Making peace with food is 1 of the 10 principles that creates the foundation for intuitive eating. But first… what exactly is intuitive eating? Intuitive eating is an evidence-based self-care form of eating with 10 principles that helps us regain trust with our body. It is applicable for everybody regardless of age, size, or medical disease.
Before we can make peace with food, we have to talk about food restriction. What foods do you feel out of control around? What foods do you restrict? More often than not, the answer to these two questions is the same one. This is a big point to take note of- the foods that we feel out of control around are the foods that we restrict and I want you to know that that is not by chance. Research shows that restricting food FUELS binging. Take a look at this wonderful drawing by @foodandfearless
Right now, we see the pendulum being pulled back on one side. This is us restricting ourselves from food. Let’s use carbs as an example. If we continually restrict ourselves from eating carbs, eventually we will get to a point and say “I can’t do this anymore” and let down the restriction which causes the pendulum to swing way further in the other direction and we start binging. When this happens, it’s our brain saying “ok, since I’m allowing myself to eat this food which I don’t normally allow, I’m going to eat as much as I want because come tomorrow, I’m not allowed to eat this food again.” What fuels that restriction is the morality we add to foods as humans.
To find peace with food, we need to understand that there’s no such thing as a “bad food.” A big part of this is removing the verbiage that creates guilt and shame around food. Eating a salad does not make us a good person and eating doughnuts for lunch does not make us a bad person. Of course, they’re different from a nutrient standpoint but neither one of them holds moral value. Here’s a question for you… do you feel guilt when eating the food you restrict? If you said yes, I want you to think about this- guilt is a moral emotion. If I steal something, I should feel guilt right? Which means, the actual Act of eating food if we have guilt associated with that, tells us that it is a moral emotion. This creates a cognitive dissonance where our logic and beliefs do not match. This is something we need to challenge to make peace with food.
A big part of intuitive eating and finding peace with food is normalizing hunger. We all started out as intuitive eaters as a baby. When babies cry we feed them. When they are full, babies turn away from the bottle or breast. When we as adults are hungry, we question our hunger, or are told to “fight through it” or “have willpower” or “have more discipline.” We need to honor our hunger to find peace within ourselves and with food.
Once we can take away the restriction against food, take away the guilt and shame, and normalize our hunger… we can find peace with food. If you enjoyed reading this blog, I know you will also take pleasure in reading my blog titled: “The Truth Behind Weight & Health”
