Heal Your Relationship with Food

by Healing Your Relationship with Yourself 

BAYOUHEALTH BY SHANNON DAHLUM

According to Christian biblical traditions, humans are sinful by nature and our propensity to sin began when Eve took a bite of an apple in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Adam and Eve began their existence as flawless, whole, and perfect.  After eating the forbidden apple, however, both were banished from the garden, experienced feelings of shame for the first time, learned of their imperfections, and suddenly had the urge to cover their unlovable bodies.   

This story continues to play out today.  So many of us label foods as good or bad, and attach our worthiness of love to what we choose to eat.  We allow our own inherent value to be determined by the value we attach to our food, and even by our ability to fight our desire to eat anything at all.  Low calorie foods are “good” and desserts and “junk foods” are “bad,” or “sinful.”  When we eat foods we label as “good”, or even force ourselves to go hungry and resist eating altogether, our self worth increases; we believe we’re “good”.  If we give into temptation, however, and eat the potato chips and ice cream, we’re suddenly “bad.”  We’re left feeling guilty, shameful, like our inherent worth has diminished and as though our bodies are less than perfect.  We metaphorically kick ourselves out of the garden by punishing ourselves with harder dieting, intense exercise, or simply harsh self criticism. 

Self-judgment, blame, guilt and shame are all emotions that trigger a low level stress response in your nervous system.  When you criticize any part of yourself as being unworthy, unacceptable, or bad, your brain receives the signal that an enemy is in your midst.  A threat is at hand.  Hormones and chemicals are released that enable you to stay on high alert because there’s a bad guy in your presence you need to protect yourself from, only the threat is yourself. 

The chronic stress response, whether it’s triggered by an immediate threat that exists outside of you or a perceived threat living in your state of mind, leads to elevated cortisol.  Cortisol is a stress hormones that down regulates metabolism, dysregulates hunger hormones, and diminishes digestive capacity.  In essence, chemicals and hormones are released within your body that drive you to eat more, to crave “bad” foods, and to store more of that food as fat on your body rather than to create energy for fueling it. 

When in a state of chronic stress, your body’s physiology compels you to eat more and drives cravings for high sugar and carbohydrate foods as a matter of survival.  Fighting that biological urge with willpower is a losing battle, and every time you lose, it adds to the harsh self-judgment that caused the cravings in the first place.  This compounds the stress response that’s already being driven by your negative emotional state, and the cycle continues to gain momentum.  If you find yourself stuck in this cycle of emotional eating, the way out isn’t to continue punishing yourself even harder; the key is self compassion. 

This month we celebrate Easter, which tells the story of forgiveness and redemption.  Jesus gave his life in order to free mankind from an eternity of punishment from sin.  He died on the cross as a demonstration of the worthiness of love all humans inherently have, regardless of their sin.  He taught that through forgiveness, not punishment, sin is healed. 

The key to ending emotional eating and finding freedom with food and confidence within your body isn’t by fighting yourself harder; it’s through forgiveness.  Feelings of love and forgiveness turn off the chronic stress response, decrease cortisol, and move your nervous system into a state of relaxation and rejuvenation.  In turn, DHEA, a hormone associated with increased metabolism and longevity, is elevated.  Your hunger cues return to a healthy state of balance and cravings diminish.  Your digestion is more efficient and you’re able to assimilate nutrients from food more effectively.  Your ability to create energy from your food is optimized and fat storage is decreased. 

  Self criticism is a heavy spiritual burden to bear that often shows up as heaviness in the physical body, as well.  Forgiving yourself, practicing self compassion, and learning to see yourself as a friend worthy of unconditional love is the only way to end the cycle of emotional eating.  Permanently healing your relationship with food and your body comes as a result of first healing your relationship with yourself.  Freeing your spirit through love and forgiveness lifts the heavy weight of guilt and shame from your body.  

As you celebrate Easter and remember the powerful lesson of forgiveness it brings, remember to practice extending some forgiveness toward yourself.  Your worthiness is not defined by the food you choose to eat, but by your own choice to either treat yourself with criticism or compassion.  Your relationship with yourself lays the foundation upon which your body is built.