Journal Prompts to Explore Your Relationship With Food

September 9, 2024

How I Get the Most Out of Journal Prompts: This is a technique I learned in high school that transformed the way I journal and helps me fully engage with the prompts I write. I focus on letting my thoughts flow freely onto the page, following a strict “no editing” rule. This rule means I don’t re-read what I’ve written to check for clarity or go back to make small changes until I’m completely finished. I don’t judge myself or try to make my writing sound polished; I simply let my thoughts pour out, even if they end up sounding like gibberish—and that’s okay!

Journal Prompts:

How was food talked about in your household growing up and what parts of that have you carried with you?
How do gender norms/roles play a part in how you view and experience food/mealtime? What expectations are you holding for yourself based on these gendered ideas?
When was the first time you perceived food in a negative way? Do you still carry that negative perception of food with you today?
What was a time that food was talked about in a way that felt good and nurturing? What about the way it was talked about made it feel good or nurturing?
What feelings do you have around mealtime? When you realize mealtime or snack time is coming up, what emotions arise for you? What thoughts around food are causing those feelings?
Write out a timeline that illustrates when difficult emotions around food began, up until now. Do you notice any patterns or any events that make this worse?
Stress and hormones tend to act as “inflammatory” additions to things we already struggle with. For example, for someone battling alcoholism, a stressful time may increase the number of thoughts and urges that arise around alcohol. This works the same way for anxiety, body dysmorphia, and disordered eating patterns/thoughts. That means, for women, the week before one’s period can be particularly difficult due to hormonal and physical fluctuations that put pressure on pre-existing concerns around body-image or disordered eating patterns. Additionally, stressful life events can cause fluctuations in our ability to cope with body-image or disordered eating patterns. What stressful events tend to make these existing thoughts and feelings around food worse?
What are things you do that help you cope with these things?
What are steps you have taken already to help work on these things? I really want you to think about this. It can be so easy to say, “I’m working on my relationship with food/my body”, when in reality that can look like “I notice my thoughts and feelings around food and feel helpless against them, therefore I haven’t taken steps that have made me feel better or challenged these ideas.”
What is your next goal with food? When do you want to accomplish this by? What steps will you take to accomplish this?
When you talk about food with people around you, what are you subconsciously wanting to hear from those around you? What are you searching for in those conversations?
What are things outside of food that you are proud of about yourself? Try to list at least 5.
Is there an element of shame or guilt around certain foods or certain food practices? What beliefs around food are causing these feelings? Are those beliefs your own, or were they told to you by someone else at some point? If they were told to you by someone else, is that person a valid source of information, or have they been incorrect or misinformed in the past?
Is there a scarcity mindset around food? (If so, please check out the blog post on “Why do I binge eat and how do I change it?”)
If you have ever dieted or watched anyone diet, how did it affect your own perspective on food?

If Food, meal-time or disordered eating is something you struggle with, or would like to explore further, reach out to SF Counseling for a free consultation: (828) 367-9585

Savannah Fredde, LCMHCA, NCC, and Disordered Eating Specialist