A negative relationship with food can have devastating effects, particularly for teens, as food can significantly impact their self-perception. Teen hormones and stress make them more vulnerable to adverse and unhealthy relationships with food. Therefore, how can you develop a healthy relationship with food?
Before we discuss developing a healthy relationship we first need to understand what it means to have a healthy relationship with food. A healthy relationship with food depends on your perspective towards it. Food should be viewed as a pleasure and nourishment. If you view food as a stressor or negative. You then may develop into having an unhealthy relationship with indulging in food. Unfortunately, many struggle with both unhealthy and deeply negative relationships with food.
Mindful eating is a form of a healthy relationship with food. In mindful eating, you should have no distractions while you eat. That means no TV, phone, laptop, etc. Paying attention to what you eat and savoring it creates a better eating environment that helps your relationship with food. A second instance of a healthy relationship with food is having a balanced diet. A balanced diet includes a variety of foods containing the necessary nutrients to conclude feelings of satisfaction.
Listening to your body and not feeling guilty are two of the best ways to display your healthy relationship with food. Listening to your body cues is a great way to ensure a healthy food relationship. Being guilty is a big food issue that so many endure, and unfortunately, many of them fall into the teens category. Guilt can create a damaging relationship with not only food but also your view of yourself. Furthermore, this is one of the reasons why it is so important to develop a healthy relationship with food.
Additionally, emotional awareness, and self-compassion. Recognizing your unhealthy eating habits is the first step to starting a new era of your healthy relationship with food. Nobody wants to see food negatively because it is a necessity to live. When considering self-compassion, please be kind to yourself. Bringing yourself down will only hurt you more. Be patient, make realistic goals, and let yourself fail and fall with the notion that you will get up again instead of belittling and quitting.
Why do teens struggle with a healthy relationship with food? There are many reasons, but it is crucial to remember that most teens and adults struggle with this, so you are not alone in this battle!
Societal pressures—friends, trends, unrealistic expectations, partners, and parents—create an immense amount of body image issues. Nowadays, there is even more pressure due to social media. Social media amplifies these pressures, as heavily edited images create unrealistic beauty standards. Seeing how “perfect" everyone else's body is and how different bodies are deemed, ugly, unhealthy, gross, etc. is hurtful and extremely damaging. Teens and pre-teens develop more body issues than any other age group due to social media and overall societal pressures. Sadly, this is a tragic reality that affects many young teens' perspectives on food because they feel they should try a variety of harmful habits to achieve this “perfect” body. This includes extreme diets, hardcore workouts, and withdrawal from eating. While there are benefits to cutting the amount of junk food you eat and exercising, this is not the way to go. When someone is in this mindset that once they look a certain way, they will feel happy and beautiful. But you will be nurturing toxic habits. It is not healthy to let your appearance dictate how you feel. Furthermore, this can have a terrible effect on your mental well-being.
Throughout adolescence, many stressors occur, and you want to comfort yourself with food. You would not be the first, but it is best not to let these emotions control you. There are many better ways to destress than eating. You can try journaling, venting to a friend or trusted adult, or watching TV and crying it out because sometimes we need to cry it out. However, watching TV to cry it out only works short-term. For long-term solutions, you should confront these feelings head-on.
Lifestyle and knowledge are also reasons that teens struggle with a healthy relationship with food. Having a busy schedule, whether it's academics, family, friends, a job, or all of the above. It can affect the kind of relationship you have with food. You might not have time for a home-cooked meal with all the essentials. A good tip is to find a healthy snack you like.
Furthermore, some teens have a limited knowledge of food. Which makes them struggle with a healthy relationship with food. Many teenagers struggle to make informed choices about their diets because they do not have enough nutritional information.
How can you develop a healthy relationship with food and receive the benefits it will bring you? Practice mindful eating if it helps some try to romanticize the experience. Have the mindset that you are un-bothered and not only enjoying eating but experiencing it. Regardless of how you do it does not matter. Put all distractions away and enjoy the food you are eating. Balance your plate by having a mixed assortment of nutrition.
Again, This is an excellent way to develop a healthy relationship! Start by adding things you like with something new and expand from there. Soon, you will create a beautiful balance plate that energizes you.
No meal skips! It encourages overeating and will lead to serious issues if you maintain it. A way to avoid this is to have filling snacks to keep your energy up during the day! So, instead of skipping meals, add more snacks. This will help build a healthy relationship with food.
Lastly, remember to surround yourself with positivity. Furthermore, this can be a friend or a Pinterest board packed with affirmations, following accounts that promote body positivity, or saying a thing you are grateful for today, whatever works best for you! Overall providing a healthy relationship with food. Throughout your journey to a healthier relationship with food, remember to be kind to yourself. Developing a healthy relationship with food is a process that takes time.
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