Nutrition is obviously important. I’m a registered dietitian. I love nutrition. I love food and that’s why I do what I do. If you feel like you were trying to work on building health-promoting behaviors before the spread of COVID-19 or if you were part of a weight loss program, whatever it may be. Something like a pandemic coming to the surface can bring on much confusion and frustration when it comes to food and nutrition.
This is a quote from Haley Goodrich, a registered dietitian out of Pittsburgh PA. Her instagram handle is @hgoodrichrd. To quote Haley, “nourishment and rest is what will keep your immune system strong. Frozen, fresh, canned convenience foods, non-perishable. It is all nourishment and now is a great time to practice food neutrality”. This quote really spoke to me and a lot of my clients. What the root of this quote is saying is that when you are in times of crisis, it doesn’t matter if you have frozen, fresh, or canned peaches…I don’t give a crap. No matter how the peaches are stored, they are all still peaches and each one of them will provide your body with the nourishment and nutrients that it needs.
Practicing food neutrality and looking at all food as something that is going to keep us alive is a very very fun and interesting experiment to do during this time. Basically, when there are situations that make us feel out of control, we typically turn to something we can control to bring that false sense of control back into our lives. We have received several DMs from people who are feeling out of control during this time…
“Can we control our kids to an extent?”
“Can we control our food?”
“Can we control our fitness?”
“Can we control anything happening in our lives?”
Trying to hyperfocus and control those things is not what is going to get to the root of the issue. That is not me saying “eat everything you want at all hours of the day and feel physically uncomfortable”. It is simply me saying, “how do we take care of ourselves with nutrition without feeling like we’re hyperfocusing on it?”
It is easy to want to restrict food, especially during this time when we are most likely less physically active then we were before COVID-19. Due to being homebound, unable to go to the gym, or simply feeling like we should be focusing on the several other things in our lives that have been impacted since the pandemic started. That is diet culture’s finest asset. In times of crisis or in times of need, it will tell you restrict, restrict, restrict because you’re stuck at home. Let’s break this down a little bit. If we continuously restrict, we’re going to hit a breaking point and when those “bad foods” or “off limit foods” become available. Whatever that may be, a bag of chips, box of pasta, cookies, ice cream. etc. You are going to feel out of control around that food. So, when we say to practice food neutrality, it’s allowing all foods to fit but bringing it back to the point of what makes you feel physically good. You have the permission to eat all foods, but being able to regain trust in your body is an important part of food neutrality.
As you can see in the image below that in-between restriction and binging, we can find food peace. Which we know through research that restriction is the number one cause of binging. Giving yourself permission to eat all foods consistently throughout the day and knowing that no matter what, we will have an opportunity to eat again. This is what helps decrease the amount of binge episodes we may have.
Something I do want to add here which has a huge tie to COVID-19 is that when we have the fear of food insecurity, we tend to restrict and binge more often. Research states that those who have been food insecure typically have much more incidents of restricting and binging occur, especially binging. That is something we’re seeing now with this virus. When people’s fears get the best of them, they tend to hoard food and binge eat at the expense of feeling they are going to be food insecure or not have access to food. If you turn on any news channel there’s a lot of fearmongering going on, so it’s normal for these thoughts to occur. Recognizing this feeling, replacing judgment with awareness, and noticing if any of these thoughts have crossed our minds is the first step.
This image is from a dietitian named Taylor. Her Instagram account is @foodandfearless . Taylor does wonderful visuals on Instagram, that really help bring to light what is going on. If you find yourself stuck at home and saying, “okay I feel hungry, but I don’t want to eat a lot because I’m staying home”, and you try to restrict, restrict, restrict…that is going to lead to a binge.
Let me ask you a question. If you are sitting at home and right now you say, “I have to pee” and I said, “are you sure you have to pee?”, we don’t question that response of having to urinate, we just do it. In the unlikely event that you did try to hold off and not pee, something not so fun will happen and you will most likely pee your pants. All of these examples are very crucial because they are all our body’s normal response. If you were smelling something very stinky or something you didn’t want to smell and you held your breath and you held it, held it, held it, eventually you would gasp for air. Would I look at you and say, “why are you binge breathing?” …No, but that’s what happens with food. When we try to restrict, restrict, restrict we end up feeling out of control and binge because that is our body’s normal response. Your body is responding out of survival. Your body is trying to save you.
Your body knows exactly what it needs. Your body is never working against you, but always working for you. If you feel that you need additional support after reading this blog, we have a dietitian team that is ready to help you. Click here for additional support.
