Just like a boyfriend, a parent, a husband, a friend or a roommate we also have a relationship with food. Now how intimate or unhealthy that relationship is, is up to you. When you stop to think about the amount of time you spend making, eating, preparing or shopping for food you most likely spend more time with it than any other loved one. Food, too many, seems to be the answer for everything. We run to it when we are sad, we give it as gifts, we show our love with it, we reunite over it and we celebrate with it. This relationship began as a small child and seems to get more and more complicated as we age. Technically food is not meant to feed our emotions but to fuel our bodies.
We are either eating too much, too little or just for comfort and pleasure. Food industries are all around us even when we decide to change our eating habits we sometimes turn to weight loss programs such as, Jenny Craig weight loss, for pre-packaged meals. Psychologically we may feel a certain emotion that triggers your need to indulge your appetite. It is important to remember that a craving is only a feeling and not a command. Many people relate certain events to eating such as vacations, weddings, birthdays and most other celebrations. It is important to try and separate that activity from food. For example, you go to the movies and even though you had a hearty dinner before you still crave that popcorn, not because you are still hungry but because you associate going to the movies with eating popcorn after years of doing it. Once you separate that activity from your food choice you will no longer get that trigger to eat.
Food is a necessity but to overcome your unhealthy relationship with it you need to be able to determine the differences between emotional and physical hunger. Physical hunger comes from within while emotional hunger is triggered by smells, certain foods you see, or a feelings you have from the past. You are one step closer to a healthy relationship with food if you can first become aware of these differences. Once one gains this self-awareness you are then able to start making some changes in your every day life.
Some ways to start working on your new relationship is to start with a food journal. You can record every day what you had to eat and how hungry you were emotionally and physically and how it made you feel. After doing this for a week or two look back at your journal and look for patterns. Maybe you find yourself eating mostly in front of the television or you find after eating junk food when you were not physically hungry led to depression and regret. Pick up also on the healthy patterns such as how you feel after eating a healthy meal when your body really needed it, or after you exercise. Reward yourself for these healthy patterns.
Since you were a small child you have grown to have a very close relationship with food. This relationship as we get older tends to lead down an emotional path of guilt and regret. It is time we start looking at food as a good thing to fuel our bodies instead of our biggest enemy we can not avoid. Admittedly this is no easy task but everyone can do it, it just starts by first recognizing what your relationship is with food. It is time to change the way we look at food and embark on a healthy lifestyle that can appreciate the presence of food.
