Our thought patterns have a tremendous impact on our behaviors and our ability to grow and make changes.
Thinking about a non-food example — let’s say I am trying to have a productive work day (intended behavior). BUT, as life would have it, I slept miserably and have a terrible headache. I got out of bed later than I wanted and have barely crossed anything off my to-do list by the time early afternoon rolls around. Some common thought patterns here might be for me to start catastrophizing the day (Now my entire day is ruined! My whole week is going to be thrown off!), viewing the day as overly black-and white (I have gotten NOTHING done that I wanted… this day is an absolute failure) and continually judging myself for struggling to get done wanted I had planned and hoped.
Mentally reacting to my day in this way would likely cause me to continue spiraling throughout the day and week, veering even further from my original intentions.
Instead, a much more helpful response would be to recognize these unhelpful thought patterns, approach my day with flexibility and adjust as needed, show myself understanding and compassion, and live in the reality that I didn’t sleep well / am not feeling well instead of fighting reality by trying to plow ahead.
Like areas of our lives such as time/task management, habit-building, and health routines, many of us may have experience reacting to food with similar unhelpful thought patterns.
How we think about food has a great impact on how we engage with food.
In today’s blog post, I’m going to identify 10 common thought patterns that may be perpetuating any disordered eating you are struggling with.
For each thought pattern, I will provide an example as well as a way to reframe/look at the situation differently. I’ll also provide some additional tips and notes to consider. I hope you find this post helpful and something you can bookmark/come back to repeatedly!
10 Common Thought Patterns Perpetuating Your Disordered Eating: