A Healthy Relationship - with Food

A Healthy Relationship...
often calls to mind, people, families and loved ones.

As the holidays fast approaching, we may have to stop and think about our relationship with food.

I will be the first to confess that I can be an emotional eater.  During the holidays, for good or for bad, spending time with those closest to us can lead us astray.

The negative perspective is easy to understand.  High maintenance people can cause us to eat to soothe any level of anxiety or stress.

But, even positivity can cause us to eat beyond our normal practice.  Rather than listen to our bodies, we listen to the values, meanings, expectations regarding food from those we love.

Previous generations often show love and caring through food.  If we refuse or take a "normal" portion, then questions of value judgement will come into the inter-personal dynamic.

In the book Intuitive Eating, author Dr. Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch stated,
http://www.intuitiveeating.org/

The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating

1. Reject the Diet Mentality 

Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently.

2. Honor Your Hunger 

Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates.

3. Make Peace with Food 

Call a truce, stop the food fight!

4. Challenge the Food Police 

Scream a loud "NO" to thoughts in your head that declare you're "good" for eating under 1000 calories or "bad" because you ate a piece of chocolate cake

5. Respect Your Fullness 

Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry.

6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor 

In our fury to be thin and healthy, we often overlook one of the most basic gifts of existence--the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience.

7. Honor Your Feelings Without Using Food 

Find ways to comfort , nurture, distract, and resolve your issues without using food.

8. Respect Your Body 

Accept your genetic blueprint.

9. Exercise-Feel the Difference 

Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise.

10 Honor Your Health-Gentle Nutrition

Make food choices that honor your health and tastebuds while making you feel well.