The way you eat can actually be self-care

Our guide to appreciating your appetite *and* becoming besties with your bod.

- POPPY PRICE

How would you describe your relationship with food? Best friends who save each other's seats? Mortal enemies who are constantly setting each other up to fail? A little bit of both?

While the answer is different for everyone (thanks to cultural norms, parental modeling and, of course, social media), developing a healthy bond with the stuff that fuels you is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your health.

That's the idea behind intuitive eating: a food philosophy based on listening to your body's natural signals of hunger and fullness and learning how to be kind to yourself. It's about breaking out of a diet mentality (or not falling into it in the first place). It takes work, but soon you'll be in a place where eating brings you nothing but pure joy and satisfaction.

Check-in with yourself

If the thought of your next meal or snack brings on a helping of anxiety, it's likely you need to tweak your attitude toward food. "You may love food and look forward to each time you get to eat, but you also may have negative thoughts floating in your head," says Elyse Resch, nutrition therapist and author of The Intuitive Eating Workbook for Teens.

Where does this negativity come from? Maybe you've got a running list of "good foods" and "bad foods" and beat yourself up when you cave to a craving. It could stem from guilt about choices you made previously, like when you were feeling overwhelmed after a rough day. Or maybe you're just at odds with your changing body and losing confidence.

But here's the thing: We *need* to eat. Food provides us with enough fuel to do the things we love to do. And, no matter how you feel about food, the bottom line is that we need it to live. "Food is about supporting your life, not running it or ruining it," says Resch. Which is why it's so critically important to nurture your relationship with it.

GET INTUITIVE.