When food is your number one pleasure

If you struggle with restrictive eating, bingeing or emotional eating, then you are likely preoccupied with food 24/7. You may obsess over specific food amounts or organise meals in minute detail. You may dream about foods you are avoiding or plan days around a visit to an artisan bakery on the other side of town.

You can’t get food out of your head, however much you try. Food is on the pedestal of pleasure in daily life whilst also hampering your spontaneity and freedom.

And food should be a wonderful joy and delicious part of daily life. Food is essential for survival and vigour, and fuelling your body with wholesome nutrition can significantly enhance mental and physical health.

Food is certainly more than fuel alone. Devouring a piece of your friend’s birthday cake and sharing in a beautifully prepared meal with loved ones, brings a deep sense of connection and well-being. 

Some emotional eating is an essential part of life. As a human being, your relationship with food is not simply a functional, scientific equation. It is about satisfaction, savouring tastes, and inspiring memories. Think back to your favourite childhood foods and the special memories these evoke to this day.

But what if food has become your only pleasure and turn-to? 

You have lost interest in hobbies, previous interests or life pursuits that once brought anticipation and excitement?

Maybe, it is offering self-soothing or distraction from difficult feelings?

Maybe it is giving you an escape from the endless treadmill of daily life when you are unhappy in your job or relationships.

Maybe your identity is very linked to being outwardly ‘healthy’ through a deep food obsession, whereas internally you are profoundly struggling. Controlling food feels like the only area of life that offers a glimmer of self-esteem or purpose.

If you recognise yourself here, now is the time to offer yourself compassion and understanding.

You could begin to peel back the layers of the metaphorical onion, which feels all about food, when in fact it is signalling deeper unmet needs.

If you are in a restrictive cycle with eating, you may need to establish regular eating and stabilising blood sugar first, to steady body physiology and reduce cravings and food thoughts. A starved brain is in survival mode and will ruminate about food all day long if it is deprived of glucose. If this feels overwhelming, start small, with incremental baby steps.

When you feel ready, you might begin to explore the deeper roots of your food preoccupation.

You can think about what you ‘gain’ from focusing on food and your body. How is this serving you and helping you cope, even if it only works short-term?

If you feel in a tangle of food confusion, this may be the time to reach out for support through counselling. A counsellor can support you to fit the pieces of the jigsaw together, so help you to understand your relationship with food from a psychological perspective, whilst also helping you develop healthier ways of coping.