5 Better Eating Resolutions
Why It's Good Your New Year's Diet Failed
by Christine Marston
As the diet industry gets larger and wealthier, people struggle more than ever with eating issues and weight problems. Why do we feel so out of control and fraught with angst around food, when eating should be instinctual and natural? Reconnect eating with physiological hunger by making these better lifetime resolutions for eating.
- Commit to never dieting again. Diets are punitive and foods that are forbidden sparkle in a way that is undeservingly special and difficult to resist. Breaking a diet is making the statement that we deserve better and do not deserve to be poorly treated.
- Resolve to stop criticizing one’s body. Lasting change comes from body acceptance, not body hatred.
- Explore what emotions and dynamics are fueling the overeating. People who once flocked to weight loss centers are beginning to recognize that it is important to figure out what function their eating issue serves. These issues aren’t addressed in diets, calorie counting and weigh-ins.
- Find new ways to soothe oneself. Food is often used as a tranquilizer in an effort to calm ourselves. Instead, overeating leaves us feeling guilt and shame. We must learn to sit with our feelings and find other ways to take care of ourselves.
- Lastly, seek support for resolutions one through four. As simple as these ideas may sound, we carry deep-seated ideas about food, eating and our bodies that are difficult to challenge. A therapist specializing in eating issues can help to create more intuitive and natural eating.
