I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what having a healthy relationship with food means. We talk about it in my nutrition courses, but when I’m at school I am in a complete nutrition bubble. When I talk to friends and clients, I realize that we don’t all experience the same relationship with food nor do we have the same approach.
Maybe I’m more conscious of it now that it’s basically my job, but I feel like food is the first thing to go when there’s a problem. Drink a lot over the weekend? No carbs all week! Feeling bloated? No more dairy! Put on a few pounds this winter? Detox! We blame food for everything. If we think about things that are vital to our mere existence (water, oxygen, FOOD), it’s right in there! I think many of us sometimes act like our relationship with food isn’t rooted in love and growth, but hate and regret.
I know that food isn’t as important to some people as it is to me. I’ve struggled with the fact that I could never do any of the fad diets because I just wanted to eat! I used to evaluate myself and be like, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just buckle down and do this? Then eventually I realized nothing was wrong with me! I treasure the relationship I have with food. Being able to manipulate it, cook it, create with it, use it to fuel my life and bring me joy. And yeah, give me a little comfort after a bad day.
We are nothing without the food we eat. Whoever came up with the phrase “you are what you eat” truly hit the nail on the head. Before I embarked on this journey to become a registered dietitian, I admit I didn’t fully understand the capacity food has to shape our lives. Almost everything you do and everything you feel depends on the food you eat! How could we sit here and act like that doesn’t matter?
One of my goals is to be the matchmaker between clients and food. Finding the perfect pairing and ratio of time spent together to time spent apart. People can do this on their own, though. The more you know more about yourself, the better. I think it all starts with being honest with ourselves. I’ve had people come up to me and say, “you need to help me with my diet! I can’t get it together. I’ve tried low carb but I just can’t!” and I’m thinking, keep trying! It’s not easy, but figuring out what your body runs best on is worth it. For some people, that honestly might be a low carb diet. For some others, they may feel (and look, which is a top concern in my current field) best when carbs make up 65%!
We spend a lot of time comparing ourselves to others when we would get so much accomplished by just focusing on the one that matters. We’d be more fulfilled, healthier and happier in the long-run.