What is your relationship with food? Is it an emotional comfort? Is it matter of habit? Do you eat fast and multitask while eating? or do you plan and look forward to your set meals for the day? All of these questions are important in understanding the complexities of a person's interaction with food. Taking control of your eating habits is a key factor in controlling what you would like to physically achieve i.e. muscle gain, fat Loss. I believe becoming aware of our strengths and or weaknesses is paramount to improving not only our knowledge of nutrition, but our mental health also.
Our relationship with food may come from one or many different factors. These include emotions, pace, lifestyle, cultural and previous experience. It is important to acknowledge these as they are what has formed our current relationship with food, and how to overcome/change our habits.
Emotional
Are you filling an emotional void with food? It may be a question that seriously needs attention as the power of the mind may sabotage your health and fitness efforts in the long run. How do you feel when you eat? Is it a mindless act or are you consciously appreciating what you are eating?
Pace
The speed at which you eat your food may be an indicator of weight gain, due to the lack of control in mindfully eating slow. This pace is generally associated with overeating. Have you ever sat down for a big meal and quite easily finished it all and 20 mins later felt like you ate too much? This is normal and a part of your physiology. It takes roughly 20 mins for the delayed satiated signal from the brain reaches the stomach, slowing down your eating pace will allow time for your brain to catch up to your stomach.
Busy Lifestyle
It goes without saying most people live a busy lifestyle, thus they look to multitasking to tick multiple jobs off at once. However, when It comes to eating; are we paying enough attention to what, when and how we are eating our food? Planning your day to allow plenty of time to consume your meals without distractions can help you de load from the stressors of work to focus on one thing, your food.
Cultural and past experience
According to how you were brought up and raised has a lot to do with how you behave and act today. When we are young our biggest influence in determining our behaviour patterns, are our parents. It can explain why we eat certain foods, frequency and or timing of meals. A great way to overcome previous experience is to understand the outcomes of continuing old habits, and express the need for change in order to achieve a particular goal.
It may take some time to implement these strategies and that's ok, food is a journey and it is a step in the right direction if we are to become aware and mindful of our relationship with food.
