Why do I have an unhealthy relationship with my body or food?
Many reasons for weight gain are not physical - they are mental or emotional. Comfort eating, overeating, unhealthy habits, unhelpful beliefs can stop us moving forward with our weight goal. However, when you become aware of these you can make simple changes to move yourself forward. The key is awareness, catching yourself mid thought or action, and then behaving differently.
Here are some scenarios from most people’s lives that can lead to unhealthy habits or beliefs around food and eating. Let’s look at them and see if you can identify with any.
- Let’s go right back to when you were a baby. You are 2 days old, feeling lonely in your cot - so you do the only thing you know to communicate how you feel. You start crying.
Suddenly one of your parents appears, anxious to comfort you and with the most loving of intentions they thrust a breast or bottle at you. However, you are not hungry, you are simply upset. The connection is made - you feel upset, you are given food for comfort and so the cycle begins comfort or emotional eating.
- Sitting at a table as a child and being told that you are not leaving it until you have everything on your plate…even though you are not hungry. A pattern of not leaving any food on the plate (even when you’re completely stuffed) begins.
- At the same table you may have heard messages like “we barely had enough to eat in our day, so be grateful and eat up” or “there’s children dying in Africa because they don’t have enough food” and so a belief of “there isn’t enough begins” and shows up as food addicts, quick eaters etc.
Can you identify anything from your past that may have influenced an unhealthy relationship between you and food or your health?
In sections 3 & 4 we will help you undo these habits so you don’t need to worry about them again. However, for some of you, this awareness alone can bring big change to your life!
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