4 Steps to Make Peace with Any Food

You’re going to love this interview with Paige Smathers of Positive Nutrition! We talk about 4 steps to make peace with any food, her story, what a peaceful relationship with food looks like and so much more!

4 Steps to Make Peace With Any Food:

1. Identify a problematic food or food situation for you

Think about a food situation or specific food that brings up guilt, stress or any other negative emotions for you when you think about.

2. Visualize having a positive experience

See if you can visualize it playing out perfectly in sync with your vision for your ideal relationship with food. No guilt, no negative emotions. Just freedom and ease. Close your eyes and really picture it. What does it look like? How do you feel? Imagine yourself navigating the situation with confidence, ease and pleasure. Think about how good it will feel to listen to and trust your body.

3. Act out what you’ve visualized

When that food or situation arises, see if you can play out that vision. See if you can do exactly what you imagined in step 2. This is what will create a positive association with that food or situation. Don’t worry if it doesn’t go perfectly as planned; that’s okay. Do your best to let go of judgements and old beliefs and just trust the process.

4. Reflect on the experience

After the experience is over, notice how you feel. Was it better than allowing your fear to run the show? Do you instead feel free and confident? What else came up for you? Maybe journal about it, talk to a friend or call your therapist.

Here’s an example of what these 4 steps can look like:

Maybe you are nervous about going to a friends potluck party because you’re worried you’ll get “out of control”. Instead, take a second to picture what you want the experience to look like. Maybe you walk in and are so excited to see your friends. You aren’t obsessing over the food so you hang out and chat with your friends for a little while, and sip on some wine. You start to gently notice you are getting hungry so you head to the food table. You feel free and at ease. You choose the foods that will taste good and make you feel good without too much thought. You savor and enjoy every bite and you stop eating when you’re perfectly comfortable. Then you go back to chatting with and enjoying the time with your friends. You leave feeling happy, confident and satisfied.

The more you do this, the easier it will become. It will feel so good to have positive food experiences that you’ll keep adopting new beliefs and behaviors that allow you to do that. Eventually, it will feel natural and you won’t even have to think twice about it.

Here’s what else you’ll learn in this interview:

• Paige’s journey to working in the field of intuitive eating and how her journey is unique
• What a peaceful relationship with food means to her and how your personal values can support a healthy, balanced relationship with food
• How hanging out with people who have food freedom can help you liberalize your own eating
• The connection between perfectionism and disordered eating and how practicing psychological flexibility and self-experimentation can help you find a peaceful place with food and your body
• Ways to practice mindfulness to support you in healing your relationship with food and your body
• And more!

What was your biggest takeaway from the interview? Comment below; I’d love to hear about it!