Making the Right Food Choice Causing Anxiety?

Here you are having just recently committed yourself to making the right food choices. You know you are not making the best decisions when it comes to food. The decisions you are making are out of convenience rather than necessity. This is not the first time that you have had this conversation with yourself. Here you are at 40 and you see a completely different version of you than 20 years ago. Of course this concerns you. How could it not? You know the path ahead is not bright if you keep making the wrong food choices. Good food equals good health. But the opposite is also true. However, you are just not sure where you are going to squeeze more time into your schedule to accommodate food.

Making the Right Food Choice Causing Anxiety?

First things first. Let me help state a fact that you know to be true. You just have not slowed down long enough to verbally state it. Yet doing so is critical. Making the right food choice is causing anxiety. I don’t mean that you are having a full blown anxiety attack when you think about food. This is the extreme end of anxiety. This is not you.

What is you however, is watching yourself become frustrated when you first start to think about what I am going to cook for dinner. The questions begin to circle in your mind? Will the kids eat this? Will my husband eat it? Are there going to be leftovers that I can eat for lunch tomorrow? How long is this going to take to prepare tonight? Before you can answer one question logically, your mind is already spinning into the next question.

Just reading this you can see yourself in the moment asking yourself these questions. Just thinking about it causes your pulse to increase and the anxiety starts to build. At this point, I want you to do something. Don’t just read on. Actually do what I am going to say. I have lead you to create an emotional response to food, but not the kind you should be having. Stop, take a deep breath, slowly exhale. Picture yourself in the country where you spent time growing up. Now, simply acknowledge that making the right food choice, for you and your family, is being sabotaged by the way you have come to view food.

Why You’re a Slave to the Convenience

Without evening knowing it, food has shifted from a pleasurable experience that comforted you to one where choices are made out of convenience based on the pace of your lifestyle. When you hear this out loud, you realize that something needs to shift. I sympathize with this struggle that you have between offering the best food to your family, and yourself, and convenience. You don’t see how you are going to implement this at home. The kids are not going to like what you offer and you can hear the words out of your husband’s mouth, “What’s this?” referring to a new dish you are thinking of trying.

Out of Control Food Choices

Every journey is the same. They all begin with a single, first step. Redefining your thoughts so that you are making the right food choice is the first step. Optimal health is a choice. It is 100% in your control. Therefore, making the right food choice is within your control.

But before you go out and start selecting healthier food choices for your family, have a conversation with yourself. Better yet, go in front of the mirror and have the conversation so that when you verbally tell yourself how you are going to mentally reposition food, you know that you will be fully attentive to what you are hearing. Say to yourself,” Food is a priority for me and my family. I am reconnecting with food and making it a valued part of my life.” Again, don’t just read this. Actually go and do it. (Pause, as I am giving you time to go do this.)

Great, now let’s start over. When I ask you to think about making the right food choice, your perception is different isn’t it? Just reshaping your view of food creates a positive feeling. Kudos, you made the first step to becoming unwavering in your pursuit of making the right food choice. Doesn’t it feel nice to begin to have a sense of relief around food?

Optimal health is a choice.

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