Ever considered how many times, you’ve gone on a diet, followed a meal plan or trend like eating low carb with the intention to lose weight, or change your body?
Most diets are some form of calorie restriction that have consequences on physical, emotional and psychological health.
If you think diets or calories restriction is the only solution for eating better, believing this idea is not your fault. The multi-billion dollar diet industry has a knack for selling, at the expense of you the consumer. From normalizing messages that imply, you need fit an appearance, or eat perfectly to conjuring up feelings of inadequacy for eating “bad” foods. Dieting culture is deep rooted and it is not the answer to creating long term health.
Good news is by no means do you need to accept these diet messages. Awareness of diet culture and food freedom is a solid starting point to finding a better, more sustainable way to care for your mind and body.
Let’s unpack food freedom to get clear on what food freedom actually means and why eating freely is a necessary step in finding peace with eating and your body.
What is food freedom?
Allowing yourself full unconditional permission to enjoy foods.
Sounds simple enough, but embracing food freedom could be challenging if you have spent years restricting the amount and types of foods you eat.
Eating freely by releasing the mental burden of restrictive eating. These mental burdens could show up in the form of negative thoughts, emotions or feelings about food and/or your body.
Truth 1: Food freedom is a sustainable way to create healthy daily habits.
Eating freely is part of a life long solution to building a peaceful relationship with food. Unlike diets, taking the time to build awareness around your eating patterns, thoughts about food and conversations you have about how you eat and the way you feel about your body are each a piece of food freedom
Truth 2: Food freedom supports healing of medical conditions.
You can absolutely practice food freedom, while still caring for and healing your medical conditions. If it seems impossible to consider food freedom because “you really need to take your diet seriously now that you have a new diagnosis”. Than you
Often times there is miscommunication regarding a need for weight loss or foods you “should avoid” now that you have been diagnosed, however this is not the case.
There are plenty of beneficial methods for managing medical conditions that will support healing and symptom management, beyond micromanaging foods and utilizing restriction.
Food freedom in managing medical condition is a personalized area, that I discuss in detail with my nutrition coaching clients. Supporting my clients in navigating a new diagnosis, while restoring a free relationship with food and emphasizing self-care.
Most importantly weight loss is not a requirement for improving health. While there may be cases where food(s) are eliminated based on medical necessity, this should be carefully considered with your dietitian and doctor first.
Truth 3: You can eat healthy nourishing foods while still eating freely.
Maybe there is a connotation that if you were to eat with freedom foods that you want. All you would eat are high sugar, refined fats or foods that are not nourishing.
Unconditional permission is a first step in eating with freedom, you may at first experience this “free for all” effect but it will be fleeting. Coupling full permission to eat, with the mindful practices of checking in with hunger signals, fullness cues, and satisfaction you will become keen at knowing your body and understanding your unique needs.
Once you accept, food freedom, the full permission to eat whenever or whatever you want, foods become neutralized. There will no longer be “good” or “bad” foods, just food.
Truth 4: You will meet health goals, more easily using food freedom.
Setting health goals is possible, with practice, patience and compassion. Your health journey is going to look unique from anyone else’s, along you may feel food freedom doesn’t “work” on the first attempt, committing to finding peaceful relations with food by continuing to learn from your slip ups and move forward with new knowledge about your eating patterns and self is part of the process.
Truth 5: Finding food freedom is a process.
While dieting might offer immediate “results”, like changes to your body or weight, it isn’t a sustainable solution for feeling your best physically, emotionally, or psychologically.
While food freedom is a process that doesn’t mean you won’t see short- intermediate shifts in how you feel.
Practicing food freedom takes curiosity, learning/unlearning, self reflection, practice, patience, introspection, compassion and acceptance all of which take time.
The art of practicing food freedom will make a significant positive influence in your life. That’s why it’s such an important part of my philosophy and why we teach food freedom along with mindful eating principles to my nutrition coaching clients.
Put it to practice…
What is one new thing you can take away from this post that you can practice daily?
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