Red Flags of an Unhealthy Relationship with Food

January 25, 2023

Welcome to The Balanced Dietitian Podcast! I hope that you are doing so wonderful now that we are almost done with the first month of 2023. This time of year can be really difficult for so many reasons. It is still cold and dark. We are all coming down from the hype of the holidays. Sometimes it can leave an emptiness or an empty feeling that can happen around this time.

Today I wanted to talk about the different signs or indicators that our relationship to food is not ideal. Some of these things are normalized but the society we live in. They often go unnoticed. Just because something is common doesn’t mean it is right.

In this episode, we discuss:

[04:54] Feeling shame or guilt when we eat certain foods

[06:15] Certain foods are off-limits and consistently overeating all the time

[08:27] Food choices determine our day

[09:47] Playing Tetris with food

[13:21] Benefits of healing your relationship to food

[04:54] Feeling shame or guilt when we eat certain foods

Any guilt or shame that we feel around food is not part of a healthy relationship with food. You shouldn’t feel any guilt or shame related to your food behaviors. A lot of us have been taught that if we eat foods that are not as nourishing or we eat heavier quantities, it automatically leads to guilt and shame. We want to have a relationship with food where no matter what you eat, there is no guilt or shame. It’s just curiosity over judgment but shame is just not part of the equation.

[06:15] Certain foods are off-limits and consistently overeating all the time

The second sign that you may have an unhealthy relationship with food is if certain foods are off-limits or there are foods that you just can’t have in your house. If there are some foods that you feel like you just can’t buy or have in the house because of fear and potentially losing control, that’s another sign that our relationship with food needs some work.

This one may be a little bit controversial but if we consistently overeat all of the time. If every time we have food we eat to a point where we are overly full or we are maybe physically feeling unwell that is another sign. If we’re just constantly passing the point of satiety, that is also an indication that we may want to work on a relationship with food. If at every meal, we are having maybe a hard time understanding our cues of satiety, or food is starting to play a bigger role that is also an indication that we may want to work on a relationship with food.

[08:27] Food choices determine our day

Another indication that our relationship with food is unhealthy is if our food choices determine our day. We’re probably attaching way too much value to our food choices instead of other things in our life. Anything that has to do with the way that we eat that may not feel aligned is also something that we are going to want to think about when we think about the relationship with foods that we have.

[09:47] Playing Tetris with food

If you feel the need to save your calories, play around with your food, or eat more here or eat less another time is another sign that we have some disordered eating patterns. We shouldn’t have to play Tetris. Our food should not be that complicated.

[13:21] Benefits of healing your relationship to food

The benefit of healing your relationship with food is that life gets to be simpler and better, more empowering, and more aligned. We’re not stuck in this shell anymore and we get to shine brighter. We get to stop letting the fear of food or the constant battle with food control our days or lives.