Did you know that thinking about food all the time, dreaming about food, spending hours planing and thinking about food, collecting recipes obsessively, always making food for others, always baking and cooking but rarely eating it, isnt a healthy mindset? Focusing too much on food, where all your thoughts and time is spent on food is not healthy.

A problem which can make recovery harder is when there is too much focus on food. Of course when you have an eating disorder there is ALOT of focus on food and as well when you are in recovery. Then you think about your next meal, the fear foods you have to eat, the foods you want to eat, the foods you want to bake/eat, the foods you might not allow yourself to eat etc etc
But the problem is when all your focus is on food.

Now i am going to start off by saying that i might not be the best example here… because Yes, i take food photos, no thats maybe not the healthiest. I am aware of this. Though the reason i take photos is because of my blog – my family know this. Though if you are in recovery or even just a normal person taking pictures of all your food might not be the best idea. It can create this sort of…..i need appraise because i just ate. Especially when it comes to fear foods – and yes, i have been there where i post when i ate a fear food and its like you want to get comments, where people tell you its ok. You want people to tell you that you are strong for eating ice cream or pizza because you might not feel it yourself. But it sort of denormalizes food when you need to start getting appraisal for eating. It makes food a much bigger deal than it is.

Because lets be honest… we need food to live. The quote ‘ Eat to live. Dont live to eat’ is quite accurate. Because food is for survival.

In recovery, eating should become something normal to you… you need to make it no longer a big deal. Like grabbing an apple after lunch should feel ok if thats what you want, or taking some extra potatoes or going for cake with friends… those should just be normal things, nothing that needs approval or you need to photo or tell everyone.

Your day shouldnt circle around your next meal, or what you are going to eat for breakfast tomorrow, or you shouldnt worry about the christmas buffet a week from now or worry about what you are going to eat at a friends party 2 weeks from now. Instead, food should be something you make when you are hungry and eat because you know you need it and want it. (Though remember in recovery, you often need to eat even though you arent hungry!!).

In the first stages of recovery life does circle around food and your next meal time, especially if you are an inpatient. There is not much you can do about that, but i do recommend that once you can you begin finding things to do with your time….. like writing or drawing, painting, writing songs, playing an instrument, making collages, doing puzzles, doing research, making jewellery, watching youtube tutorials etc
Food should become something normal.. you go and eat with your family at dinner time, you eat your snacks at roughly the same time, you eat your breakfast when you wake up… its not something you should over think. It should become something natural.

Of course eating wtih some awareness is recommended, otherwise it can lead to mindless eating or binging, but you dont need to be so aware that you end up analyzing everything and wondering about grams and fat and calories etc

If you have siblings or friends it can help to look at them .- if they arent on a diet or struggling with an eating disorder as well – because then you can see the naturalness of how, when and what they eat. They dont analyze or overthink (or not that others are aware of?) how and what they put on their plate, they eat and they take more if they want or stop when they are full and then eat again when they are hungry…. or say take an extra biscuit just because its soo good.
It is natural and that is what YOU need to find in your life as well.

Its a balance with food and food isnt the main focus in a persons life.

And like mentioned above, i am not the best example of what i am writing about in this post. But the photos are for the blog, and eating is what i do because im hungry and want food. I dont sit around and think about my next meal or plan my food for the day or week… i just eat what im craving. And that is intuitive and healthy eating!!


(c) A Life without Anorexia – Read entire story here.