The constant war with food on your mind is obsessive and it burns through the energy needed to focus on what really matters in your life.
*Wakes up* What’s for breakfast?
*Offered a muffin at work* How many calories?
*Eats lunch* What’s for dinner?
*A friend asks to grab dinner* Does the menu have nutrition info?
*Gets ready for bed* How many calories did I eat today?
Does this sound familiar? Unfortunately, these obsessive thought patterns around food stem from diet culture. Dieting causes a hyper fixation on food and nutrition, leaving very little room for spontaneity and other life values to take priority.
So if you feel like you’re obsessed with food but you’re not sure how to stop, here are my top tips for breaking free from the war with food.
Identify why you want to stop.
Creating a strong “why” for anything you want to accomplish in life will help push you through the mud when things get tough. So ask yourself, why do you want to break free from food obsession? What will breaking free from this obsession give you? What can you do more of when you aren’t so preoccupied with food?
Stop dieting.
Sounds simple, but it’s definitely not. Dieting (in the form of an actual fad diet like keto or just calorie counting) is where the food obsession stems from. Dieting undermines our ability to trust ourselves. Diets tell us that we HAVE to count, measure, and calculate every ounce of food we put into our body in order to properly feed ourselves. However, this is far from the truth. In order to stop the obsession with food and learn to trust yourself around food again, you have to break up with dieting.
Challenge your diet beliefs.
In order to stop dieting, you must challenge beliefs that have impacted your desire to diet. Diet culture is sneaky. It leads us to believe that health is black and white; but newsflash, it’s not! Health is multidimensional. Your health is not completely determined by the sugar you eat, the processing of the food you eat, calories, or even your body size. Redefining what health means to YOU, can propel you toward ditching dieting for good.
Identify your core values.
When you’re no longer obsessed with food, how do you want to spend your time? What do you value in life? Life is short and I doubt the actions of obsessing over food (and your body) actually align with your core values. I recommend identifying your top 3-5 core values, and then identify 3-5 behaviors that support those values. What could you do more to support yourself in aligning with your values?
This list of values from James Clear is a great place to start: https://jamesclear.com/core-values
Eat foods that are satisfying.
If you find yourself finishing a meal and already thinking about the next one, you’re likely unsatisfied with what you’re choosing to eat. Satisfaction is SO important. If you continue to choose foods that are unsatisfying, you’ll notice you begin to crave and feel preoccupied with foods that would be satisfying. If you’re feeling unsatisfied with the foods you’re eating, change things up! If you are constantly craving carbs after a meal, maybe you need to add more carbs to your meals. If you’re craving something salty during the day, maybe you need to add more flavor to your meals by allowing salt and seasonings. There are so many options you could experiment with to find what is satisfying for you!
All in all, this list is a good starting point to help you stop obsessing over food but it is definitely not all-inclusive. Food obsession does not happen overnight, it was learned and developed over time (likely years) and will take time to heal from. Be patient, give yourself compassion, and find food freedom!
If you’d like more help stopping food obsession, binge eating, and learning to eat intuitively, apply for coaching with me! I work 1:1 and in a group setting with many people from around the world to help them develop a healthful relationship with food and their body.
Learn more about my coaching here: https://www.makainutrition.com/group-coaching
