Five Ways to Improve Your Relationship With Food
by Ariana Rodriguez, RD MSc
As we live in a world rife with diet culture, releasing a new fad as often as Nikki Minaj changes her hair colour, it can be difficult to imagine yourself making peace with food.
Food rules are so highly praised to guide our food choices, it is indeed a challenge, but NOT impossible. What you may not know is that your body is much wiser than you think!
You may be familiar with common sayings from childhood such as “finish your plate” or “don’t waste your food”, which have conditioned you to externally reference how much and when to eat.
You may also be familiar with deep-rooted myths in our society such as “carbs make you gain weight” or “sugar is poison”… when the truth is, extremes only erode your relationship with food and ultimately the relationship you have with your body.
Perhaps you have lost trust in your body’s innate capacity to communicate to you in the form of hunger or fullness. Or, perhaps you feel out of control with food and feel you need to effortfully think about it.
You might be thinking, “how do I move away from diet rules and a sense of lack of control to tap into my body’s innate wisdom and move towards food freedom and body trust?”
In this article, you will learn about what we call ‘undieting’.
Undieting is a process by which we un-do years of learnt food rules and diets we have tried with the aim to re-new the relationship you have with food.
It means challenging your belief system and learning to integrate mind and body. It seeks to cultivate a positive attitude towards food and your body by strengthening the connection that you have with both emotional and physical bodies.
Akin to a newborn, the aim is to listen to your physical body cues to guide your food choices. Therefore, eating is majorly influenced by biology rather than external or emotional pressures.
Challenge your food rules
There are no intrinsically ‘naughty’ or ‘nice’ foods despite what the $72 billion diet industry likes to tell us.
One of the foundations of undieting is to take foods off the pedestal and begin to label foods for what they actually are – food. That is, a donut is a donut, pizza is pizza, and kale is kale, go figure!
What research clearly demonstrates is that individuals who place ‘a naughty’ or ‘forbidden fruit’ label on specific foods, are more likely to overeat [1]. Likewise, restrained eaters (AKA dieters) are more likely to report binge episodes when they perceive breaking the diet rules - often in the form of a ‘sod it’ mentality.
We also know that restrained eaters who perceive having consumed a ‘high-calorie’ food item are more likely to overeat as a response and they are more likely to be distressed when they eat more than is perceived to be ‘normal’ [1].
Once we strip away idealised labels and give ourselves the permission to enjoy all foods, this renders food less tantalising and the sense of lack of willpower futile.
2. Give yourself permission to eat all foods
A common concern that arises in practice when learning to undiet or to become an intuitive eater is the fear that once permission is given to eat all foods, you will never stop.
Imagine this: picture eating your favourite food every single day, at every single meal, for one month. How do you think you will feel about that food by the end of it?
The odds are, you’re over it.
This is called habituation. Habituation describes the physiological and behavioural response to repeated exposure to a specific stimulus e.g. taste, which results in the novelty of the taste to wane and ultimately lead to fatigue of a flavour and cessation to eat [2].
Exposing yourself more regularly to all foods will consequently lead to improved confidence and self-trust around food.
3. Listen to your hunger
Hunger can manifest in various ways and is often misunderstood. There are actually seven types of hunger identified whereby physical biological hunger is only one of them.
For the purpose of this top tip, I am referring to physical hunger – that is, the cue your body signals to you when it is in need of energy.
Research shows us that in reality, those who ignore set mealtimes, honour their hunger and use that signal to determine when to eat, are more likely to maintain a healthy weight compared to those who do not [3].
In other words, eating is an appropriate response to hunger and results in a more appropriate energy intake.
There are five main symptoms of true hunger; stomach grumbling or feeling empty, slight headache, light-headedness, irritability or a change in mood and fatigue.
Whichever the symptoms are, this is your body’s way of telling you it needs fuel to be able to survive and undergo essential bodily functions.
Importantly, your physical needs and hunger may change daily based on various factors such as how much sleep you had the night before, stress levels, activity levels and if you restrict intake or not. That is absolutely normal (yet another reason to marvel at your incredible body – it knows what it’s doing!).
To begin re-building trust with your body, nourish it adequately and in a timely way, I often recommended eating every 3-4 hours and to make use of balanced snacks (i.e. including at least two food groups such as protein and fibre!)
4. Respect your fullness cues
Listen to your body when it tells you to stop eating. Look for signs of fullness by checking in with yourself midway through your meal or snack. Fullness is your body’s natural ability to tell you when your ‘tank is full’ – akin to the *CLUNK* you hear when you fill up your car with petrol. Similar to hunger, your body knows how much energy and nutrition it needs for it to function optimally.
Take time to be present whilst eating and bring your awareness to your food’s appearance, aroma and texture. The slower you eat, the more time your body has to register it has topped up its energy levels.
One of the ways you can learn to better attune to your fullness is by limiting distractions whilst eating to ensure your gut and brain have a clear communication pathway.
Studies show when people eat whilst distracted, the desire to continue to eat persists longer, and they are less likely to be satiated and more likely to overeat [4].
Bear in mind, however, this does not mean you will never overeat again – this may happen from time to time and that is okay.
5. Meet your emotional needs without using food
It is not uncommon to manage stress or other emotions with food and we cannot deny that food does offer us a sense of comfort. This stems from our natural survival response where we NEED food to survive. Think of an infant crying and the comfort it receives from being put on the mother’s breast.
Food can offer distraction, or a sense of reward, or perhaps calmness. Unfortunately, food does not always solve our problems or make negative feelings go away. It may only act as a temporary solution. The challenge lays when habits are formed, and food is the only coping mechanism we have to deal with your emotions.
The idea being, we all have emotional needs that need to be tended to and diversifying our coping mechanisms can help improve the relationship we have with food.
The next time you feel hungry ask yourself:
What am I feeling right now? (physical hunger or anger? Shame? Sadness?)
What do I need right now? Perhaps it is to call a friend? Take a walk? Write in a journal? Read a book? Listen to music? To each their own.
Engage in activities you enjoy, honouring your emotional needs.
Perhaps these emotions are telling you something. Reach out to a friend, get some fresh air or play a sport/ move your body in a way you love. There is so much power in the undiet process of putting yourself and doing nice things for yourself.
If you want to learn more about intuitive eating and you are ready to undiet, make peace with food and trust your body, visit www.embodyhealthlondon.com for more info. Our next 12-week intuitive eating online programme begins on 26th January 2021 and spots are limited!
About the author:
Ariana Rodriguez, MSc, is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor at @embodyhealthlondon_
References
Polivy, J. & Herman, P. (2020). Overeating in restrained and nonrestrained eaters, Frontiers in Nutrition, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.00030
Epstein, L. H., Carr, K. A., Cavanaugh, M. D., Paluch, R. A., & Bouton, M. E. (2011). Long-term habituation to food in obese and nonobese women. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 94(2), 371–376. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.110.009035
Camplioni, M., Lovell-Smith, D. & Sifone, M. (2010). Sustained self-regulation of energy intake. Loss of weight in overweight subjects. Maintenance of weight in normal-weight subjects. Nutrition and Metabolism, 7:4.
Brunstorm, JM. & Mitchell, GL. (2006). Effect fo distraction in the development of satiety, British Journal of Nutrition, 96. 761-769. DOI: 10.1079/BJN20061880