Breaking up with food

Clients often hesitate for weeks prior to joining the Healthy Weights program. Their fear is that they will be saying 'good bye' to a an old friend.

But, it is not about saying good bye to food or your relationship with food. It is about changing the relationship to a healthier one. A relationship where food does not hold the upper hand and does not have a grip on you and your emotions.

Like any healthy relationship, it is reciprocal, supportive and enjoyable. Let me share some insight provided by Renee at week 8 of the program:

It's strange how lonely life is without food as a coping strategy. I've broken the cycle of grabbing for food to squash whatever unpleasant emotion I'm feeling...  more than breaking the cycle, I actually don't even think of food when I'm feeling stressed and or upset.

This morning I was feeling upset and I chatted on-line with a friend. I opened with "OMG, save me from myself", she asked me what the problem was and we chatted until I felt better... hmm amazingly it worked and there was no self-bashing aftermath; as there would be if I had binged. I think there is actually a grieving process that is taking place for my "old friend-food", she always served a purpose but was never really much help- here's to letting go.

Let go of the grip, but not the relationship. Food isn't like smoking, alcohol or a bad habit that we can disassociate from. It can be a truly enjoyable and healthy relationship, even if it hasn't been in the past. Practice and patience, you will get there.