We talk a lot about the importance of developing a healthy relationship with food here at Strong Inside Out, but I don't think I've ever really defined what that means. Today, I'm gonna do just that.

Below, I'm going to list the key aspects of a healthy relationship with food plain as day so you can ask yourself once and for all: is my relationship with food healthy? And don't worry if it's not; at the end of this article, I'll give you some tips and methods that can open up your views on food like WHOA.

What A Healthy Relationship with Food Looks Like

Food is just a choice, not a worthiness-determiner

A healthy relationship with food requires the belief that food choices do not affect your worthiness as a human being. They mean nothing about you. They're just choices you make like what shirt you're going to wear or what you're going to read next.

Food is free from obsession, guilt and fear

When we release the attachment between food and worthiness, we also release the obsession, guilt and fear that can come from making food choices mean something about you. As a result, a healthy relationship with food feels free, easy and even fun! Obsession, guilt and fear are signs that your relationship with food isn't serving you.

Eating something that's "unhealthy" is not a failure

When a person with a healthy relationship with food eats something that's "unhealthy," she doesn't throw in the towel and say she "fell off the wagon." All foods have a place in a healthy food relationship. All of them. That means cookies, candy, bread, chips, and all the rest of it. When you have a healthy relationship with food, you know how to eat all these previously-labeled "bad foods" in moderation without the obsession, guilt or fear.

Food serves the purpose it was meant to serve

Food is meant to satiate you when you're hungry and give you energy to go about your day feeling good. It is NOT meant to fill holes of self-worth, stuff down emotions or to be used as a tool to avoid dealing with difficult issues.

One identifies and deals with the hunger that's not physical

People with healthy relationships with food know how to identify what's going on when they want to eat, but aren't actually hungry. Furthermore, they deal with uncomfortable emotions and situations without eating over it or not eating over it. Uncomfortable emotions, situations, avoidance and other states that are hard to sit in are normal in life, and it's healthy to experience them every now and again. A healthy relationship with food includes acceptance of this fact.In contrast, when our food relationship gets skewed, we often use food or restriction to "deal" with these emotions (or put them off). Healthy food relationships include coping skills like journaling, meditation, movement, communication skills or therapy to name a few.

Tips for Building a Healthy Relationship with Food

1. Release the food labels

Start healing your relationship with food by committing to dropping the labels of "good" or "bad" when it comes to food choices. Wanna know why? Read this post.

2. Change your Mental Optics around food choices

Use my technique of Reading and Freeing the Situation to rewrite your perspective on food choices. Read this post.

3. Practice radical permission with food choices

One of the best ways to release food obsession is to practice radical permission, meaning that you allow yourself to eat anything you want. I can feel your doubt from here, but trust me: it works! Read this post for the how-to and why!

Want extra help healing your relationship with food?

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After spending years healing my relationship with food, I can honestly (and gratefully) say that I finally have a healthy relationship with food. I used to be racked with obsession and food guilt; I thought that's just the way everyone felt about food! I would restrict/diet until I couldn't anymore, and then fell into a spiral of bingeing on all the foods I previously put off-limits.

It wasn't until I did this work that I realized there's a whole other way of living available to us. One that's based in your personal needs, not anyone else's rules! Now, I teach people how to do just that through my 1-on-1 coaching.

Learn how to eat for True Health–mindfully and in moderation with no guesswork. Click the button below!

Wishing you every bit of freedom from obsession, guilt and fear around food!

Hugs n' fist bumps,

Amy