THE #1 BARRIER TO HEALING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD

If we zoom out and look at the diet-binge cycle, or any unhealthy relationship with food, it pretty much always starts with body dissatisfaction.

We will see something we deem is “not okay” about our bodies, as a result of the size discrimination so prevalent in our culture, and we decide we need to control our food so we can control our weight.

So the thing that triggers the diet-binge cycle is not the food or the dieting per say, rather the intense desire to manipulate our body size that sets this whole thing in motion.

Every time I talk with a client about letting go of restriction around food they almost always rebuttal with…,

“But how will I not gain weight?”

I totally understand this response. Our fear of weight gain is what keeps us stuck in this vicious cycle.

Its why we are too afraid to let go or think that we can only let go once we get to a certain size.

Fear of weight gain is what is holding you hostage and taking away your sense of freedom.

It’s when you believe your life depends on achieving a specific body size, and that you can’t have the life you want until you lose the weight, is why this cycle continues.

Its why you can’t help but be totally consumed by thoughts of food, judging every single bite you take or don’t take, and feel like you have no choice but to control and restrict.

Because you believe in order to make it through life you must lose weight.

But, its just a matter of time before you can’t hold on any longer because the deprivation is too much to bare.

And before you know it, you find yourself knee deep in a bowl of brownie batter,

because life just happened and you NEED some freaking comfort.

When your happiness depends on being a certain weight, it’s literally the equivalent of food holding a gun to your head.

It’s now the one calling the shots. It has all the power over you.

This cycle is almost always the result of hating your body and wanting to control your weight.

So is working towards accepting your body as it is today worth it if means breaking free from food obsession?