Therapy Instead of a Diet to Change How You Eat

Let's be honest - you already KNOW how you'd like to be eating. You already KNOW what foods are nourishing for your body and which aren't. You already KNOW pretty much everything that there is to know about nutrition...

In order to change how you eat - you don't need just more information on what you "SHOULD" be eating. You don't just need more advice on what foods are "bad" for you. You don't just need another meal plan.

People are now turning to therapy instead of diets to change how they eat because they are realising that our relationship with food is complex and heavily influenced by our mental and emotional state. If it were as simple as telling people what to eat, and people would just follow along - nobody would ever struggle with their food choices EVER... but the truth is, how we eat and WHY we eat certain foods is far more complicated that this.

Therapy has greater power to change how you eat than a diet as:

• Food is coping mechanism: food is a way that many people cope with their emotions. Therapy can teach you new coping skills which mean that you no longer need to turn to food to cope with how you are feeling.

• Our food behaviours are often habits: how we eat is often driven by habit and changing habits requires behaviour change tools and a shift in mindset (rather than just blindly following a meal plan).

• Willpower can only take you so far: diets rely heavily on your willpower to stick to them but willpower weakens when you are stressed or tired. Exploring the complex range of factors that affect your food choices instead allows you to shift how you think about food long-term (meaning that you don't have to just rely on willpower to eat a certain way).

• Your thoughts around food can change: Breaking unhelpful thinking patterns around food can allow you to change your eating patterns in a way that lasts for the long-term (instead of yo-yoing on and off diets). For example, if you are someone who is always promising yourself you'll "start that diet tomorrow" or "once that event/ holiday etc. is over" - shifting some of these thoughts you have around food can change how you interact with food.

• Your upbringing and relationships affect how you view food: How you interact with food is often a by-product of your experiences around food growing up and the relationships you have in the present day. It is often necessary to explore these things in order to really change how you view food and interact with it.

• Body image and self confidence can influence your food choices: If you struggle with low confidence levels or always feel bad about your body, you may be stuck in a vicious cycle of trying to punish yourself with extreme diets/ starvation and then bingeing/ overeating because these diets are unsustainable. By shifting how you view yourself and your body, you can instead feel motivated to nurture and nourish your body to good health.

Many people that want to change how they eat still turn to diets and meal plans. And these diets or meal plans often work short-term. But we work with clients who have realised that they don't just need more advice on WHAT to eat and to rely on willpower alone to see them through a few weeks/ months of misery/ starvation. We work with clients that are ready to make lasting changes to their relationship with food.

A complex range of psychological, behavioural , physical and emotional factors drive our food choices. Therapy isn't just someone you can turn to in order to lift your mood and manage your anxiety - it is also a powerful process to enable you to change how you eat and how you feel about your body and food. Therapy can help you to make sustainable changes to the way that you eat.

So if you are fed up of being told WHAT to eat and are ready to join the tribe of people turning to therapy instead of diets to change their eating patterns, reach out to us at info@thefoodtherapyclinic.com to book in a free consultation.

“Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakes.” - Jung