How would you describe your relationship with food? Is food the enemy in a never-ending battle to eat healthy?
Dr. Linda Mintle discusses the importance of having a healthy relationship with food.
“If you’re thinking about what you’re eating all the time and you can’t even enjoy it because you’re so worried about the food and what it’s going to do to you then maybe you have some food issues.”
While some people are too preoccupied with food, there are many others who do not think enough about what they put in their stomach.
“We have record rates of obesity which leads to diabetes and all kinds of metabolic problems; we need to look at our relationship with food in an intense way.”
Why is it hard to eat right?
One of the main reasons why it’s so difficult to eat right is because we can’t just avoid food. It is an essential aspect of life.
“Food is not like other kinds of substances or drugs people struggle with because you don’t have to take these things and the whole approach is abstinence.”
However, the abstinence approach to getting rid of a bad habit doesn’t work with food.
“It’s in your face at least three times a day, maybe more depending on if you snack or a graze.”
Positivity helps
The first step in dealing with food issues is to develop a positive attitude because food isn’t evil.
“Food is there to nourish us, it’s something that God gave us, it’s actually used in the Bible for celebration, and it brings people together. We have to get it out of our head that food is a bad thing or it’s the enemy.”
When we’ve admitted that we have trouble eating healthy, the next step is to try to understand where we are going wrong. According to Dr. Linda, one of the most important steps we can take to eat healthy is to evaluate what we drink.
“If you could make one change this New Year, I would suggest that you get off any kind of soda or any sugary drink.”
As image-bearers of God, we are called to steward our bodies as temples of the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:19). Eating healthy doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom and it will lead to a higher quality life.
