Many of us have experienced feeling sabotaged in our journey toward a healthier relationship with food. Sometimes, this feeling of sabotage comes from within. This can take so many different forms and can feel so frustrating! Why does this happen? Many of us struggle with this, and often we blame ourselves. We believe if we could just “get it together”, or “have more willpower”, this wouldn’t be happening for us. This is just not the case. More importantly, berating ourselves for struggling with this does not serve us well. More likely than not, it actually just serves to compound the issue, leading to more self-sabotage.
Self-sabotage can show up in a lot of different ways. One example might be eating a food that was previously “off limits”, thinking “oh I’ve blown it might as well eat X, Y, Z”, and then ending up eating more than your body needs. Essentially, this idea of self-sabotage with food is eating, and most importantly thinking, in a way that doesn’t align with this goal of improving our relationship with food. The thoughts we tell ourselves are such an important part of this. Working toward noticing our negative self-talk around food and our bodies and changing it can play a large role in dealing with what can look like self-sabotage when it comes to our relationship with food. Let’s take that earlier example for instance. If we can work to be aware we are having the thought of “oh I’ve blown it, might as well eat x,y,z”, and then work to reframe that thought, maybe saying something like “I know eating this feels scary, but no food is going to immediately impact my body like that”, that change can have an impact on whether that thought spirals into a full on binge or not.
Regardless of whether it’s the thoughts we are telling ourselves or something else leading to us sabotaging our efforts, it’s important to get to the root of the issue and address that, not the food itself. We can get so caught up in the “I can’t believe I just ate that” type thinking that the actual issue causing the behavior just goes completely ignored, leaving us more likely to repeat it. This sounds simple on the surface, but in reality, often times the reasons underlying those frustrating behaviors with food are incredibly deep and take time to resolve. Being patient with ourselves through this process is so important!
Questions about self-sabotage or anything else food or body related? Feel free to get in touch!