3 tips to building a healthy relationship with food
I’m sure you already know the importance of eating a healthy diet but how many people know exactly what that looks like?
Contrary to popular belief, there is no “one diet fits all” way of eating.
Good nutrition involves so much more than just the food we put in our mouths or the calories we count on our plate. Its about understanding the relationship we share with food and how it can impact on our health and happiness.
When we can see food as a friend and an ally, eating well and nourishing our bodies can become an effortless task.
Let us take a look at how…
1. Forget the diet hype and eat balanced
Why is that that most people that start a diet not only gain the weight back originally lost but often gain more than they originally lost?
Dieting is a slippery slope into the destructive cycle of deprivation and over indulgence.
If you want to heal your body, protect it from disease and keep it functioning at its best, then there really is no substitute for real, whole, natural foods.
If 90% of your diet doesn’t come from a packet, then you’re on the right track!
2. Eat Mindfully
Emotional eating is turning to food for comfort, stress relief or as a reward rather than to satisfy hunger. Mindful eating is a practice you can use to increase awareness of your eating habits and to create space between your triggers and your actions.
This involves asking yourself a few important questions before giving in to your next craving:
- Am I actually hungry?
- What emotions am I feeling right now?
- Is this food going to make me feel better in the long run?
3. Listen to your body
Listening to your body involves recognising it for the incredibly intelligent machine that it is and trusting that it knows what is best for you.
Our physical sensations will alert us if we are under or over-fed and eating slowly is a great way to allow time for your body to register if it is satisfied or not.
If you have been eating too much over time, our set point changes and our body doesn’t recognise we are getting full when perhaps it should. If this is the case for you, discuss this with your Naturopath, who will devise a plan for you to bring your set point back to where it should be.
