Finding Balance with Eating, Over Perfection

Nutrition and knowing what to eat can be a really confusing space. In a world full of diet rules, food labels, and endless nutrition advice, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. We often fall into the trap of believing that, in order to be healthy, we need to eat perfectly. But here’s the truth: perfection isn’t sustainable — it’s balance that we truly need.

Balanced eating supports both physical health and emotional well-being through nourishment and satiety, without extremes, guilt, or rigid rules. It’s about meeting your body’s needs while also honouring enjoyment and flexibility.

Factors That Can Disrupt A Balanced Approach To Eating:

All-or-Nothing Thinking

Many people swing between extremes — aiming to be “good” during the week by strictly following food rules, only to feel like they’ve “fallen off the wagon” by the weekend. This all-or-nothing mindset often comes from labelling foods, or even ourselves, as “good” or “bad.” When we fall into this way of thinking, eating something deemed “bad” can trigger feelings of guilt, shame, or failure. Over time, this creates a negative cycle and can lead to a disconnected, stressful relationship with food, rather than one built on balance, flexibility, and self-trust.

Stress and Emotions

Stress and emotional challenges can throw us off balance by activating our emotional centre of the brain (the amygdala) and reducing the activity of the more mindful and reflective part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex.

When feeling under pressure, overwhelmed, or emotionally drained, food often becomes more than fuel — it can turn into a comfort, distraction, or coping tool. This can disrupt appetite, lead to meal skipping, overeating, or intense cravings for sugary or starchy foods.

Dieting History

Chronic dieting, food restriction, or eating below your caloric needs can significantly impact both body and mind. Research shows that long-term dieting can:

• Trigger binge eating and cravings

• Slow metabolism by lowering the body's need for energy

• Disrupt hunger and fullness signals

• Increase body mistrust and food obsession (1)

  
  

This pattern often leads to frustration, negative self-talk, and a lack of confidence in making nourishing choices.

How to Build a Healthier Relationship with Food

✔️ Focus on Finding Balance: The 80/20 rule is a helpful guide — eat nourishing, whole foods most of the time, and allow room for enjoyment without guilt. It’s about progress, not perfection. Balance includes variety, flexibility, and making space for food to be a source of joy.

✔️ Check Your Mindset:

Are you labelling foods or yourself as “good” or “bad”? Do you feel guilty after eating certain things? A healthy relationship with food begins with challenging restrictive beliefs and replacing them with self-compassion, flexibility, and trust. Guilt can fuel more self-doubt, self-criticism and self-sabotaging behaviours which is not helpful.

✔️ Tune Into Hunger and Fullness Cues:

Many people eat disconnected from their body’s signals due to stress, busy schedules, distractions, or past dieting. Start recognising what early hunger feels like and what comfortable fullness feels like. Check in with your body regularly in relation to how you are feeling, and what you are needing to help rebuild this trust.

✔️ Find Pleasure and Satisfaction in Eating:

Slow down, savour your meals, and engage your five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch). Taste your food and notice the flavours (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami) — and increase the value and satisfaction of eating. When meals are enjoyable, we’re less likely to overeat, feel deprived, or rely on food for emotional comfort.

✔️ Avoid Using Food as an Emotional Coping Tool:

It’s normal to turn to food for comfort now and then — but when it becomes the main way we cope with stress or emotions, it can disrupt balanced eating. Emotional eating may offer short-term relief but often leads to guilt, overeating, or disconnection from what we really need. Try pausing to check in with your feelings and explore other ways to manage these emotions — like taking a walk, deep breathing, journaling, doing something creative, or calling a friend.

Building a healthier relationship with food starts by letting go of perfection and embracing balance, flexibility, and self-compassion. When we nourish our bodies with intention and allow space for enjoyment, food becomes a source of wellbeing — not a source of stress.

Yours in Health,

Kristy

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Reference:

1. Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2020). Intuitive eating: a revolutionary anti-diet approach. 4th edition. St. Martin's Essentials.