Hi! My name is Sydney and I am a registered dietitian at Sunrise Nutrition. Last blog, we explored the benefits of intuitive eating, and the many reasons why you may not want to or be able to engage with it. The main takeaways? Intuitive eating requires some level of privilege to engage with, and is not culturally relevant, financially accessible, or physically possible for everyone.

Today I will share some back to basics ideas about healing your relationship with food that are relevant whether you would like to engage with intuitive eating or not. It is important to acknowledge that we are all different and there is not one right way to eat or to heal. For this reason, I have included reflection questions to help clarify your food and eating needs.

Tips to Build a Strong Nutrition Base

1.Eating enough consistently.* This may sound basic, but quite often I notice people are not eating enough food to meet their body’s energy needs. There are many benefits to eating enough, including fueling our cells and organs to perform their many functions, supporting blood sugar regulation, increasing energy, supporting mood, decreasing anxiety, boosting immune function, and supporting digestion.

How much is enough? Below are two ways to learn about what enough food feels like for your body. Enough food is different person to person, and can vary day to day.

Using context: Think about how often you generally eat in a day. For many people this includes 3 meals and 1-3 snacks. Experiment with what feels best in terms of frequency. In general, I recommend at least 3 eating times per day if not more often. If you plan to do physical activity, plan to eat more to fuel your movement.
Using hunger cues: If you are able to tune into hunger cues, they can be an accurate way to gauge how much food is enough. In general, our bodies like to eat every 2-3 hours. If you notice that you have gone longer than 3 hours without eating, your body is likely ready for that next snack or meal.

Extra tip: If possible, loosely aim to include a source of carbohydrate, fat and protein in your snacks and meals. This helps ensure that your body gets a variety of nutrients, and also boosts satisfaction.

Reflection:

Are there any times in the day where I am going longer than 3 hours without eating? Could I add in another snack or meal?
Are there any times in the day where I frequently notice getting hungry? Could I add in another snack or meal at that time?
Is my eating front or back loaded? For example, am I not eating for a long period of time in the morning, and then eating mostly in late afternoon and at night? If so, what would it feel like to add in more eating instances throughout the day to build consistency with eating?

*If you experience food insecurity and have not yet already, check out food resources available in the Seattle area.

2.Capacity matching. In order to feed ourselves enough consistently, it’s helpful to understand the amount of time and energy you are wanting or able to spend on food preparation. Food preparation includes all the time and energy needed to get the food, store it, prepare it, and clean up afterwards. You might not like cooking, and do not want to spend much time preparing food. You might love to cook and want food preparation to be a big part of your day to day. You may notice that you fall somewhere in the middle, or that your needs change day to day. When you have a sense of what is preferred and realistic, you are better able to match the way you eat to your capacity. Increasing the food options available to you will help you feel equipped to feed yourself consistently. Below are some examples of different food prep entry points.

If there’s less capacity or time :

takeout, frozen meals, fast food, prepared food from the store that only requires assembly (ex: salad kit plus some kind of pre cooked protein), adding in nutrition shakes or bars to snacks to boost energy intake, and having friends or loved ones cook meals

If there’s some capacity and energy for cooking, but not a ton:

partially prepared items from the store that still require cooking, meal delivery kits that require cooking, cooking that requires minimal equipment or time (ex: microwaved quesadilla, pb&j, making a box of mac and cheese, heating something frozen in the oven)

If there’s more capacity:

Cooking from scratch, especially more intensive recipes

Extra tip: Capacity for food preparation may change day to day, season to season, and during big life events. Building openness to all of the above options will help you meet your body’s nutrition needs no matter what. I recommend having options on hand from many of the categories above to allow yourself to capacity match in the moment.

Reflection:

How much energy and time do I have to prepare food? During the week? On the weekend?
How much energy do I want to spend on this? Do I enjoy cooking, or is it something I feel like I should do?
In what ways am I already matching my capacity? Are there ways in which I am pushing beyond my food preparation capacity? What happens when my food prep capacity and available food options do not match?
Do I have moral judgements about what it means to feed myself with more accessible food options? Where do these come from? How do they affect my ability to capacity match?

3. Addressing food judgements. Culturally there are countless judgements, opinions and hierarchies as to what is ok and not ok with eating. Food judgements create extra eating anxiety, and may even prevent us from meeting our nutritional needs. I want to remind you that there is no one best way to eat, and everyone is different. Being able to feed your body enough in a way that makes sense for you is the most important thing.

Reflection:

What food judgements do I hold, if any?
How do these judgements affect the way I eat? How do the judgements affect the way I feel about myself?
Do the judgements I hold limit my ability to feed myself enough? (For example, has cooking from scratch been put on a pedestal even if it does not make sense in terms of my food prep capacity? Are there judgements about packaged or prepared foods that limit more expansive options to nourish myself?)
Do the judgements I hold deter me from eating foods I actually enjoy?
If yes to any of the above questions, is there any room for experimenting with greater openness and flexibility with food?

4. Eating in a way that is sustainable. Now that we’ve looked at some core pillars of healing your relationship to food, let’s bring it all together. A large part of healing with food means eating in a manner that allows you to feed yourself enough, consistently. Building up a consistent nutrition base lets your body know over time that it can rely on its needs being met, which increases body trust and may open up mental space for further healing. The way you feed yourself may change over time, and will be different from the way other people feed themselves. Reflecting on your needs as an individual is one of the best ways to begin healing with food.

Reflection:

Considering all of the factors above, what are my needs from food and eating?
How do I relate to having needs?
Are there any areas discussed that seem difficult to explore or carry out? Why?
How would increased body trust affect the way I experience food and eating?
What does healing with food mean to me?

I encourage you to reflect on these ideas, and start conversations with trusted loved ones. If you would like support in healing with food, our team at Sunrise Nutrition is here to help. Feel free to submit an inquiry here, or get connected to support here.

With care and solidarity,

Sydney

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