Fat or Fit? What's Your Relationship with Food?

If losing weight is one of your resolutions in 2012, then an examination of your relationship with food is in order. Your timing is great! The recent start of the New Year gives us the opportunity to dissolve old habits and reinvent ourselves. 

Take this quiz to see if your relationship with food is fat or fit. Give yourself five points for every sentence that describes you or your eating habits. (No one will see your score, so you have permission to be completely honest.) Which of the following apply to you?

1. Most of my friends and family members are overweight.
2. Most of my social activities revolve around eating.
3. I prefer buffet restaurants or ones that serve ample portions.
4. "Going out" is a euphemism for eating and drinking more than I should.
5. Eating helps me relax and soothes me when I hit a bumpy road in life.
6. I have some health problems that are exacerbated by being overweight.
7. I often feel guilty about what and how much I eat.
8. My self-esteem suffers because of my weight and body image.
9. Because I am self-conscious of my body shape, I am reluctant to be intimate with my partner.
10. I avoid social activities that involve exercise (like walking with a friend) because I tire easily from carrying extra weight.

If you scored zero on this quiz, congratulations. You've developed a healthy relationship with food that will serve you well. If your score is greater than zero, then use your score to cut through denial and commit to a new and healthier relationship with food.

Change begins when we recognize dysfunctional behavior that no longer suits us. Without a doubt, making needed changes in any area of our life—but especially in what and how much we eat— involves self-control. But change doesn't have to involve hardship or severe dieting. Instead, making better daily food choices represents an affirmation of the importance we place on our health and well-being—one that meets our future as well as our present needs.

In this spirit, you can resolve that 2012 will mark the beginning of a new and healthful relationship with food.

Photo courtesy of Sakura

Source: Flickr