Redefining health to heal food obsession

If you find yourself feeling obsessed with food or full of guilt for eating your favorite foods because you want to be “healthy”…..

It may be time to look at how you define health.

So how do you define health?

I do this exercise with a lot of my clients who are having trouble breaking food rules for the sake of “health.”

What I typically hear is a very physical definition, maybe some blood pannels, but usually this underlying idea that thinner=healthier.

Read on to see how the thin ideal might be wreaking havoc on your life.

Even though we can look at weight science and see that its behaviors that impact health, not weight, most of us grew up with this idea being told to us over and over again. It can be a hard mindset to break, but even so, physical health is not the only component to health. So if pursuing weight loss is negatively impacting other aspects is it still worth it?

So what are other aspects of health?

Mental, emotional, social, spiritual or whatever else you want to add to the list. It is clear that health is not just physical.

So how would your perspective of health change if you looked at the whole picture?

Take a second to make a list of everything the pursuit of weight loss and “health” by restricting food or following food rules has given you.

That list may include more stress, feeling obsessed with food, bingeing, a slowed metabolism, fatigue, etc.

Now consider how the pursuit of weight loss or body changes has impacted each of these aspects of health. Here are just a few examples:

Mental and emotional health: 

• Food obsession can lead to feeling anxious around food. 
• The thin ideal often reinforces that weight=worth, creating a low self worth. 
• Body dissatisfaction can create stress and negative self talk. 
• Restriction can lead to food obsession, and a greater urge to use food as a coping mechanism for emotions.
• Bingeing can lead to strong feelings of guilt and shame.

Physical health:

• Anxiety around food can lead to poor digestion.
• Bingeing and restricting can lead to weight cycling which negatively impacts heart health.

Occupational health:

• Food obsession can create distraction at work.
• Restriction can make you hungry and lead to a lower level of patience, empathy and make it hard to be present at work.
• Restriction can also lead to fatigue.

Social health:

• Food obsession and food rules can make it hard to order at restaurants or make you feel anxious if you are not in control of where or what to eat.
• The fear of bingeing may lead to canceled plans or avoiding events altogether.

So redefining health may look like this:

Pursuing weight loss is not positively impacting my health because it leads to me feeling obsessed with food and binge. Instead I can pursue my health goals by adding health promoting behaviors into my life such as decreasing stress, prioritizing sleep, finding movement that feels good, eating enough and adding in nutrient dense foods. This will better honor my overall health.

Health is not a moral obligation and you do not have to pursue health in any form, but if you are pursuing health it may be beneficial to create goals with the intention of health in mind and not body changes to help take a step away from food obsession.

Redefining health in a way that honors what you value and your health as a whole can be an important step to help you break away from the diet mentality and find some freedom from food obsession.

If you are having trouble breaking these mindsets click the link below to look into private coaching! I work with clients to break these barriers by working through the truth and reframing thoughts to what better aligns with their values.