There are so many ways to have a bad relationship to food. And so many ways to have a bad relationship to our body.
We restrict. We diet. We obsess over every calorie.
We comfort eat. We overeat. We obsess about our weight.
We punish ourselves with criticism. We punish ourselves with exercise. We berate our body for not being societies ideal.
We pick on aspects. Our big bottom. Our thick thighs. Our jelly belly. And that’s even when we’re thin.
We are never thin enough. Never good enough. Never anything enough. 
Then we wonder why we’re not happy. Why we can’t find pleasure. Why life seems a struggle.
When we’re at war with ourselves life is a battle. When we’re at war with what sustains us then eating becomes a battle. How much easier it would be to accept ourselves and take pleasure in what we eat.
Statistics say that dieting women are getting both older and younger. Women in their 70’s are on diets. Children under 10 are on diets.
Statistics say that more men are developing body image issues. That more men are suffering from anorexia.
We have become so obsessed with having the perfect body, or at least wanting the perfect body, that we are either killing ourselves to get it or making ourselves miserable.
Did you know that in a study of people on a weight loss program, most of them would risk their lives by taking a weight loss pill that had the side effect of death. Would you risk your life to be thin?
To me this says the beauty ideal has gotten way out of hand. We need to turn the tide, to get back to what is really important.
We need to learn to love and accept ourselves. To take pleasure in what and how we eat. To enrich and nourish ourselves and our environment.
What can you do this week to change your relationship to yourself and your food? What one thing can you start to accept about yourself that you have, til now, maligned? Can you take a moment to savour a meal and enrich the experience with the company of good friends or family?
Let me know what you try.
