Along your intuitive eating journey, you may find yourself working to navigate food boredom. Experiencing feelings of boredom towards food is a common question topic from our clients. We recently received a question from someone a bit more experienced on their intuitive eating journey. They were experiencing food boredom and found it to be an obstacle when creating meals!
To start, I want to give you an analogy. Imagine you just got your favorite new album and have enjoyed listening to it the past week. Now imagine listening to that album continually for the next month. After hearing all the songs so frequently, you are going to get tired of listening to the same music over and over again.
Feeling bored with the foods you eat is a completely normal human experience. The first step is identifying food boredom. Food boredom can branch into emotions such as a lack of interest or a lack of satisfaction in your food, to name a couple. Remember, each eating experience is an opportunity to generate curiosity within yourself to guide yourself to the foods that will offer you the most satisfaction.
On the weeks you find yourself feeling bored towards food, it is really important to try to make food fun again. Food can be fun and create feelings of joy. A client in a recent group coaching session was experiencing something similar and one activity that brought a bit more fun back to her eating experience was trying a new restaurant on her block.
Diet culture chirps in our ears to take the joy and fun out of food and eating; intuitive eating wants to harness those emotions and make eating experiences pleasant. And, with intuitive eating, all foods fit within your life, this is the essence of Principle #3: Make Peace with Food. I challenge you to go eat a meal with a friend, your partner, or family at a new restaurant. Try the new cuisine you’ve felt curious about. You may find that it is a pleasant experience that brings more joy and fun back to food.
The remaining tips to fight food boredom are more related to the grocery store. Do you find yourself buying the same foods each trip? Or, even the same brands? Something I do, for example, specifically in the bread aisle, is ask myself if I should try a different type of bread. Think of it, something as mundane as toast can become much more fun when trying a new type of bread. So, as you find yourself moving throughout the grocery store, check out different variations of foods you enjoy; this can be a great way to fight boredom with your food choices at home.
Another grocery store tip is a bit more specific but can truly be adopted by anyone. I am sure we can all think of at least one friend or family member that has their specific condiment or spread of choice. One I like to think of for this example is peanut butter. Peanut butter can be eaten with pretzels, celery, apples, carrots, pita chips, and many more other snacks. But, if a frequent snack is becoming boring or doesn’t create satisfaction during and afterwards, I’d suggest switching it up slightly. Instead of peanut butter, other choices include hummus, buffalo chicken dip, chip dips, and more.
While these may seem like easy tasks reading this blog post, I want to touch upon the ways in which diet culture has affected our relationship with grocery shopping. First, there is no perfect intuitive eater, so it is okay to acknowledge your relationship with the grocery store in this current moment, even if you acknowledge feelings of shame and guilt from diet culture still lingering. When you have been in diet culture for 20, 40, 50+ years, the grocery store can feel like a daunting place that involves an even more daunting task. As you continue to make peace with foods and experiment with food for fun, invite yourself to spend more time observing the different foods for sale. You might find a new favorite snack or a new brand of mac & cheese to try. To specifically hone in on diet culture, also invite yourself to walk down new aisles, as a common message in diet culture is to only walk the perimeter of the grocery store. Walk through the inner aisles and freezer sections. Remember, each and every one of these foods is just as “deserving” of a spot in your diet as the foods along the perimeters. (Note: When I say “diet,” I am simply referring to the foods that you eat—not diet culture “fad diets” like keto, paleo, and so on…)
You may feel as though you can’t relate to this completely if you go grocery shopping online. But, there is no reason these tips can’t also be applied to online grocery shopping/ grocery delivery systems. Take extra moments browsing, look at categories instead of searching for specific brands, and consider purchasing a few food items not in your typical rotation.
If you are a fan of meal prepping, consider continuing to meal prep throughout your intuitive eating journey. Meal prepping can be a form of self-care! However, meal prepping should not be a reason for food boredom. Grant yourself the freedom to meal prep but also allow for finding satisfaction in foods, aka eating a different meal than one you prepped if that is the meal that is going to offer you the most pleasantness and satisfaction.
On your intuitive eating journey, you will experience renewed fun around eating, cooking, and grocery shopping. Even if you feel as though you are not at this place along your journey yet, that is okay. Diet culture takes your joy and tells you what you can and cannot eat. A huge win is simply reading this blog post. Or, you may be at a place where you eat a certain meal consistently but do not feel satisfied from it. This recognition is another win to celebrate. Clients tend to overlook the small victories, like recognizing you do not want the pasta and not forcing yourself to eat it.
And, as these victories are tallying up along your journey, remember that any obsessive thoughts about food are dissipating. Your mental bandwidth is becoming more free to find fun in food. You can focus on trying new recipes or strolling through the grocery story because it’s a fun activity on a Sunday and you want to check out different foods at the store.
Food is meant to be fun and create pleasant experiences. If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “ugh, I don’t know what to eat,” try incorporating these tips to fight food boredom:
- going to a new restaurant with a loved one
- trying a new variation of one of your staple purchases
- buying a sauce or spread to add more flavor or different textures to snacks
- spending more time browsing the selections at your local grocery store
- cooking a new recipe
- consider looking at recipes for inspiration on ingredient combinations that you can adjust to your personal preferences, rather than as a strict set of rules to follow based on the author’s ingredient measurements and nutrient information
I hope this blog post inspired you to experience more fun from your food experiences, reminded you that you have permission to eat all foods, and encouraged you to try one of these tips to fight food boredom, like browsing online for a new recipe! If you want inspiration with new recipes, I suggest checking out @workweeklunch on Instagram. (PSA: This page is rooted in intuitive eating.)
Don’t be afraid to have fun with food!
If you are ready to start your journey to find food freedom, explore different ways that you can work with us. And, follow us on social media! You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest!
If this blog post resonated with you, hear more by listening to our podcast episode talking about navigating food boredom along your intuitive eating journey. Click here to tune into the episode! You can listen to all our Find Food Freedom® podcast episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
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