10 Tips to Make Peace With Food and Eat Without Fear
1. Exercise the right amount for the right reason.
If we over exercise and under eat which is what happens usually when we are on a diet, our body reacts in a way that we go into ‘starvation mode’. Our body is feeling stressed so our cortisol levels, which are our hormones that respond to stress, go up and this how we start to store body fat. The more you exercise and under eat, the more your body will start to hold onto everything because it doesn’t know when it will get more or enough energy next.
2. Identify what your body really needs.
To make peace with Food, we need to identify what our body wants or is longing for. If you are not physically hungry, then it will be an emotional need such as: rest, movement, hug, love, relaxation – it is actually what your body is wanting. So it is important that you address what your body needs.
3. Practice mindfulness & reconnect with your heart.
Reconnect with your heart and be compassionate with yourself rather than constantly being in your head. It is the mind that is constantly telling you you’re not good enough. However your heart knows that it is not the truth and you know who you are as a person so it’s important to connect with it. Because to make peace with food, we need to make peace with ourselves first.
4. Be flexible with yourself.
If you made a decision to have junk food or a sweet treat, be flexible next time. If you made a poor decision and don’t want to continue, learn from it. Ask yourself what can I do differently next time and do it. It’s as simple as that.
5. Follow people who promote body positivity.
Follow people who promote body positive images and movements – that talk about being healthy at every size. Think of it as counter conditioning. We’ve been conditioned by the media to perceive beauty as ‘being thin’. We need to look at images where we see natural, untouched bodies of all shapes and sizes. It is important that we re -programme our minds to see beauty in all types of body shapes and sizes so we can accept our own.
6. Identify your emotions.
Identify the feelings you are having. For example: I’m tired, I’m exhausted, I’m frustrated… It’s important to call these emotions out so you can decide how to deal with them in the right way rather than using food to fix it.
7. Find other (non food) ways to destress.
Quite often when we get home after a very busy day, we’ll grab something sweet or unhealthy, for example a biscuit and maybe have it with a glass of wine, in order to de stress. There are a lot of other ways to de stress such as mindfulness, meditations, yoga stretches or going for a walk rather than using food for comfort.
8. Practise mindfulness and awareness.
We must create awareness around our thinking; and our behavioural and emotional patterns because there is usually a pattern with binge eating. Identify when it happened – what day it was, the time of the day it happened, what kind of day it was… Ask yourself what are your thinking patterns before the binge, during the binge, and even after. The more you understand the thinking around it, the better you can understand it and overcome it.
9. Set realistic goals for yourself.
Set yourself small, achievable goals. Big goals can be overwhelming and more difficult to achieve. For example, a small goal could be having a maximum of two takeaway meals a week or having breakfast every morning. You want to set realistic goals that you can maintain and follow easily.
10. Reflect on your dieting habits.
A binge eating episode usually comes after a diet. When we are on a diet we tend to restrict ourselves. So when we come out of that diet we tend to go from one extreme to the other because we can’t handle being hungry anymore. We end up binge eating on all the foods that we missed and wanted to have. When you are dieting, ask yourself what foods you are restricting and why are you restricting them. Then ask yourself how you can have those foods in a healthier version in your diet. Focus on adding the foods you love so you don’t end up binge eating on them later on. You don’t need to restrict yourself from the foods that you love.
Transform your eating and free yourself from your Battle with Food and and Weight. A 6 weeks group online course to free yourself from Binge Eating and Emotional Eating. Check out my Food Freedom Formula online course.
Or just book a Free Food Freedom Breakthrough Call to discuss your personal challenges and how I might be able to support you
