Need Relationship Advice A Guide For Strengthening Your Rela - Final

Target Audience
Pre-teens/teenagers struggling with eating disorders, disordered eating, and/or body dysmor-
phia
Possible Publications
National Eating Disorders Association
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Need Relationship Advice? A Guide for Strengthening Your Relationship with Food
By: Sara Pulciano
No More Name-Calling: Food is Not “Good” or “Bad”
Food does more than just provide your body with energy; it brings friends and families together,
provides emotional comfort, is an outlet for creativity, and nourishes the soul. Therefore, it
should be ridden of labels such as “good” or “bad” that foster harmful eating behaviors. Imagine
you are eating your favorite dessert. Is it delicious? Good! That means you are allowing yourself
to find pleasure in food and in turn it is nourishing your emotional health. If we begin to label
food as “good” or “bad,” we are only looking at it in terms of its nutrient content and end up ig-
noring the many other benefits that food has on our health and wellness. Allowing yourself to en-
joy foods that are labeled “bad” does not mean you are sacrificing your health; in fact, it means
that you understand how to achieve a healthy balance in your diet. Although it will always be im-
portant to consume nutrient-dense foods (foods containing many nutrients) such as fruits, vegeta-
bles, and whole grains, all foods can be a part of a well-balanced diet. Appreciating food for all
its benefits is a step towards strengthening your relationship with food.
Communication is Key: Listen to Your Body
One strategy to strengthen your relationship with food is to practice intuitive eating. Intuitive eat-
ing is the practice of listening to your hunger and fullness cues to help you make choices about
what and how much you eat. This way of eating rejects the diet-mentality (viewing food as “all
or nothing”) and encourages the addition of all foods to be a part of your diet. What does intu-
itive eating look like? One example of an intuitive eating behavior is making food choices based
on what you want to eat to nourish your body and satisfy your cravings, rather than what you be-
lieve you should eat. This may look like choosing a cheeseburger at lunch with friends instead of
a garden salad because it will allow you to feel satisfied and content. Believe it or not, allowing
yourself to feel that pleasure and satisfaction during mealtimes will help you recognize when
you’ve reached a point of fullness with just the right amount of food. Let your body guide your
food choices based on feelings of hunger or fullness and avoid letting feelings of guilt and shame
dictate your next snack or meal. Intuitive eating looks different for everyone, so it is also impor-
tant to recognize that what works for others may not be what works best for you. It may be chal-
lenging to enter this mindset, so being patient with yourself and staying positive is key for incor-
porating intuitive eating principles into your everyday life.
Be Open-Minded: Eat a Variety of Foods
Finding a balance by including a variety of foods in your diet is always best. As mentioned
above, it is important to consider nutrient density when making food choices, but it is equally im-
portant to ensure you are also incorporating foods that make you happy! A day full of variety
could include fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, but also include your favorite dessert. You
could also show variety by eating home-cooked meals for a portion of the day and then grabbing
your favorite take-out meal for lunch or dinner. Eating a variety of foods ensures you are getting
a wide range of nutrients in your body and is great for overall health, but it also discourages re-
strictive eating behaviors that may be harmful to your mental and physical health. There are
many strategies to help strengthen your relationship with food, so choose what works best for
you and your lifestyle. Look below at the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating to help guide you
through this journey of empowerment!
Helpful Tips from the Developers of Intuitive Eating
1. Reject Diet Mentality - Unfollow those influencers who promote weight loss and spread
false information that leaves you feeling hopeless
2. Honor Your Hunger - Keep your body fed with adequate nutrients to avoid the feeling of
excessive hunger
3. Make Peace with Food - Give yourself unconditional permission to eat without telling your-
self that you can’t eat specific foods
4. Challenge the Food Police - Tell that voice in your head “NO” when it tells you that certain
foods and behaviors are “good” or “bad”
5. Discover the Satisfaction Factor- Allow yourself to find joy and pleasure when eating to
nourish your emotional wellbeing
6. Feel Your Fullness - Listen to your body signals that tell you when you’re no longer hungry;
think about the taste of your food and ask yourself what your hunger level is
7. Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness - Be kind to yourself and understand that food
won’t fix feelings of anger, anxiety, loneliness, or boredom
8. Respect Your Body - Accept the role of genetics and try not to have unrealistic expectations
about your body size. Would you expect someone with a size 8 foot to fit into a size 6 shoe
9. Movement - Feel the Difference - Recognize how it feels to move your body, rather than fo-
cusing on calorie-burning through exercise
10. Honor Your Health - Gentle Nutrition - Understand that one snack, meal, or day of eating
will not “make or break” your health, what matters most is what you eat consistently over-
time
You can do it!

For more information, visit https://www.intuitiveeating.org/ founded by Evelyn Tribole, MS,
RDN, CEDRD-S, and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDS-S, Fiaedp, FADA, FAND.
Reference List
Flores, Aaron. (2018, March 2). What Does Intuitive Eating Mean? National Eating Disorders
Association. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/what-does-intuitive-eating-mean/
Hazzard, V. M., Telke, S. E., Simone, M., Anderson, L. M., Larson, N. I., & Neumark-Sztainer,
D. (2021). Intuitive eating longitudinally predicts better psychological health and lower use of
disordered eating behaviors: findings from EAT 2010-2018. Eating and weight disorders : EWD,
26(1), 287–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00852-4
Reflect, Replace, Reinforce. (2023, June 15). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/eating_habits.html
The Original Intuitive Eating Pros. (2019). http://www.intuitiveeating.org/
What is Intuitive Eating? 10 Principles to Follow. (2022). Cleveland Clinic.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-intuitive-eating

Need Relationship Advice A Guide For Strengthening Your Rela - Final

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Need Relationship Advice A Guide For Strengthening Your Rela - Final

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Need Relationship Advice A Guide For Strengthening Your Rela - Final

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Target Audience

No More Name-Calling: Food is Not “Good” or “Bad”

Communication is Key: Listen to Your Body

Be Open-Minded: Eat a Variety of Foods

You can do it!

You might also like