite but I also relied on it to help me feel better.

I can recall being upset and talking to my mum then subconsciously I would reach for a packet of crisps. There are studies that salt reduces cortisol or something. Obviously, when I realised that I was so attached to salt making me feel better, I knew I wanted to change my mentality toward food

So heres what I did about it 

1. Keep a log of emotions

every day and underneath keeping a list of things that I ate ( this also helped me be more mindful about the amount of food that I was mindlessly consuming)

I associated the crunch and sodium with something that made me feel better because it did. But what we need to focus on is that this isn’t a healthy way to deal with stress. So I gave my self other alternatives 

There are still days where i want donuts when im feeling down. And i get them – i get them because i am happy with the balance i have created. I love eating well and i love whole foods but i also love food in general and i dont ever want to feel bad about eating it. No one should. Accept what ever you do and want but make sure youre not using food as a way to deal with something that is in your mind

2. Listen to your body

If you have a healthy relationship with yourself you will have a healthy relationship with food

most days my husband and I follow an intermittent fasting schedule. It works well for us but just make sure you do your own research, women and men have different bodies so different thighs work. For example just before I get my period I need to eat all day and twice as much so I make sure I eat when I’m hungry no matter what because that’s what I know I need) — one more thing – sometimes we can confuse hunger with thirst so stay hydrated! 

3. Theres no such thing as good food and bad food.

Nothing is clean or dirty, food is food. Yes, we want to eat more nourishing food but it doesn’t mean eating one processed meal a weak is bad or something we should feel guilty about. I’ve always loved eating nourishing whole foods but now I love it even more. I love it more because I love my body. I know my body needs a balance of fats, proteins, pure carbohydrates and what not. So I want to give that to myself

I see food as nourishment, not a punishment. From a young age, we can associate negative opinions towards things like vegetables because we’re forced to eat them. So we hate them when we’re adults and we have control. Again this is all about rewiring your mind and seeing it as nourishment, not punishment 

4. Mindful cooking and eating

Make the kitchen a happy place where you can connect with your food and cook with love and pure fresh ingredient. Digestion begins with your eyes. I like to take picture of my food to slow down and express my appreciation towards it. My husband and I sometimes count how many times we chew each bite to always focus on slowing down and making the most of each bite. This is my favourite way to have a healthy relationship with food.

Related Post: How to be mindful

5. Create balance and flexibility

We all hear in diets that carbs are bad. For me, after eating chips at night I wake up feeling really hungry or I go into a food coma. So I thought these foods were bad for me because I didn’t feel great. But that is not the case I just needed to learn why… turns out, your body overcompensates with insulin when you have only carbs so thats why you wake up feeling hungry.

So thats why the healthy eating plate exists, so your plate can be balanced.

Learn to educate yourself, see a nutritionist and learn about how these foods affect you. I had so many unhealthy views about different food, but now I know it’s just science.

I’m not trying to tell you what to eat or why you feel certain things after you eat certain foods. Because that is for you to invest time into learning for yourself. I feel quite in tune with my body so I am sensitive to changes in food and I know the more I nourish my body the more I crave that.

I know that I love food and trying different cuisines. I’m not interested in counting calories nor do I want to worry about having processed food once in a while. When we eat out the food we chose is naturally freshly made but I’m not going make my self feel bad for wanting a pack of crisps either.

I will actively make the decision to say no because I know my body doesn’t need it and I won’t feel great afterwards but sometimes I will just be in the moment.

Now eating plant-based whole foods and even cooking more often I feel connected with my food and I can influence how this will impact my body. I hope these tips help you gain an understanding of having a healthy relationship with food

Respect love and adore your body 

Sending you lots of love,

Manpreet