healthy relationship with food

Question
I noticed that you said you were specifically a psychologist and I was wondering what's the best way to have a healthy relationship with food. Recently I've been swinging to pro-ana rules and really being harsh with myself when I've gone and not followed them. I've begun to realise I seem to judge myself by my eating and it's making everyday life feel like such an effort when everything revolves around worrying about food. I was wondering if you had any advice on getting a more healthy relationship with food.

Answer
Hi Hannah, having been anorexic as a teenager myself I can really relate to having a life that revolved around judging myself (usually 'wrong' and 'weak-willed') and worrying about food - about every morsel that did and didn't go into my mouth.  Like you, I thought that what I had to improve was my relationship with food - and that's true only if you don't dig a bit deeper. What I discovered that what really needed to improve was my relationship with myself.  

You see this kind of worry about food and eating is really only symptomatic for not having a good enough relationship with yourself. One I had a mental make-over (you can read more about this at http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/mental-diet.html and also at http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/mind-makeover.html ), and started realizing that I'm a fabulous Being (as is every single human on this earth), and that I am worthy of love and being valued, not because of how thin or fat, tall or short or because of how I look, but just because I was registered as Sacred at conception... then my relationship with food improved all by itself.  Once I changed my relationship with myself, only then was I released to do what I call 'happy eating' (for more on this idea:  http://www.ditch-diets-live-light.com/happy-eating.html) where I was no longer obsessed with worry about everything I ate, where I could eat with en-joy-ment.  

It's also why I put together my Mind over Fatter programme which is full of practical tips and guidelines for getting over food and eating problems.

Hope this helps, kind regards
Cari  

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