I talk to a lot of people about “my” topics. Food, variety, healthy eating, nutrition in general and in all its specifics.
Everyone eats and drinks. Many people have favorite foods, dishes that smell and taste of childhood, freedom, family, adventure, belonging or individuality.
My work means that people tell me about their habits, the diets they have tried and their guilty pleasures. They open up about wanting to do something for themselves, wanting to change something about the status quo. About the thoughts they have about their future and their health.
Some clients have already started down that path. They have begun to leave behind trails they have walked for years and consciously opened themselves up to change.
And they bring with them plenty of observations and at least as many questions.
Hunger has changed. Appetite has become quieter. Maybe what we now so readily call “food noise” has become much quieter too.
Okay. Now what?
What do I actually like to eat? What agrees with me? What does a day look like when I barely have an appetite? How do I eat with my family? What do I do at brunch or when I travel? What kind of structure helps me? What does enjoyment mean now? And how do I know when I have eaten enough?
What happens to eating when hunger is no longer such a reliable timekeeper?
Maybe hunger used to say: It would be good to eat now. Appetite could say: That’s what I feel like having. And habit: I eat lunch at noon.
When those signals suddenly become much quieter, structure may take on a very different role.
If a smaller amount is enough, another question may arise: what do I want that smaller amount to contain? And if eating has never just been about satisfying hunger, but also about connection, enjoyment and the rhythms of everyday life, those things don’t simply disappear along with hunger.
And when food suddenly takes up less space in our minds, there may be more room for other things again. For things that perhaps used to be quieter.
So new questions emerge along the way.
Questions worth looking at more closely.
With my clients, I look at what their own questions are. Together, we work out individual answers and build structures that can grow into new habits.
We talk about uncertainty and concerns. And together, we look at the noise coming from outside. All the advice, experiences and opinions about what they should be doing now or what they absolutely need to do differently.
We sort through it. Thoughtfully and carefully.
And maybe that is exactly where coaching has a place.
Hunger may have become quieter. But that doesn’t answer the question of how I want to eat.
Maybe that is one of the questions that deserves some space now.
Feeling less hungry can change many things.
The question of how I want food to fit into my life is still mine to answer.
Food for Thought. Structure for Change.