Food-ship

MandiMarie913

How many of you have struggled to gain and maintain a good relationship with food? What obstacles did you have to overcome? How did you eventually achieve a better relationship with food?

VeganRaptor

I personally improved my relationship by following a schedule of three meals a day consisting of a carbohydrate component, a protein component, and a fat component and 2-5 snacks consisting of two out of the three components. I then moved into intuitive eating and not counting calories. Different things work for different people though, you might like to talk to your doctor about it? Good luck!

Machka9

I don't have a relationship with food. Food is mostly just fuel. I tend to focus on other things in life ... like, for example, I have a relationship with my husband and with cycling.

Maybe it would help to redirect your focus elsewhere?

kommodevaran

I have! I have struggled with food all my life - almost - it started when I was little and alternately force fed and restricted access to goodies, sort of - then as a teenager I started worrying about getting fat when I really was at a healthy weight. As a young adult (away from home and making up for all the stuff I had missed) I gained weight, for real, and fast, tried to lose/stall gain by eating low fat, destroyed my gall bladder with low fat and my teeth with high sugar, when I couldn't stand the low fat/low taste any more.

Grr.

I had to relearn everything. Eating well is not that complicated but very very complex. There is no such thing as a perfect diet, and superfoods don't exist. I needed a good meal plan, a structure for my eating. I had to find foods I can eat to satiety. Calorie counting and always include fat, protein and vegetables in meals was a great start. I had to structure my food environment differently. I had to learn how to recognize and respect my hunger and satiety cues. I had to learn balance and patience. I had to learn to love to wait. I had to admit that even though my mom did some crazy things, she also did a lot of them right.

What is Normal Eating? is one of the many resources I have used.

MandiMarie913

Machka9 wrote: »

I don't have a relationship with food. Food is mostly just fuel. I tend to focus on other things in life ... like, for example, I have a relationship with my husband and with cycling.

Maybe it would help to redirect your focus elsewhere?

Your able to think of food as just fuel, someone with an eating disorder does notnot think of it as such.

cmriverside

MandiMarie913 wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

I don't have a relationship with food. Food is mostly just fuel. I tend to focus on other things in life ... like, for example, I have a relationship with my husband and with cycling.

Maybe it would help to redirect your focus elsewhere?

Your able to think of food as just fuel, someone with an eating disorder does notnot think of it as such.

I think her point is that when life is busy and full of other active pursuits, food becomes something that is necessary rather than a hobby.

TV and computer use create a passive hobby that lends itself to eating while doing it. Bike riding is not all that easy to do while eating...and it uses a lot of calories, AND it squelches that hunger drive.

Try an active lifestyle if you aren't doing it already. Food will become fuel.

Unknown

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leooftheyear

I've struggled with this, on and off for years, I think it was partly because out of everything going on in my life counting calories was the only thing I could control. Since I have regained control of my life and got rid of a majority of my anxiety I've been able to focus on food as fuel and use it less of a controlling/binging/I'm afraid I won't have enough calories for dinner.

leanjogreen18

This was a recent ephinany for me:

foods are not bad nor good. Because when I ate a "bad" food I automatically thought I was "bad" so I might as well eat all the "bad" food like the whole cake or whole pizza.

food is fuel - I can have cake that is neither good nor bad and it will fuel me for a little while then I will be hungry again or I can have a tuna sandwich which is neither good nor bad that will fuel me until dinner. I am not bad for choosing a slice of cake I just know I need to plan to gas out sooner and allot for it in my calorie count.

Food is not a person, it can't comfort me when I'm sad or happy.

Food is fuel some food/fuel tastes better than others.

It's been a work in progress to get to this point over the last 4 months but I firmly believe if I make up my mind my body follows (my mantra).

I make the decision to either eat because I'm sad or happy it doesn't fly into my mouth. I make the decisions to reward or punish myself food doesn't just fly into my mouth. Before anyone gets offended I am speaking only of myself and OP asked how I'm overcoming my issues I really try not to be judgmental of others.

Having said all of the above I am a yoyo dieter, I have no problems being laser focused when loosing weight. I have never maintained my loss. I always went for the "quick" solutions. It's partially because I wasn't educated with CICO. I now have that in my arsenal so check back with me next November to see how I'm maintaining and if the above still works:).

cross2bear

I agree with johunt615 - I ate my feelings, whether it was happiness, anger, frustration or joy. Food meant comfort and security. I have had to learn the same things - nothing changes regardless of what I eat. A big slice of cake doesnt make my crappy day at work any less crappy. In fact, it makes it worse because now I hve to deal with low self worth, guilt and disappointment. Not any more. Its a new lesson every day still, but it seems to be easier as each day goes by. Ideally, my relationship with food will be that it is a necessity of life, that some foods have to be moderated by me, and that food is not a reward or a panacea.

ryry_

I think my relationship with food is the best its ever been and it mainly has to do with my approach to weight loss. Slow and steady, eat what I like, within reasonable quanities, don't stress the small stuff, etc.

CattOfTheGarage

Noel_57 wrote: »

I thought this was going to be about a big boat that carries food.

Me too.

Machka9

cmriverside wrote: »

MandiMarie913 wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

I don't have a relationship with food. Food is mostly just fuel. I tend to focus on other things in life ... like, for example, I have a relationship with my husband and with cycling.

Maybe it would help to redirect your focus elsewhere?

Your able to think of food as just fuel, someone with an eating disorder does notnot think of it as such.

I think her point is that when life is busy and full of other active pursuits, food becomes something that is necessary rather than a hobby.

TV and computer use create a passive hobby that lends itself to eating while doing it. Bike riding is not all that easy to do while eating...and it uses a lot of calories, AND it squelches that hunger drive.

Try an active lifestyle if you aren't doing it already. Food will become fuel.

Yes, exactly.

jennybearlv

I came in here thinking food trucks had been adapted for yumminess on the lake. Super disappointed. And I think that summarizes my relationship with food. I love food. My favorite thing about keeping a food journal is getting to know my food even better. I try to appreciate delicious food more than I did in the past. I feel bad for cheating on delicious food with food that was just there and I was bored or stressed or whatever.