What is your relationship with food?

I’ve felt the guilt of eating “bad” foods for me. I’ve exercised (ran) as a way to “burn off” all the calories I ate. I’ve binged because “I’ve already messed up the day, what’s a little more?”

This is what happens when you look at food not as food but as either a friend or a foe. So you run on the treadmill or you do extra classes during the week, you begin this weeks new “diet du jour” or you skip meals to make up for what you ate the day before…it’s your foe.

Then the cycle starts all over again. You vow to begin again tomorrow or for me “I’ll start again Monday.” Problem is there is always something…it’s your friend..

“I can’t start today because I have that girls’ lunch out. I won’t eat breakfast or dinner to make up for all the food I’ll eat at the party and start again the next day. Oh, but wait, Friday is the Bunko group and there’s wine there…and we are going to try the BBQ place on Saturday. Then there is the block party on Sunday and there’s always a Margarita machine and the desserts. Oh and it’s Girl Scout cookie time, I’ve got to have those thin mints!

See? There’s always something. Can you relate?

Jump off the hamster wheel! The only way – and it’s not a quick fix – is to change your view on food.

Stop seeing food as “good” or “bad”. That leads to guilt when you choose to eat the “bad” food.

Food is just food. Period. Its purpose is to nourish you… body, mind, and soul. Don’t let it nourish just your body and steal your soul.

Your not choosing good or bad food. You are choosing most of the time food and once in a while food. Do you see the difference? You get to CHOOSE to nourish yourself, to feed your body, mind and soul. You know what foods are most of the time foods. Single ingredient foods like apples, broccoli, chicken, eggs, oats.

The key is to recognize that you have choices, every day, about which foods to eat and how much, and which foods to avoid.

And ONCE IN A WHILE (or for my weight loss clients 10% of your meals, for us maintenance folks it might be 20%), you get to choose a food that may not be as healthy for your body; indulging occasionally keeps you from feeling deprived. Enjoy those moments! Don’t feel guilty about them.

Think the thought, “I love giving my body healthy foods because it makes me feel great” over and over, or “I exercise to be strong and build muscle to be healthier so I can live longer” and eventually it becomes a belief.

Then that belief leads to an action, where you make a choice that is good for you.

I know this isn’t easy, but once you figure it out, food loses control over you and it is freeing. There will be starts and stops along your journey but you can find your key to unlock your healthy relationship with food too.