Not even experts can escape the trap of an unhealthy relationship with food, which further underlines how all of us are vulnerable to developing a toxic connection with what we eat, especially if we’re not aware of our habits. Famous Australian nutritionist Jessica Sepel understands what this means because she fought this demon in the past as well.
It was her dream to become a nutritionist from a young age and has been leading a healthy lifestyle since she was in her 20s. However, her obsession with reaching her goal took a toll on her and most of us can relate to what she did – she became a bad dieter, who only thought of calories.
The expert learned about diets when she was young and initially thought this would give her a sense of control. After all, if you can manage your weight then you somehow have power over your life, Jessica believed at the time.
Despite her fascination to become healthy, she transformed into a person who always stressed about common dieting problems. She found herself asking if something is going to make her fat or thin before she eats – in short, she had an unhealthy relationship with food.
Orthorexia
It didn’t make her feel good about herself rather she was filled with guilt and anxiety. People who have developed an obsession with healthy eating suffer from orthorexia, Healthline explained.
This disorder, Jessica believed, is born out of fad diets and the destructive diet culture that we all may succumb to if we don’t stop our bad connection with food. As for her, she began realizing what she had been doing wrong when she started studying.
That’s the time she knew that steering clear from carbs and fats and depending her life on artificial sweeteners weren’t the way to go. This was the moment Jessica learned how toxic her relationship with food had become.
Advice
You need to find balance and don’t fall for extremes, Jessica advises. The expert underlined the importance of not falling for intense diets, especially since there are so many popular names who promote these kinds of programs.
Most importantly, the advice goes to young women who are bombarded with advertisements on what and what not to eat. Jessica shared that when she was still practicing her profession, she would have girls with eating disorders coming over to her clinic – this, she said, was a result of the extreme and fad diets.
For her, the answer lies in well-balanced eating. Jessica also suggests not skipping macronutrients and instead, to focus on whole grain foods.
