Want to find freedom and breakup with the hyperfocus on food?
I’m so excited to share the 10 steps which helped me find freedom from a hyperfocus on food and overcome my eating disorder. We often we feel it’s one extreme or the other, if I stop the hyperfocus on food, then I’m going to “get fat” and be “unhealthy”. So how do we still honor our bodies through nutrition, but breakup with the obsession? I’m giving you my point of view, from someone whose been at a dark extreme, and what it took for ME to break through find freedom. My extreme was an eating disorder and focusing TOO much on food, but even if you are finding yourself at a different extreme, I hope this will help you in some way!
Listen to the Podcast on Breaking Up with a Hyperfocus on Food:
Listen to the Podcast on iTunes right here
Listen to the Podcast on Spotify here
Sophomore year I saw several people including dietitians in order to recover from my eating disorder. I kept hearing “just eat!” or “you’ll never NOT struggle with this” or “eat alllll the pop-tarts and sugary treats to find the freedom”
My problem? I wanted to heal in a HEALTHY way. Not just get used to eating pop-tarts and I definitely didn’t want to believe I’d ALWAYS struggle with this. I want to share my journey of how I healed in a healthy way to inspire others…..whether you’re struggling with the same food extreme or something different. Know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that this battle is not yours forever. There is freedom from food focus and you can heal in a healthy way!!
Here Are The 10 Steps Which Helped Me Find Freedom From a Hyperfocus on Food
1. Finding a professional I trusted and actually wanted to listen to:
Finding a professional to receive help from is so important, but finding the RIGHT professional is even more important. Someone you look up to, trust, want to listen to! For me the right professional was one that didn’t try to make me create bad habits of eating. But just eat ENOUGH and stop fearing foods in general.
2. Accountability:
I began giving my friends and family permission to keep me accountable, to ask me how things were going, to call me out when they saw me being obsessive or under eating. Maybe for your own journey it looks more like accountability for what you are putting into ur body or for following through on fitness and movement. Accountability anywhere in your journey to help keep the promise you make to yourself.
3. I Asked For Help
I began buying foods I WASN’T used to eating (not necessarily bad ones but just new brands and such), and asked my mom to take off the label. We would also buy things from markets and such like bags of granola that DIDN’T have labels. This way I couldn’t obsess over the numbers and what I was putting into my body. Ask someone to do it for you by removing the label or buying new brands you don’t already have memorized in your head!
It’s okay to admit that you’re in this place, but its not okay to do it by yourself
One tip that REALLY helped with this was to have others prepare my food. Weirdly, I had a tendency to overeat when I knew it was super healthy, and under eat when I knew it wasn’t. This helped me NOT know, and HAVE to tune into my hunger and fullness vs just based on a kcal amount. I began making my mom do things for me that I know I wouldn’t do (like put oil on my salad, fix food the proper way vs fat free way, have her buy the groceries). If ur at a severe place having someone do this is helpful!
4. I became aware of the “fear foods” I had — and slowly checked them off a list of foods I tried again.
I had “fear foods” or foods I stayed far away from because I was scared they would make me fat. Some of these fear food were healthy but were high in carbs or fats so I avoided them such as avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes. Others were “unhealthy” such as pizza or ice cream. Trying these foods wasn’t to create bad habits but more of “lets eat it once to prove all foods can fit.” Incorporating these foods into my diet even if it was just once was to prove to myself that all foods can fit.
5. I began hanging around with people that ate normally — this was a HUGE one.
I began hanging out with friends who would go on spontaneous ice cream trips or eat pizza for lunch and not feel guilty about it. Being around friends with normal eating habits helped me normalize things that were so foreign to me. It also pushed me out of my comfort zone by eating out at restaurants where I couldn’t control everything.
6. Feed Cleanings Periodically
I challenge you to pause and go through your social media right now. Unfollow anyone who doesn’t make you feel good about yourself or puts toxic thoughts into your head. It’s okay if you unfollow someone you once looked up to, but isn’t healthy for you at this season of your life. I unfollowed anyone that was making me think healthy was anything it wasn’t, or that I found myself wanting to backtrack because of. This ranged from foodie accounts that posted what they ate daily when it clearly wasn’t enough, to body photos which didn’t make feel good about myself, and more.
7. Realizing I COULDN’T listen to my body until I had been eating enough and fueling my body correctly for a good amount of time.
After under eating for so long I couldn’t trust my bodies hunger cues, fullness and so on. Whether you’ve been under eating or eating really unhealthy you cant jump straight into intuitive eating and listening to your body when you haven’t been fueling it correctly. Counterintuitively, this took me food journaling to make sure I was eating enough and fueling myself correctly – which you would think wouldn’t be healthy for someone like me. (and lets be honest, I would be counting in my head anyways had I not been doing this). Food journalling or tracking no matter what method works best for you is a great tool to make sure you are getting in enough food and the right foods!
8. I realized I WOULD be uncomfortably full sometimes until I got used to regular amounts of food.
If you’ve been depriving your body for a long time then you can’t listen to your normal hunger cues telling you when you’re full. This is why food journaling is a great thing to incorporate to make sure you’re eating enough whether you’re full or not!
9. I began RElearning what good nutrition was, and breaking up with the lies I had learned from society.
It wasn’t eating LESS or just about calories. It wasn’t fat free, sugar free, or carb free. When I had reshaped my mind around nutrition, learned that I WAS under eating, what good nutrition looked like, and had fueled my body well for months…then I was able to take another big step towards freedom. See, when I began eating ENOUGH for a given amount of time. Then I was able to stop keeping track of my food log and begin transitioning to intuitive eating (again, from a professional’s help – I teach this within my Diet like a Dietitian Nutrition Guide!).
10. I began trying to tune into my hunger and fullness cues (imperfectly)
After fueling my body properly and eating enough I was able to slowly stop food journalling and move to going through the intuitive eating principles and taking action (ALL within my nutrition guide I just released!). I switched from logging food to make sure I was eating enough, to food journal with a hunger and fullness scale (I explain this in guide too!)
I continued ALL steps above: accountability, testing myself to prevent fear foods by getting something I found myself staying away from JUST because of kcals/nutrition. Hanging out with people that ate normally, doing self checks to make sure I wasn’t back tracking if I did I got help, continuing to do feed cleanings, and only listening to sound nutrition.
Did this help? What surprised you or stood out to you? I’d love for you to share on your story so that I can see and others can benefit from this too!!
I’ve created a nutrition guide to help you do the same! It explains all of these steps in detail and breaks every thing down. Whether you’re at an extreme or just wanting to live out a truly healthy lifestyle — My Diet like a Dietitian Guide is for YOU! Go to SarahGraceMeck.com/nutritionguide to learn more!
