3 Steps to Making Peace with Food

Do you find yourself constantly at war with your food? Are you ready to throw in the towel and finally make peace with food but not sure where to start?

The key to ending the battle with food is by giving yourself unconditional permission to eat.

This concept may seem totally unreachable for you if you’ve been dieting for years. I bet that for as long as you can remember, you’ve been telling yourself what foods you “can” and “cannot” eat, labeling foods as “good” or “bad”, “healthy” or “unhealthy” and depriving yourself from the joy of eating.

Once the deprivation gets to a point where you can’t handle it anymore, you finally “give in” to your forbidden food and eat with much intensity—leaving you feeling shame and guilt.

By granting yourself unconditional permission to eat, these thoughts, feelings and actions can go away! But how do you start?

3 Steps to Making Peace with Food

(1) Create an inventory of foods. Make a list of foods that you consider your “forbidden” foods, or foods you often restrict. Rank them from scariest to least scary.

(2) Plan a time to try. After creating your list, try incorporating at least one of the foods into your eating world. For best results, try the food in a calm environment and at a time when you are not at a level of primal hunger.

(3) Make note of how you feel. Take notes on your experience!

Before you begin eating, make note of—how does the food look on the plate? How does the food smell? What do you think it will taste like? Does the appearance meet your expectation?

While you’re eating—how does the food taste? Do you find yourself enjoying it like you normally do? Does it meet your expectations? What surprises you about the food?

After the meal, reflect on your overall experience—how do you feel now? Was the experience as “scary” as you thought? Do you think you could try another food at another time? What do you think of the food now?

I know this isn’t so easy. Please reach out here if you’d like me to support you through the food peace process.