Food anxiety can be so distressing-when the food that is meant to nourish and sustain you begins instead to look or feel like your enemy. Food allergies, food sensitivities, weight gain, gut symptoms, and food smells are some of the causes of food anxiety. So, too, is sometimes having too much information about the food you eat. This is particularly challenging because eating food isn’t something you can just stop. But, if you are fearful or worried about your reactions to it, food is no longer the pleasurable part of life you want to enjoy.
So how can you desensitize from being afraid of your food and the responses to food when you eat?
First, reduce or stop your Internet surfing to investigate food sensitivities, food contamination, food allergies, diseases related to food, etc. This just fuels the anxiety. The more information you get, the more conflicting opinions you will find, which just add to your confusion. Find one or more reliable sources and just stay with that. We trust that Blum Center for Health will be one of your go-to trusted sources!
Second, be careful with too much testing of your own food sensitivities. Many kinds of allergy and food sensitivity tests are not definitive, only generally helpful to if see if you are over-reactive or normally reactive to foods. Tests like the ALCAT will show many positive results in most people but eliminating those foods won’t necessarily fix the problem-working on the health of your gut where the problem with food sensitivities begins is often more beneficial than avoiding 20 or 30 foods.
Finally, as part of your daily regimen, we highly recommend affirmations to create positive thought and energy patterns around the subject of food, food safety, and healthy eating. Affirmations are a great mind-body connecting technique that works beautifully to gently shift you out of fear and into freedom. Create your own affirmations specific to your particular food concerns. Here are some examples to get you started:
- I feel nourished by food and the health and well being it gives me.
- I am grateful, relaxed, and happy as I start this meal.
- I make safe and healthy food choices when I eat.
- I take my time and enjoy savoring the depth of flavor of the food I am eating.
- My body, mind, and soul are nourished and satisfied by what I eat and drink.
- I trust my body’s innate wisdom in knowing how to assimilate the goodness from the food I eat, keeping me healthy and vibrant.