Much is made of human relationships. Relationships with significant others, family, friends and even colleagues are fundamental to healthy living.
One’s relationship with food is often overlooked.
The average person hasn’t taken time to assess his or her relationship with food for good reason: most people are busy and eat when hungry or fatigued.
Rewind time merely three decades ago and supermarket shelves were quite simple and uniform. There were far fewer food and beverage options in the 90s and even the early aughts.
Today, there are seemingly endless culinary options available through both online and offline markets. If you are struggling with your weight, desire to eat and body insecurity, rest assured you are not alone in your crowd.
Take note of the 7 signs of a poor relationship with food highlighted below. If you exhibit even one of these signs, ask for help from a food psychologist.
Sign #1: You Eat Even When You are Full
It takes 20 or more minutes for the stomach to communicate fullness to the brain. If you feel even slightly full while eating, put the fork and knife down.
Give your stomach enough time to communicate with your brain, then put what’s left on your plate in the refrigerator. You can eat the leftovers tomorrow or throughout the remainder of the week. Leftovers are beneficial to both the waistline and the wallet.
If you are tempted to “clean your plate”, think twice. Your desire to eat when full might have an underlying cause such as insufficient sleep or emotional turmoil.
Even failing to eat a sufficient amount of food that is rich in nutrients might be the underlying cause for eating beyond the point of fullness.
Sign #2: You Eat When Emotional
Some say experiencing the gamut of emotions is the point of living. The emotional highs and lows of the human experience are a thrill ride, albeit with the potential for tumultuousness.
If you gravitate toward food when emotional, make an effort to become more self-aware. Recognize the fact that soothing your emotions with tasty food is not a realistic or sustainable long-term strategy for mental and physical health.
Take a moment to ponder, why, exactly, you are eating.
If the answer is your emotional state, put down the spoon and spend some time reflecting on the cause of that emotion.
Sign #3: You Can’t Stop Thinking About Food
If the thought of food enters your mind once every hour or even more frequently, it is a sign you have a problem. Constantly thinking about food is no way to live life. Oftentimes, it is “grazers” who can’t stop thinking about food.
Grazing throughout the day means eating small portions once every hour or two. Though some health and mindful nourishment experts insist grazing is the healthiest way to eat as it constantly fuels the body, it sabotages the mind.
Food consumption should take the form of two or three significant daily events: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
There’s no harm in mixing in the occasional snack, especially if you are low on energy.
Restrict eating to meaningful meals and you’ll do your mind a massive favor. This approach liberates you to focus on work, friendships, family and fun instead of intrusive food-related thoughts.
Ideally, you’ll mentally reframe food as fuel. The food you consume should keep your body functioning like a well-oiled machine. This isn’t to say the entirety of what you eat must be healthy.
Rather, food should be strategically spaced out for consumption in specific increments to ensure your body and mind function throughout the entirety of the day.
The alternative is to graze, meaning you’ll constantly be thinking about the next handful of food. Food obsession makes us anxious and mentally depleted.
Liberate yourself with a meal-based approach to eating and you’ll have the mental energy necessary to focus on what matters most: work, family and hobbies.
Sign #4: You’ve Quantified Food Consumption
Are you a calorie counter? Do you look at every ingredient label to check the number of servings per container?
If so, you have a rocky relationship with food.
Though it makes sense to quantify daily meals, quantifying other aspects of nutritional intake is cause for concern. Even disallowing yourself from eating at specific times of morning, day and night constitutes a poor relationship with food.
Moreover, if you are forcing yourself to eat in accordance with a nuanced dieting pattern, you might have a poor relationship with food. Such stringent rules entrap you within a “culinary silo” in which you are constrained by arbitrary dieting guidelines.
The opposite? Food freedom.
Break free from quantifying every aspect of eating and you’ll feel liberated. Food freedom is making peace with the need to eat and doing so without rigid rules and other quantitative measurements.
Sign #5: Feeling Stressed When Eating Out or Attending Events Where Food is Present
Do you struggle to remain focused on conversation when at parties, meetings or other social gatherings where food is available? Do you sometimes refuse to eat out or attend social events because food will be served?
If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, you likely have an unhealthy relationship with food.
Even feeling stressed when at a restaurant is cause for concern. Merely being the presence of food should not trigger a stress reaction. If so, food has unjustified power over you.
Problems with food in social settings often stems from comparing your food selections to those around you. Some fear others’ judgment for their food choices.
In certain cases, social eating is nerve-wracking as one cannot hide destructive eating habits such as binge eating, restrictive eating and/or purging.
Instead of succumbing to stress when around diners and attending social gatherings where food is served, ask for help. A nutritional psychologist in New Jersey will help you overcome stress so you can enjoy a healthy relationship with food.
Even if you feel slightly triggered by the presence of food when outside of the house, do yourself a favor by meeting with a New Jersey food psychiatrist.
A nutritional psychiatrist will help you develop a healthy relationship with food that ensures you live a fulfilling life.
Once your relationship with food improves, you’ll finally be able to enjoy date nights, picnics, family barbecues, weddings and more.
Sign #6: You Restrict Yourself Without Justification
Enjoyment is partially derived from the food we eat. Restrict yourself too much and you won’t feel sated. You might even feel depressed.
If you feel the need to restrict yourself to specific foods and beverages, do so in a healthy way. As an example, low-calorie diets and raw veganism have the potential to be dangerous. Though veganism is revered as a healthy approach to eating, it must be done with a highly strategic approach to prevent nutrient and mineral deficiencies.
Though a calorie deficit is necessary to lose weight, that doesn’t mean you should cut calories to the bare minimum.
Develop a safe approach to reaching a modest calorie deficit with the help of a New Jersey food psychologist and you’ll reach your target weight.
Above all, recognize that some “cheat days” are healthy for your personal psychology. Cut yourself from slack and enjoy ice cream, dark chocolate and other tasty delights every now and then.
The moral of the story is that a slow and steady approach to eating right will help you get slim and toned.
Sign #7: You Punish Yourself After Eating
There’s no sense in punishing yourself for enjoying food. Make a vow to eat smaller portions of sugary or salty food the next time you have a craving and allow yourself to indulge.
Even if you suffer a food setback and devour half a pint of ice cream, masochism isn’t justified.
There’s no need to run a mile or do 100 sit-ups after enjoying delicious food.
Nor is there justification for self-purging after enjoying delicious food. Purging after eating damages the body and the mind. Instead of purging, write yourself a reminder note to exercise the next morning.
Get into the habit of turning to exercise instead of snacking as physical activity triggers the release of happy chemicals called endorphins. Ideally, you’ll wait until food is completely digested before engaging in strenuous physical activity.
Though exercising after your food has settled will help offset the caloric intake, hitting the gym after each indulgence is unrealistic. If you insist on exercising after enjoying tasty food, do so after at least an hour passes.
Endorphin release during and after exercising decreases stress and also combats depression. Keep in mind, you can always take a couple bites of your favorite foods after you’ve gone to the gym.
Help is Available
If you exhibit one or several of the signs of a poor relationship with food listed above, you are in need of help. A food psychologist in New Jersey will help improve your relationship with food.
You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to ask for assistance.
Reach out to a nutritional psychiatrist in New Jersey for guidance and it won’t take long to transform your relationship with food.
You can contact our food psychiatrist at 908-844-8547or by email at info@mindsyncpsychiatry.com.
