As women, most of us grow up into an uneasy relationship with food and with eating. We learn to categorise what we eat into foods that we really want but can’t have, foods we should have but don’t want, foods we think are healthy and foods we think will make us fat. We rarely approach food with joy, but instead are consumed by deprivation and guilt.
Many of us don’t eat real food. We often don’t know when we’re actually hungry, and have difficulty figuring out when we’re full. Our knowledge of nutrition comes mainly from counting calories and grams of fat, so we rarely think in terms of fueling our bodies or of making ourselves strong.
We pass on our own attitudes, beliefs, and our ambivalence toward food to the children in our lives.
While our unresolved relationships with food do not in themselves create eating disorders, they can strengthen an existing preoccupation with food and weight.
If we are going to help girls accept that real women and real girls need real food, we must first begin by examining our own beliefs and attitudes so that we can understand what we are passing on. The following questions might help you sort out how you think and feel:
How Often Do You:
- Divide food into ´good´ food and ´bad´ food?
- Let yourself eat ´forbidden´ food?
- Let yourself eat ´forbidden´ food in public?
- Eat in secret?
- Talk about diets?
- Feel guilty when you eat desserts?
- Use words like ´pigging out´?
- Qualify your eating with ´I shouldn´t, but....´?
If you answered frequently or a lot to many of the questions, ask yourself how often you sit down and eat a balanced meal. When you examine your own attitudes toward food it’s important to remember that you don’t have to be perfect or make drastic changes in the way that you eat.
(published with permission in writing from:http://addiction.ie)
