Find a new focus for your thoughts. The goal is to teach your mind to focus on what it means to be healthy, not skinny.
Adopt an attitude of gratitude. Find all the reasons to be grateful for what you have, even if you think for right now it is not enough. This means acknowledging your appreciation for how your body moves, the fact you woke up this morning, you have food to eat, and eyes that allow you to read and see sunsets. If you woke up in a bed, and aren't going to starve today, you're doing better than a large percentage of the world's population. Sometimes it helps to put your problems in a larger context.
Educate yourself. Read a book on nutrition so that you have informed and science-based information on all the crazy things your body does on a daily basis to keep you healthy and why it needs a variety of foods and the right balance. Book recommendations: Food: What the Heck Should I Eat? By Dr. Mark Hyman; Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting By Darya Pino Rose, PhD; Food and Healing by Annmarie Colbin; What to Eat by Marion Nestle
Go outside. That's it. Go outside and look up at the sky, breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun on your skin, stretch, walk, or run. Countless studies have shown a correlation with being outside and feeling good by way of feeling more connected to nature and reducing anxiety.
Exercise. Movement is a free drug with almost no negative side-effects and gives you an instant reward of feeling accomplished, happier, less stressed, and healthier. By changing your physiology through movement, you can change your psychology and if you're not exercising, it's going to be hard to shift your anxieties.
Journal with your anxiety in a dialogue. Literally talk back and forth between you and your anxiety. Give your anxiety a name, like Karen, and ask Karen what she needs to feel good, and why is she here, and what purpose does she serve? No need to push your anxieties away, give it room to be heard so that you can address unmet needs.
Track your food in an online food tracker or in a journal. It brings an extra level of awareness to your choices and helps you become present to what you are eating. Any time you increase presence, your anxiety goes down.
Get spiritual. Anxiety about food is just a feeling of inadequacy in a clever costume so that you think the problem is food or your body but it is really something else, much deeper. Recognizing how miraculous and perfect you are exactly as you are right now is the first step to healing and moving past your food anxieties.
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