Change Your Relationship with Food

Often people become overweight because they use food as a way to relax, celebrate, deal with sadness, enjoy happiness, and get through stressful situations.  But food is really innocent in all of this.  It’s just there to give you the energy you need to get through life. And while food should taste good and be enjoyable, it shouldn’t be the answer to all of your mental and emotional dilemmas.  Instead, you need to find other outlets for dealing with your emotions.

There are several things you can do instead of finding comfort in food.  For example:

• Take a hot bath
• Take a nap or just go to bed for the night
• Read
• Keep a diary
• Knit or crochet
• Learn a new hobby
• Call a friend
• Get a massage
• Drink a glass of water
• Have a good cry
• Hit a punching bag
• Take a walk
• Meditate
• Count to 10 – or 100 if necessary

When you learn some new activities to replace your dependence on food, you may find that you lose weight without even trying.  You can still enjoy the food you eat, but you won’t be dependent on it for your every need.