For when it feels ‘too late’ to start finding peace with food

The prospect of working towards feeling better about food and your body can sometimes feel a little overwhelming.  If you have struggled for months, years or decades around how you relate to food or your body, it makes sense if there is some internal to-ing and fro-ing about finding ways to support yourself.

Perhaps on the one hand you are really keen to work towards feeling better and getting your brainspace back from thinking about food and your body all the time, and on the other there are aspects to your experience that are preventing you from  starting.

There are a few thoughts that I often hear from people interested in working towards feeling better about food and their body, but are feeling on the fence: ‘I’ve struggled for so long – I feel like it’s pointless to try’, ‘I’m too old now, I’m resigned to this being my life’, ‘Everyone around me struggles in the same way I do – what if I am alone in working on this?’ and the most common ‘What if I ‘fail’ at this like I have ‘failed’ at dieting?’.

If these thoughts pop in at the thought of starting to explore food and body peace, you are not alone. The way our culture relates to food skews our relationship with food too – so that we end up feeling that any struggles that we have are our fault, rather than the fault of the diet companies and systems of oppression that bombard us in so many ways.

Perhaps those thoughts resonate, and perhaps your experience feels different.  It’s all welcome and something to bring curiosity to. 

If you are looking to explore a different way of relating to food and your body and are struggling with feeling like it’s all too late to start, you might find the below helpful to start to make a little space for some of those thoughts to be gently challenged.
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Feeling good about food and your body is possible

In our society, a peaceful relationship with food and body is not often shown in mainstream media, and struggling is often seen as just the way things are. 
So it makes sense if food and body peace hasn’t really felt like a thing, but I assure you, it is. 

There is a whole community of people showing up online on social media, in their own ways in their own communities, and just going about their day to day lives who are working on feeling better about food and their body; are feeling neutral around food and their body; or are feeling good, just as they are.

Letting go of societal messaging around food and bodies and getting your brainspace back from food and body worries is possible – and so worth it. 

You deserve to feel better – no matter how long you have struggled.   
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You can't 'fail' at this

First point: you didn’t fail at dieting. Dieting failed you.

Diet companies capitalise on people’s fears, guilt and shame, and rather than the diet being blamed for not working, we are taught to blame ourselves instead.  But I promise you, you didn’t fail.  The diet was never designed to work.

When exploring a more peaceful relationship with food and your body, there is no way you can ‘fail’. 

As an example, when working with clients, if a strategy we explore together doesn’t feel quite right, we explore what went on and then try something else.  Finding a particular strategy challenging or not for you doesn’t mean you have failed.  Instead, these experiences can provide us with valuable information around how to support you further, and what might meet your needs better in your work towards a more peaceful relationship with food and your body.
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What do you want to spend your time and energy on?

Exploring your values can be really helpful to get an idea of what you would like to be spending your time and energy on.  Even if it feels like it is ‘too late’ for you, please know that you deserve more than struggling with food and your body forever.

Having an idea of your values can be really supportive to provide you with an understanding of what you would prefer to use your brainspace for if food and body concerns weren’t so all consuming. 

Perhaps you would like to feel more present with others when catching up for a meal.  Perhaps you would like to feel more confident in your body as you are.  Maybe you would like to go back to uni, try a new job or take more time to truly rest. 

The options are endless, and only limited by your imagination.
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Yep, this work can be challenging. And, you don't have to do it alone.​

Working towards a more peaceful relationship with food and your body can feel challenging.  And, if or when you are wanting to explore the idea of working towards food and body peace, you can go at your pace.

Perhaps that looks like exploring food and body peace by:

• Following anti-diet social media pages
• Listening to anti-diet podcasts
• Reading anti-diet books
• Connecting with likeminded friends, and/or
• Seeking one on one support

If you are thinking about seeking support with your relationship with food and your body but are feeling challenged by a sense of defeat, or like it’s too late to start, please know that it is never too late.   You deserve to feel better about food and your body regardless of how long you have struggled. ​
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Looking for support with your relationship with food and your body?

You are welcome to get in touch or book now.