I can speak from experience when I say: food is more than just food. To me, food is a reminder that we are delicate ecosystems reliant on nourishment from the earth we were born out of. It serves as fuel, medicine, and strength all-in-one. Aside from the physical aspects, some people may find when life gets wild and unpredictable, food takes on an emotional form. (aka food anxieties develop)
In a recent post, I described some things no one tells you about going vegan. (It’s a pretty interesting article if I do say so myself—so go check it out!) One of the items I mentioned in the post was how a limited set of options can lead to restricted or disordered eating patterns. While food anxieties can affect anyone, my personality type can be a bit extreme and overly controlling. I have found, from my own experience, that my vegan preferences increase my desire to restrict food in other ways.
Why would someone want to control their food?
Simply put: food can be a clutch when other situations in life are not within your control. In this case, food may be the only thing you really feel you can control. When you’re sad, frustrated, bored, or experiencing any feeling, and you reach for food, you’re filling a void.
Many times, emotional eating patterns can be accompanied by food phobias. These are maybe things that you try to avoid (“off-limit” foods) but end up binging on. The off-limit foods may be ones you choose to avoid because some magazine article or fitness influencer told you they were bad. If we hold preconceived notions of “healthiness” and desire to only eat “healthy food”, there we are experiencing orthorexia at its finest.
Let it be known that it is possible to have a healthy relationship with food and omit foods. If you’re able to completely stay away from a certain food or consume it as an occasional treat, without any guilt, you’re probably not dealing with disordered eating patterns!
Tell-tale signs of disordered eating can come when food anxieties are stirred up needlessly! A Huffington Post article describes some behaviors below:
Signs of Disordered Eating via Huffington Post
You vs. Food
When food is the enemy, you’re going to continuously have to face it. This personal villain, if you will, is going to be on your mind a lot. The average person engages in eating three to five times in a day but thinks about eating nearly every hour (or every 38 minutes for men). That is multiple times a day you’re stressing about what to eat, what not to eat, how much to eat, and more!
The best thing to do might be to eat the damn thing that you fear or crave. Stress surrounding your idea of a thing can cause more harm than the thing itself. The stress you create is more than simply food anxieties now…it turns into a mental and physical manifestation of illness in your body. If this sounds far-fetched, you’ll need to trust me that it is real–I’ve experienced this form of stress.
Crush Those Food Anxieties
The way I see it, there are two straightforward routes when dealing with food anxieties on your own. The first option is to abstain from food that you really want. Consequently, that can also kind of makes the food extra-desirable. We want what we cannot have. Therefore the second option is to partake in occasional indulgence. It may be just the ticket to moderate your consumption of a food while keeping you sane.
For myself personally, I still find that to lead to overindulgence. A “treat” can be a slippery slope because one snack or one serving might not seem like enough. Has anyone ever found themselves halfway through a loaf of banana bread only to suddenly feel very uncomfortably sick? Yeah, gluttony is not a cure for the feelings you’re trying to disguise by eating.
The thing is, food is not supposed to be feared or separated into “good” and “bad” categories. There are obviously some foods with greater nutritional profiles but how we feel when we go in for a bite also matters. Heck, it might even matter more!
I can’t tell you the magic trick to getting over food anxieties because there isn’t one. I believe those of us who struggle with this more intensely tend to place more emotional ties on food. It is a pattern we formed and, therefore, we can also break. How can we break it? It is going to sound simple but we simply make the choice. We say: enough is enough!
Food should not be a substitute for dealing with emotions. If you don’t feel emotionally well, try:
- Going for a walk
- Talking to a friend in-person or on the phone
- Playing with your pet
- Cleaning (works wonders to get your mind off of most anything!)
- Watching a movie or listening to a song/podcast
- Creating some art by drawing, writing, painting, etc.
- And hey, if you genuinely are hungry, by all means, EAT
At the end of the day (not a literal day—give it some time), if you’ve tried all of the above mentioned techniques to overcome food anxieties, please seek help. I find I go through phases where this is more of a problem for me than other times. It helps me to recognize what my triggers are and then I can talk myself down. I think understanding the why behind the patterns proves useful. Then, I can take steps to combat them. I like to ask myself: is it true hunger that you feel right now or your emotions?
Thanks for reading! This is a subject really close to me. As much as I have the knowledge of how to properly manage my emotions, I don’t utilize my toolbox often enough. Temptations around food are strong; so the battle to overcome emotional eating is one that I have to deal with daily. I am a work in progress but I want to get to the place of freedom from food anxieties.
Have you dealt with food anxieties? What methods do you find to be helpful in dealing with them? Please share.
As a disclaimer: I am not a doctor or therapist. This article is not intended to treat, diagnose, or be a substitute for seeking professional assistance for an eating disorder.