Food Addictions – Kicking the Habit

Am I addicted?

How many times have you tried to give up the foods you love yet know aren’y good for your health? Have you started full of drive, excited to make changes happen, seeing results fast, only to fall back into those habits again? Do you find yourself feeling guilty and ashamed after eating those foods? Food addictions are more common than we realise, sugar and processed foods being the main contenders.

It’s not about willpower

The health & fitness industry leads us to believe that changing our diets (I prefer to call it way of eating) is all about willpower, the magic diet, the hardcore workouts. That if you don’t manage it, it’s because you are weak. This leads to shame and guilt, which only feeds the lack of trust in ourselves. To make long-lasting change we want to understand what is behind the addiction, what are we seeking? Is it a change of state, comfort, pleasure, are we eating our emotions, is it biological? If we just focus on the consumption of food without understanding the emotional and physical drive that got us to where we are, it’s hard to maintain any changes we make. We can begin to live in a feeling of scarcity, I can’t eat this, I shouldn’t eat that. This creates a fear of food and, a fear of falling back into old habits.

Know thyself

It can be scary to delve into our inner psyche yet, it’s here where the gems are and, where we can find our freedom. When we know ourselves, our fears, what drives us, when we can observe the inner voice, we can then understand what it is we are seeking. It’s from here we can learn tools to nourish that element within ourselves and be free of pursuing habits that are detrimental to our well-being.

The how to

Getting results and making change happen long-term is about the compound effect.

How? By combining gradual changes in our habits, observing the way we relate to food and, our bodies. This begins with an analisis of what is happening currently and current lifestyle. We then adapt our eating habits gradually, connecting with the magic of the new habits, we train the mind from a persoective of understanding our neurology and, we find a way to exercise that is natural and intuitive.

What else is important to know?

Sometimes our biology is also involved in our decisions over what we eat. Our gut bacteria send signals to the brain, encouraging us to eat certain foods, the combination of fat and sugar stimulates excitory responses in the body. What does this mean? To begin the journey, it helps to know that we are also retraining the body to seek it’s nourishment from healthier sources, this can mean that the cravings we feel at the start are also biological. This is where we look to find other whole foods and healthy habits to help us move past these sensations.

Start small

If we want to maintain good dental higuiene, we dont’ brush once a week really really hard.

We brush twice a day and we are consistent.

We often want to go all in when starting out, this often leads to a sense of lack not long down the path. It’s the compound effect of small, consistent changes over a long period of time that make the real differences. It’s also about being proud of who we are, of how we treat ourselves. These changes take time. It’s a marathon, rather than a sprint.

Rachael is an experienced Personal Trainer, Yoga Teacher E-RYT 500 and Massage Therapist with 11 years in the industry. Coming from a history of anorexia and sugar addiction, she has firsthand knowledge of the struggles with food and body image. Having gone from a fear mindset to a mindset of building a loving relationship with food and her body, life and her studies have schooled Rachael in guiding people through this journey of healing.