by Living in a society that celebrates unhealthy eating habits can sadly have a negative effect on our relationship with food and eating.
If you have a complicated relationship with eating or food and want to work towards a more balanced mindset, then these apps and online resources could help.
1. Nutrient – Nutrition and diet
Nourishly is an app designed to help you build a healthy and balanced relationship with food and your body through a non-diet approach.
You can set up Nourishly to support you in various areas of wellbeing, from eating disorder recovery to general wellbeing. You can also use the app in conjunction with a professional treatment team if needed.
If you want to repair your relationship with food and eating, these features can support your journey:
- Meal planning. Nourishly offers pre-set meal plans and the opportunity to create your own. Choosing a model meal plan could help you take the pressure off deciding how and what to eat each day of the week while repairing your relationship with food.
- Logs. This displays information from logging your meals, feelings, and more to create a log that can uncover patterns and important insights into your well-being.
- Tracking meals and snacks. Recording how you felt when you ate, whether you ate alone or with others, whether you followed your meal plan, and recording your hunger levels before and after meals can provide a complete picture of your relationship with food and eat.
- Track your thoughts and feelings. You can write down your worries, thoughts and feelings regardless of meal times to create a log of your overall well-being to help you pinpoint any triggers or problems.
- Medical connection. If you are receiving treatment from a registered dietitian or other healthcare professional, you can link your records to your treatment team for further support.
Overall, Nourishly is a great app to focus on rebuilding a healthy relationship with food and eating while also supporting your overall well-being. Alternatively, if you like Nourishly’s format but want a more focused focus on eating disorder recovery, check out Recovery Record, created by the same developers.
Download: Nourishly – Nutrition and Diet for Android | iOS (Free)
2 way
The Way app was created to help you find peace in your relationship with food and focus on what feels good in and around your body.
Grounded in mindfulness and CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), the Way app can help you repair your relationship with food in several ways:
- Self-reflection. Way asks you questions to help you discover the thoughts, feelings and emotions that govern your relationship with food. (For example, the first question asks what was the first “food rule” you ever heard, who told you about it, and how important it is still in your life today.)
- Identify your “peace point”. Way’s purpose is to reach a “peace point,” a central goal personalized to you about finding peace with food and your body. You can watch how-to videos and view examples of peace stitches if you’re not sure how to approach this problem.
- Reflect on your progress. Use the Reflexes tab to review the steps and progress you’ve made when you feel lost.
- Upgrade your experience. THE Sessions allows you to review a session whenever you want to consolidate your learning.
Using Way is not a rush experience, but rather a daily practice of working through each session as and when you’re ready. Your progression is marked by earning Leaf Points and growing your tree, which is a symbolic and illustrative way of representing your growing healthy relationship with food.
Download: Way for iOS (Free, subscription available)
3. Feel better than Deliciously Ella
For some, focusing too much on food and eating can be counterintuitive to recovering from disordered eating. If you find hyper-focus on food overwhelming, approaching your health holistically might be a better solution.
Access Feel Better by Deliciously Ella, a wellness app that provides nutritious recipes without dietary restrictions or rules, supported by other wellness tools. There’s no explicit focus on fixing food and eating relationships here, but rather an understanding that eating and well-being don’t occur in isolation. Instead, awareness, movement and sleep quality are given equal priority.
Features of Feel Better by Deliciously Ella that can gently help you repair your relationship with food and eating include:
- Healthy plant-based recipes. Delicious, nutrient-rich recipes made with whole ingredients and without a calorie focus can help you focus on health without restrictions or rules.
- Home workouts. We’re not talking weight-loss workouts, but rather mindful movements, including yoga, barre, and Pilates classes, to support your well-being.
- Meditation tools. Mindfulness is at the heart of this app, and there is no shortage of meditation, breath, and other mindfulness tools to encourage self-awareness and compassion.
- Sleep tools. With an entire section dedicated to sleep, Feel Better offers tools to help you sleep better, including sleep sounds, articles and relaxation programs.
While Feel Better by Deliciously Ella isn’t explicitly designed to improve your relationship with food, it can certainly be used to promote a healthy, balanced approach to eating and your mental well-being.
Download: Feel Better than Deliciously Ella for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
4. The Complete Help Blog
Created by registered dietitian Gena Hamshaw, The Full Helping is a blog providing nutritious vegan recipes, thoughts on mindfulness and self-care, and resources to help you have a more informed and compassionate relationship with food.
In addition to a robust recipe index, you’ll find resources on nutrition, wellness, food and healing, and more to encourage a balanced relationship with food. Check out the weekly “Weekend Reading” section for health insights and articles to remind you that your well-being goes beyond what’s on your plate.
If you need professional support for your relationship with food, you can find Gena’s dietary and counseling services under Services form.
5. Registered dietitians and health professionals on Instagram
While social media gets a bad rap for our mental health, it can be a useful source of wellbeing support when used correctly. The following Instagram profiles are created and maintained by registered health and medical professionals who debunk dietary claims, clarify confusing dietary messages, and encourage you to forget the rules and eat healthy:
- Dr Joshua Wolrich MBBS MRCS. NHS HAES®️ (Health at Every Size) physician and nutritionist (MSc ANutr) Dr. Joshua Wolrich, uses his platform to dispel diet myths and encourages his followers to eat a healthy balanced diet without restrictive dietary rules.
- Pixie Turner (RNutr) (MBACP). Nutrition counselor and psychotherapist, Pixie Turner, aims to help people repair their relationship with food through her Instagram posts.
- Laura IU • RD, CDN, CNSC, RYT. Laura is a Registered Anti-Diet Dietitian who spends most of her time on social media debunking diet myths and claims, sharing no-nonsense advice, and generally promoting a balanced relationship with food and eating.
- The complete help. Registered dietitian, Gena Hamshaw, of the blog of the same name shares plant-based recipes, mindful eating, and self-care tips, as well as promoting body positivity and mental health awareness.
Mindful use of social media can help you repair your relationship with eating and food. Try to review the accounts and content you are exposed to and remove any that make you feel anxious, especially when it comes to food and food.
You can repair your relationship with food by using online help
Despite society pushing us to eat and look a certain way, there’s a growing support network of registered healthcare professionals, official apps, and social media accounts that are creating a backlash. If you’ve been struggling with your relationship with food, hopefully the above resources can help you start to recover.
However, if you or a loved one needs additional or professional help with eating disorder recovery, check out Project HEAL, a non-profit organization that offers equitable access to eating disorder treatment.
