Playing with Your Food: Why Adults Need Food Fun Too
Remember when your mom told you to stop playing with your food? Well, I'm here to give you permission to completely ignore that advice.
As adults, we've turned eating into this serious, rule-filled activity. We obsess over nutrients, stress about portions, and feel guilty about our choices. But what if I told you that playing with your food might actually be the key to a healthier relationship with eating?
Permission to Be Playful
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we lost our natural curiosity about food. We stopped noticing how a strawberry's texture changes from tip to stem, or how chocolate melts differently depending on the temperature of your mouth. Instead, we started eating on autopilot, racing through meals while scrolling our phones or thinking about our to-do lists.
Here's what I've learned after years of working with clients: The people who have the most peaceful relationships with food are often the ones who approach eating with curiosity rather than judgment. They're willing to experiment, explore, and yes – play.
Sensory Exploration Exercises
Let me share some of my favorite "food games" that you can try today:
The Five-Bite Challenge: Take one piece of food and commit to eating it in five completely different ways. Maybe it's an apple – try the skin first, then just the flesh, then a big bite with both. Notice how the flavor and texture change with each approach.
Temperature Play: Eat the same food at different temperatures. Room temperature grapes versus frozen ones create entirely different experiences. Cold pizza versus hot pizza. How does temperature change your perception of flavor?
The Blindfold Test: Close your eyes (or literally blindfold yourself) and eat something familiar. Without the visual cues, you'll notice flavors and textures you never knew existed. I did this with a piece of dark chocolate once and discovered at least six different flavor notes I'd never tasted before.
Combination Creation: Remember being a kid and mixing weird things together just to see what would happen? Try pairing foods you'd never normally combine. Apple slices with a tiny sprinkle of sea salt. A spoonful of nut butter with a pickle (trust me on this one). Dark chocolate with a grain of coarse salt.
Food Curiosity vs. Food Judgment
The difference between curiosity and judgment is everything. Judgment sounds like: "I shouldn't eat this," or "This is bad for me," or "I'm being so unhealthy." Curiosity sounds like: "I wonder how this will taste," or "What happens if I eat this more slowly?" or "How does this food make my body feel?"
One of my clients, Sarah, used to feel guilty about her afternoon cookie habit. Instead of trying to eliminate it, we got curious about it. She started paying attention to which cookies she actually enjoyed versus which ones she ate out of habit. She discovered she didn't even like most store-bought cookies – they were too sweet and artificial-tasting for her palate. Now she occasionally makes homemade cookies that she absolutely loves, and she savors every bite without an ounce of guilt.
How Play Reduces Food Anxiety
When we approach food with playfulness, something magical happens: anxiety starts to dissolve. Play activates our parasympathetic nervous system – the "rest and digest" mode that actually helps us digest food better and tune into our body's signals.
Think about a child eating ice cream. They're not worried about sugar content or thinking about their next meal. They're fully present, enjoying each lick, maybe making silly faces at the cold sensation. That presence and joy actually enhance the eating experience and help the body process food more effectively.
Kid-Inspired Eating Experiments
Here are some playful experiments inspired by how children naturally interact with food:
The Sound Test: Pay attention to the sounds your food makes. The crunch of fresh lettuce, the sizzle of something hot, the quiet squish of a ripe peach. Kids naturally notice these details – and they add to the pleasure of eating.
Color Coordination: Eat a rainbow meal where every food is a different color. Or try a monochrome meal where everything is the same color. How does the visual experience change your appetite?
The Tiny Bite Game: Take the smallest possible bite of something and see how long you can make the flavor last. Kids do this naturally with special treats, trying to make them last forever.
Texture Treasure Hunt: Deliberately seek out foods with interesting textures. The pop of pomegranate seeds, the creaminess of avocado, the chewiness of dried fruit. How many different textures can you experience in one meal?
Your Food Play Challenge
This week, I challenge you to bring one element of play to your eating. Maybe it's eating your lunch with your non-dominant hand to slow down and pay attention. Maybe it's trying one completely new food combination. Or maybe it's simply eating one meal in complete silence, paying attention to every sensation.
Remember: playing with your food isn't childish – it's a return to the natural, intuitive relationship with eating that you were born with. It's a way to reconnect with joy, reduce anxiety, and discover that eating can be both nourishing and fun.
So go ahead – play with your food. Your inner child (and your digestion) will thank you.
