What is Your Relationship With Food and Body?

Do you have a healthy relationship between food and body?

There are many underlying reasons why we eat the way we do and how that affects our personal relationship to food and body. Many of us have limiting behaviors that do not serve when it comes to food and body.

We live in a world of many different fads and diets and are often confused and uncertain as to what is right or wrong. At the same time there can be a lot of pain and suffering in regards to our relationship with food and body.

In today’s culture we only have to look around to see the increase in obesity and its connections to body image, overeating, binge eating, chronic dieting, emotional eating, and how these impact our digestion, mood, immune system, energy level and more.

Part of our challenge is that this is a cultural issue and is not our fault. We are bombarded by media with “should’s” and “should not’s” which are constantly changing. It seems every week there is a new diet which is supposed to be the best!

Slowing Down and Becoming Present

One of the first and most important things you must do in order to begin to change your relationship with food and body is to slow down and become present when eating. Most of us today live in a stressed physiological state.

We need to make meal times a very important aspect of our day. Only when we begin to slow down and become present to what we are eating can we begin to recognize the connection between the food we eat and the effects it has on our body.

Here are some scientifically proven tips to help you begin to slow down and become present with your meals:

• First, make sure you are taking time to eat!
• Set aside an appropriate amount of time to prepare your meal and then sit down with your food in front of you
• Next, take 5-10 long, slow, deep breaths to get you into your body and connected to the parasympathetic nervous system and away from stress physiology
• Look at the meal in front of you and allow yourself to receive pleasure from the colors, smells, and textures of this food
• Now take a moment to experience gratitude for this food
• Take your first bite, chew slowly, savoring fully before swallowing. Allow yourself to truly taste and enjoy! After all, our brains are wired for pleasure!
• Make sure to complete this process before raising another mouthful of food to your lips. Putting your cutlery down between mouthfuls helps here.

Eating in this way is a very powerful step towards making a stronger connection between what you eat and its effects on your body.

We begin to recognize that we truly are what we eat and that what we eat is important for the proper functioning of all metabolic aspects of our body:
• Physical
• Psychological
• Physiological
• Spiritual

Any change must be initiated taking baby steps to help us gradually transition into a new way of being in our relationship with food and body. I hope that these tips have been helpful in getting you started towards a better relationship with your food and body journey!

I would love to help you transform your relationship with food, body and health and empower you to achieve a balanced life of health, purpose and vitality!

Your Nourishing Nutritionist,

Lynne Bowsher

Nourishment for body, mind and spirit