10 Principles of Intuitive Eating Series, Principle 7: Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness

Every time food is introduced through a cultural or life event, the emotional bond with food strengthens. This can be through the presence of wedding cake at the reception, cupcakes at a child’s birthday party, turkey for Thanksgiving, and my fondest memory was my Poppop’s baklava at Christmas. When food is introduced to help us cope with life or comfort us, it deepens our emotional bond with food. Food symbolizes different things in our lives; food can be our comfort when we feel a sense of homesickness or loss. Food can be celebratory. Lastly, food can also be our friend because we can rely on food.