Eat, Eat, Eat, Repeat
Content warning: Discussions of Irregular Eating Habits, Eating Disorders
My relationship with food is great. My relationship with eating sucks.
I am liable to abandon my food in favour of anything that offers me more mental stimulation. A morsel of food will make its way from my plate and halfway to my mouth… only for me to get distracted and leave my fork hovering in mid-air. Completing a task for work, engaging in a conversation, or replying to a message are some of the many things my brain deems as more ‘important’ or ‘valuable’ than eating.
At best, I delay eating food for extended periods of time. At worst, I skip meals entirely.
Lunch is the meal I am most likely to skip, distracted by the busyness of work. My lunch gets cold, weary of my restlessness. If my lunch could grow legs, it would show itself out the door, tired of being neglected.
My issues with eating aren’t classified as an eating disorder, so for a while I didn’t think of them as detrimental to my wellbeing. But skipping meals can have a variety of negative effects on your health including fatigue, indigestion, low brain function, and malnutrition.
I used to make light of my irregular eating habits. But after realising how much it has impacted my wellbeing, I don’t find it funny anymore.
Mauri Ora’s Health Coach Rebekah Ward-Johnston says she often sees students who struggle with irregular eating habits because they are too busy.
Rebekah says it's easier to motivate yourself to eat if you tie food to the things that excite you about your life. When busy people eat, they have more energy to do what they love, she explains. This frame of mind places value on food and helps you eat with intention.
She recommends students start by focusing on the one meal that, if eaten, would make the greatest difference to their lives. In my case, that's lunch.
Rebekah says not enough students utilise her services at Mauri Ora, and recommends those struggling with eating habits make an appointment with her by calling 04 463 5308.
I’ll leave you with some tips I have found that help me eat more regularly!
Set alarms to remind yourself to eat. I find it entertaining when my phone lights up throughout the day with the words “Snack Time!” followed by a variety of food emojis. If I’m entertained, I’m mentally stimulated. If I’m stimulated, I’m more likely to eat.
Keep food easily accessible. Remove barriers to accessing food so that you have minimal reasons not to eat. If you often forget to pack your lunch to bring with you to work, try storing food at your workplace.
Let your friends hold you accountable. My friends have always known I’m a painfully slow eater. It still took a long time for me to tell them that I wanted to change my eating habits. Asking them to help me eat makes me feel like an incompetent adult, but it keeps me healthy. My friends now remind me to focus when I absentmindedly cast aside my food. They also congratulate me when I manage to finish a meal in one sitting. It's not embarrassing, it makes me feel loved.