Food is emotive, food is life. We revolve all our major
events around food with family dinners, barbeques with friends, holidays,
birthdays, and even than Saturday night in on the couch is about what food you
are going to eat. It’s no wonder we have shifted the balance with food from
fuel to confidante. So how do you find your way back to viewing food as fuel
instead of your emotional support when you have had a bad day?
Habit #1 Food is
Stress Relief
You come home from a long day, your boss is on your back,
you slept through your alarm this morning & your hair isn’t sitting right so you reach for a chocolate
bar
How to break this habit
- Pop your trainers on & go to boxing session, run, walk or whatever exercise you enjoy doing. Nothing relieves stress more than exercise
- Call a friend and have a rant – it’s great to get it off your chest
- Have some retail therapy (guilt free of course) this is purely just to shift your focus & reward yourself WITHOUT using food
Habit #2 Food Feeds
Guilt
You feel SOO guilty about what you ate yesterday you are
going to punish yourself by eating more bad food
How to break this habit
Negative talk is NOT doing your body any good. You are only
one good meal away from getting back on track so take these steps
- Accept why you ate what you ate
- Think of how you could approach the situation differently next time
- MOVE ON
Habit # 3 Food is All
or Nothing
In order to achieve your goal you have to be 100% strict all
of the time, your food as to be perfect & eating healthy means you become a
hermit & end up
How to break this habit
Let go of the need to be perfect and embrace the need to be
consistent. Consistency is the key to seeing long term results so rather than
just eating salads for every meal, try to change 1 x habit per week whether
it’s adding a cup of vegetables at lunch & dinner, or have an extra 2 x
glasses of water per day.
Habit #4 Food is a
Time Filler
You’re sitting at home bored, and your tummy grumbles so you
head to the fridge, back to the couch, to the fridge and then the pantry and
repeat 3-4 times before you decide what you are going to eat. YOU ARE BORED NOT
HUNGRY
How to break this habit
- Have a glass of water & busy yourself for 15minutes, if you still feel hungry then you are actually hungry, if you are not then you were either thirsty or bored
- Fill your time with activity rather than food – go for a bike ride, rearrange your wardrobe, whatever it takes to distract you
- Drink more water – a lot of people cannot distinguish the different between when they are hungry and when they are thirsty so just to be safe drink more water
Habit #5 Healthy Food
is Boring
You have the same grilled salad 5 lunches in a row, the same
fish and 3 veg each night….of course that is going to be boring. Even in you
had a cheese pizza 5 lunches in a row you would be bored of it
How to break this habit
- Get variety – Make a different meal each night & have the left over for dinner
- Explore foods you may not have tried – i.e. kale
- Salad = does not just meat lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and onion…step outside your box
- Try one new recipe each week
- Remember it’s not healthy eating to have meat & vegetables at every meal, it’s regular eating
If you are struggling with your relationship with food
simply email naednutrition@gmail.com
for more personalised nutrition guidance.
