Believe it or not we all have a relationship with food.  It usually starts at a young age, develops throughout adulthood and can significantly impact your weight loss success before and after weight loss surgery.  For many of us it truly is a love relationship!

If we all just ate for the nutritional benefit, there would not be an obesity epidemic in this country.  Dr. Michelle May, author of Eat What you Love, Love What You Eat, states “food has become our focus instead of being the fuel for a full life.”  We often eat for many reasons, to celebrate, to relax, to mourn, and sometimes just when we are bored.

Perhaps you were loved with food when you were a child.  Or perhaps you love others with food, “I made you cookies since you had a bad day.”  Sometimes specific foods give us warm memories of home, our grandmother’s chicken and dumplings, our mother’s cheesecake, our father’s homemade fudge at the holidays.

Food insecurity or not having enough food in the home could have been a factor which shaped your ideas of food.  This can lead to habits of stockpiling food in big pantries or large freezers.  “Always clean your plate” may have been a common admonishment at the dinner table.

For long term success, it is important to understand this relationship with food in your life.  After surgery, food will become less important in your life; family, friends, activity, career, and hobbies will become the focus, not food.  If food has become a tool to cope with life, alternative coping methods must be established for long term success.  Begin now to examine the influences you’ve had in the past and your current relationship with food.