When was the last time you prepared food for a loved one? Whether it was the favorite dish of a child returning home from college, fresh groceries and soup for a sick friend, or a celebratory feast to mark the new year, food is at the heart of relationships. It is a focal point when people gather because it does more than nourish our bodies — food nourishes our souls.

But what happens when our food choices no longer serve us? As a physician and health coach, I’ve witnessed firsthand how challenging it can be to change our eating habits. Food is far more than calories and macronutrients; it is deeply tied to our emotions, traditions and how we interact with those we love.

From our first breath, food is linked to love and care. As infants, being fed is one of the first ways we feel comfort; it’s how we begin to form connections to our loved ones. As we grow, food becomes a way to celebrate milestones and show affection. I have a distinct memory of eating simple, nutritious meals around my grandmother’s table while listening to Paul Harvey on the radio. I credit my healthy eating habits to her style of meal preparation. Our lifetime of experiences shapes our food choices and how we connect to others.

Because food is closely woven together with the culture that shapes our lives, it can be difficult to change eating habits. There is a mountain of evidence that shows food affects how we feel, and how we feel affects what we eat.¹ Unfortunately, the meaning we give to food may clash with our goals of adopting a healthier lifestyle. Here are a few tips to help you move toward healthier choices:

Pause and ask yourself questions. It can be a valuable exercise to bring awareness to our food choices by asking ourselves:

How does this food or meal make me feel?
Are there emotions driving this food choice?
Can I make a small adjustment to enhance the nutrients without losing the meaning of this food?

Write it down. I highly recommend keeping a journal to track food choices in order to record the emotions we experience as we consider and enjoy our meals.

Create new memories with food. Learning about new foods and new preparation techniques allows us to forge new memories and traditions. Here are a few ways to have meaningful, lasting change:

Honor the emotional connection – Keep your time-honored recipes but fine tune them by swapping healthy ingredients.
Involve loved ones – Invite family and friends along on the journey, which will add meaning for everyone together.
Start small – The tiniest amount of change can have a massive impact.

As we all continue the journey toward lifelong health, please be kind to yourself. Everywhere we go, even to the grocery store and the kitchen, we carry with us a lifetime of experiences and traditions that shape our identity. Lasting change is possible once we bring awareness to our emotional ties to food and acknowledge the importance of food in how we experience and share our love with the world.

Edith Jones-Poland, MD, is a family physician and functional lifestyle coach with Circe Coaching and can be reached at (760) 773.4948. For more information, visit www.circecares.com.

Reference: 1) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7322666/