Ta Da! 🎉
Essentially, The Authentic Eating Matrix is a self-awareness tool to help you discover which aspect of your eating needs more love. Don't worry, I'll tell you how to use it below.
Why I created it
Aside from the fact that everyone loves a quiz or self-assessment tool. There are a few other reasons why a created.
First and foremost, I believe it’s heartbreaking that so many of us accept or normalise a less-than-ideal relationship with food. We’re made to feel that it’s just something we have to live with because it’s so common. Worse yet, some people are burdened with shame, afraid to ask for help, or unsure where it’s safe to find support. This is where The Authentic Eating Matrix comes in – it’s like a self-assessment tool to see if you need or want help and to give you some direction on where to start.
The second reason I designed The Authentic Eating Matrix this way is because our relationship with food is subjective and far from black and white. Many tools offer yes or no answers, but we all know that our connection with food is dynamic, changeable, and influenced by numerous factors. I wanted something that could capture this complexity, which is why it’s presented as a scatterplot.
Its intention is to help you to figure out where you need to put more love: your relationship with food, your eating patterns, both or neither. And because it’s subjective, it really gets you thinking.
Am I happy with where I am?
Am I willing to accept my eating patterns or how I feel about food long-term?
And if not, by sending more love to where it’s needed, you’ll start the process of shifting toward a way of eating that is more authentic to YOU. Hence why it’s called The Authentic Eating Matrix.
How to use it
1. Reflect on your relationship with food
On a scale from feeling really good and peaceful to challenging and tumultuous, where would you place it?
You can also use a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most peaceful and 1 the most challenging. Remember, these things are dynamic, so just answer based on your average feeling.
Examples of a peaceful relationship with food:
· The amount of brain space taken up by thoughts about food that feels reasonable
· Not feeling guilt about what or how much you eat
· Can eat around most people without shame
· Self-talk related to food is mostly neutral or positive
· Minimal rigid food rules
· Able to be flexible when it comes to making food choices
· Caring about nourishing your body to an extent that feels aligned
Examples of a challenging relationship with food:
· Preoccupied with thoughts about your food or body
· Feeling guilty for eating certain types or amounts of food
· Feeling shame eating in front of others
· Urges to restrict food
· Urges to binge eat or feeling out of control around food
· Negative self-talk related to food
· Rigid food rules e.g. “I shouldn’t eat after 7pm”
· Experiencing significant stress or anxiety about food e.g. worrying about calories
· An obsession with “healthy eating” to the point it feels unhealthy
· Feeling confused or overwhelmed by what to eat
Based on your reflection, just take a mental note of where you would place a mark along the relationship with food axis (peaceful, challenging or somewhere in between)
2. Reflect on how you feel about your eating patterns
Do they feel good and aligned with your values? Does it feel nourishing to your body and soul. Remember, aligned eating is unique to you. What is aligned for one person might be completely different than what is aligned for someone else.
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the most aligned and 1 being the most misaligned, where would they sit?
Examples of when your eating pattern might feel aligned:
· Feeling content with what, when, how and why you’re eating most of the time
· Eating in a way that is connected with your appetite cues most of the time
· Eating in a way that supports your wellbeing or any health conditions you might have most of the time
· Incorporates foods that support social health in an amount that feels aligned
· Spending an amount of energy on food that feels reasonable
Examples of when your eating pattern might feel misaligned:
· Binge eating or “emotional eating” often
· Eating foods that cause symptoms or make your feel unwell often
· Eating in a way that goes against your appetite cues
· Not eating a balance or variety of foods that you’re happy with most of the time
· Eating in a way that doesn’t support your wellbeing most of the time despite wanting to (often people’s mind goes to “junk” food here, but it can also be eating too “clean” or restricting that doesn’t support optimal wellbeing)
· Struggling to follow through on or sustain positive changes long-term
· Spending too much energy on food (e.g. shopping, preparing, cooking etc) and it feels out of alignment with where you want to spend your energy
Based on your reflection, take a mental note of where you would place a mark along the eating patterns axis (aligned, misaligned or somewhere in between).
3. Find where those two imagined marks meet on the chart and place a mark
Remember there’s no moral judgement here. Firstly, no one’s is going to be aligned or peaceful all of the time. Secondly, if things are hard, it makes sense given the diet culture we’re surrounded by. Thirdly, these things are dynamic and can change hour to hour, day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year.
So if you’re not currently where you want to be, it doesn’t have to be forever. This tool is to help you decide whether it’s something you to work on or get support with.
