Do you have a healthy relationship with food?

[Toller_08]

I wish I did, but I don't think I do. I really like food and try not to feel guilty over things I eat, but it gets annoying when I try to eat healthier and still end up eating poorly. I don't think I even eat that poorly compared to a lot of people, but my body certainly doesn't like some things that I eat I don't think. I am sure my main issue is that I suck at picking out good things to take for the day to work, so I end up taking quick, easy lunch meals that aren't the best for me. And for some reason I actually eat more at work than I do at home... I am always super hungry at work. To the point of feeling really weak and shakey. At home I've definitely had moments like that, but that's because I pretty much don't eat at home sometimes, so it makes sense. I might have something small for breakfast (big might), and then I just wait for dinner. But during the work week I eat breakfast, bring something for a snack (granola bar and a banana usually, possibly another kind of fruit or carrots also) and an actual lunch meal and I am still starving before the end of the day comes. As a result, I go home and eat too much for dinner because I still feel hungry and then I often will have something else after also. It's horrible. I don't know why I feel so hungry so often throughout a work day. I shouldn't be. It makes it hard to eat good things on a consistant basis.

So yeah, I snack on things that aren't necessarily the healthiest but aren't that bad (I could do much worse than a granola bar daily I think), and eat processed junk for lunch a couple times a week because I get tired of sandwiches. And I eat too much for dinner sometimes because I don't realize I'm full right away. And once a week I crave something chocolatey, so I'll eat a bit, but otherwise I don't feel I eat that horribly. But I still can't lose weight and maintain truly healthy eating habits. But I guess the good news is that I also am not gaining weight... I just wish that I knew how to eat better so that I felt better. Would be nice to constantly know how to eat consistantly at home and at work so my body would know what was up.

 

[RD]

What's wrong with that? I'm not at all trying to be snarky, I'm seriously curious as to the theory. Given that there are quite a few cultures that don't snack at all, and plenty that historically ate only twice a day, I don't see what's so wrong. I do it myself. I'm much happier when I eat two large meals than a few small ones. Small meals just get me angry, LOL.

My cousin is a nutritionist, and she cringes at the idea of multiple small meals a day. She says new studies and research show that, for most people, it's a very iffy idea that has the potential to wreak merry havoc on a person's normal eating habits.

I'm diabetic and it majorly messes with my blood sugar.

 

[ihartgonzo]

^Grace, you do NOT look like s***! You are gorgeous. Puhlease.

I have similar issues, in that I don't care enough about food. I normally just want to eat 2 meals a day, either what is healthy, laying around or made for me. I instinctively want to avoid eating because I fear gaining weight and that really backfires on me. I feel like I don't have an unhealthy relationship with food in that I don't use it to cope with feelings or anything. But I feel like food has an unhealthy relationship with ME. If that makes any sense at all?

My two full sisters and I have really weird metabolisms. All of us were chubby kids, and all of us ended up with eating/exercise disorders as teenagers, because that was the ONLY way we could get in shape it seemed. One of my sisters is 30, a personal trainer and a nutrition consultant and still suffers from an eating disorder. She has for almost 20 years! She's had multiple root canals and stomach issues but cannot stop binging even though it's less severe than it used to be. My other sister is an exercise/health food addict and obsesses over every calorie. She will eat a bowl of plain boiled spinach, on average, for dinner. A couple of eggwhites for breakfast. She looks really, really amazing but she has tons of random health issues (candida, yeast infections, digestive upsets) and has a very pungent, strange odor to her. In my teens I copied her, ate like an apple and a ricecake a day and exercised for hours. Then I became horribly anemic, started fainting regularly and couldn't even go to school. I realized that being skinny was not worth being so tired, sickly and unhappy.

I was a vegetarian for many years until earlier this year, and that contributed a lot to poor eating habits. I'd either eat salad or bread/pasta most of the time. All of my meals were at least 50% carbs. I didn't eat much at all but I still wasn't a healthy weight. I took vitamins but did not make sure I was getting ample nutrients through food, barely any protein at all! My energy was so low, I had to drink AT LEAST one Rockstar/Monster to get through the day. I also drank alcohol at least once a week, and ate a candy bar like every day for "energy".

Getting pregnant has been the healthiest thing I've done in a long time. I religiously take vitamins, eat healthy, eat smaller more frequent meals, eat meat & other protein sources, and I do exercise for 1+ hours a day but it's low impact and not vigorous. I almost never eat sugar (and luckily getting pregnant has made sugary stuff disgusting to me) and I never drink soda or energy drinks. I have to be as healthy as possible when my son is growing inside of me! But I *should* care enough about myself to do that all the time. I just have to find a balance between being obsessed with food in a negative way, and obsessed in a healthy way. Obviously eating whatever does not work for me, like it does some people. Ignoring food and avoiding it has only resulted in bad health/weight for me, so I have to learn to like food and care about what I'm putting in my body for life.

 

[Gempress]

I'm diabetic and it majorly messes with my blood sugar.

Ah! Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry, I didn't know you were diabetic. I definitely give you kudos for trying to manage it via diet.

And I should have clarified. I know there are certain health concerns that benefit from numerous meals. In my previous post, I was referring to the fad in recent years to encourage people to eat numerous small meals as a weight loss/metabolism aid.

 

[Laurelin]

No, probably not. I try but have struggled with weight and eating disorders my whole life. Eating disorders run in my family. It's a constant struggle and almost always in the back of my mind. It sucks.

 

[Fran101]

I also need to work on slowing down and not eating like a baby dinosaur lol

a lifetime of etiquette classes taught me how to eat like a proper young lady at the dinner table.. slowly, with the right fork, right posture etc..

but the minute you leave me alone it's like NOM NOM NOM NOM MINEEEE NOM NOM NOM NOM lol

 

[Zoom]

I'm...not sure. I love food, especially good food, but it's so hard to make myself eat a lot of the time. Just nothing will sound good and I hate eating just for the sake of eating.

 

[TahlzK]

I find it sad reading about some of the eating disorder some of you have, especially because my best friend is Anorexic and is in and out of hospital.

 

[Locke]

I have a healthy relationship with food for the most part. I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full.
I generally eat a balanced diet of veg, fruit, meat, grains, dairy, nuts/seeds and what not. I also eat some junk here and there, although every once in a while I'll feel like I need to ''re-balance" my diet when I get a little too indulgent with the junk.

I have a few family members and friends that struggle with eating disorders and I honestly think their experiences have kept food in perspective for me. I so wish I could get in their brains and understand what they're going through, or say or do something that would just make them love themselves...it's so hard.

 

[OwnedByBCs]

Oh yeah- we see each other regularly and have very few arguments.

 

[brandon_haaz]

Well for me, I think I do have a good relationship with my food. I always make sure that I eat healthy foods all the time.

There are a lot of fruits out there that has anti oxidants, like blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, etc. Hmmm, most of them are berries! Yummy!