I am talking relationships this Valentines Day, more to the point food relations.
You may not think of your food eating as a romantic endeavor but in a lot of ways it is. You love it, you hate it, you long for it when food is not around. Sometimes you get too much of food in your life and you just need some alone time, but eventually, you’ll be back.
It seems o so common these days that people have a bad relationship with food. Somewhere along the way something happened.
Maybe it’s the fast pace of life, or the invention of TV dinners and cheap fast food, or the lost habit of eating as a family, or maybe we just lost our appreciation for good food.
There still seems to be a love for good food out there. I mean just look at Instagram it is 87% food picks (The other 13% if you are wondering is made up of 10% Cat pictures, 2.5% Selfies, .5% is of nature or other random objects).
If you have noticed no one is taking picks of their KFC family meal they bought or the Ramen Noodles they just heated up. Though now that I think of it that would make a great picture series title #realeats.
Getting back to the point.
Here are the 6 relationships people have with food and a few tips to help your love life with food for the better.
Clingy
They call and call they always want to be around you and you just can’t seem to get any separation between the two of you.
In reality, you are the clingy one. Always thinking about food wanting it to be around you and just hang for a few.
Signs you might be a clinger:
Always thinking about your next date with food
Always having snacks around you
If you happen to bump into food you will just have some because well it’s food
The Fix:
Instead of seeing food 5, 6, or even 8 times a day unplanned. Try planning to just have food 3 or 4 times per day and make them meaningful. Don’t just graze on a meaningless snack bar have a nice little-prepped meal. That you will actually enjoy.
My Boyfriend/Girlfriend Is The Best
If you find yourself buying really expensive food that says organic or all natural on it, but that food is still made up of organic cookies and all-natural pizza dough. And you find yourself wondering why this really expensive food is doing nothing for my waistline?
Well, you might need to remove the rose covered glasses.
The Fix:
Take a step back from the situation and make sure that there is more substance to your food than just the packaging. Is it actually good quality food? Because non-quality food can also be organic and all natural. Remember it’s not what’s on the outside but what’s on the inside.
Scared to Get Hurt
We have all been there, getting burned one too many times. You leave yourself venerable but every time you do you feel as though they take advantage of you.
You start to develop a bad relationship with food, start categorizing it as good and bad and pretty soon everything seems bad. Thoughts of, “I know I shouldn’t eat this because it’s bad for me.” And if I am eating things I know that are bad I must be a bad person.
Don’t get suck in this trap.
The Fix
Start seeing better food and knowing that all food has a place and a time. You should, for the most part, stick to seeing foods of high quality, meaning they are grown in the ground or from natural sources such as animals(mom always said you should see someone from a good upbringing). It is ok to enjoy foods like ice cream in the appropriate amounts and in the right occasion. Nobody wants to eat carrot sticks at a birthday party.
The Confider
You had a rough day. The boss was a jerk, or the kids just wouldn’t get their shit together, or the universe decided to get a good laugh at your expense. Whatever the reason your day sucked.
But luckily for you, you have someone waiting for you at home. That loves you and will take care of you. That confider might be a pack of cheese and cracker, a few glasses of your favorite adult beverage, or a small pint of your favorite nonjudgmental ice cream.
The Fix
Using food as a fix for life’s problems never works unless you find yourself starving. But that is not the case for my readers. Confiding in food will lead to a downward spiral.
You had a bad day.
You overeat.
You get sad about overeating.
The next day isn’t great because you are still upset about yesterday and overeating.
You need to get out of the spiral. The best way is to talk to someone. That could be a friend, a loved one, a parent, anyone that is willing to listen and just let you vent about life’s problems.
The Old Married Couple
We can all picture that cute little old couple walking hand in hand in the park (if you can’t picture it I have provided a visual above). You ask yourself, “How do they make it look so easy?”.
All good relationships take time and work. You have to purposely work to strengthen your areas of weakness and thoughtfully think out how can I make this relationship better.
The Fix
Your goal should be to have the relationship of an old married couple. You appreciate your food, you are happy when you eat it, and you don’t miss treat it by overindulging to the point of self-shamming.
Wrapping It Up
The person that consistently eats healthy. Has to work at it, it doesn’t just come naturally to most. You have to make a decision in each meal does this help or hurt my relationship with food. Another way to look at it does this decision align with my goals or who I want to be.
Thanks for putting up with my sassy post comparing food to relationship and happy Valentine’s Day 🙂
Your Fitness Sherpa
Josh W
