Struggling with Food? You Can Find Freedom.

Nutrition is essential for healing, but not to the extent that it brings you stress. Just as important as what you’re eating is the how and why—if your nervous system is in a state of distress around food, you won’t adequately assimilate those nutrients in support of your healing. If your relationship with food causing distress, dis-ease, and confusion, know this: you’re not alone, and it’s 100% possible to find more freedom.

Signs that food is causing you distress

• You feel out of control around food

• You can’t stop thinking and obsessing about food

• You have uncontrollable cravings

• You dislike or even hate your body

• You always feel the need to go on a diet

• You feel stuck in a cycle of restricting and binging

• You feel disconnected from your body.

Why are all of these experiences are so common in our society?

We grow up being taught to antagonize our bodies. We learn that our bodies, desires, and cravings are not only wrong but they are also bad and, thus, they need to be controlled with our minds. However, the most life-giving lesson would be learning how to listen to the body, instead of how to war against your body. The truth is the opposite of what we have been taught. Our bodies are wise, adaptable, always doing their best, and continually sending us messages to help us feel better.

We grow up learning rules about food, that some are good and some are bad. The “bad” foods are off-limits and we should eat the “good” foods if we want access to the “bad” foods. So we crave those “bad” foods and feel guilty when we eat them instead of the “good” ones. There are quotations around “good” and “bad” because food doesn’t possess inherent morality, only differences in macro- and micronutrient content. While some foods are more supportive of vitality and disease prevention, our morality around food makes it really challenging (sometimes impossible) to make choices that align with our health values.

We grow up learning that certain bodies are good and beautiful, and others are not. We learn that if we want to be healthy and look like the supermodels on the billboards, then we need to go on diets and lose weight—and then we’ll be beautiful and good enough. This warped programming sets us up for two destructive patterns.

1. It teaches us we must follow certain rules to meet specific criteria that give us feelings of goodness and beauty. These standards are neither objective nor are they attainable because every body is created differently, and that’s what makes us each beautiful.

2. This programming inappropriately externalizes the authority that can only come from our own bodies. We learn to doubt ourselves. We learn to mistrust our inner experience. We never learn what full autonomy and consent feels like in our own bodies.

Here are truer realities…

There’s no such thing as a good or bad food—just foods with different nutrient profiles. There’s no such thing as a good or bad body—just bodies with different sizes and shapes. There’s no such thing as a diet or meal plan that works for everyone—your body is unique, with unique needs, and you hold more information about what serves you than anyone else—yes, even your doctor (though the guidance of a practitioner trained in nutrition can be extremely supportive in learning to decipher your body’s messages).

The magic is in learning to come back into relationship with your body — to honor your body, its messages, its hunger and fullness cues. To explore what hunger and fullness actually feels like for you. To explore desire, what sounds good, what you want.

Ways to Get Started on a Path Toward Intuitive Eating* and Embodied Freedom

1. Remove “good” and “bad” labels from food and see all foods through neutral eyes

2. Consider giving yourself “unconditional permission” around food. No food is off-limits. The serving sizes on nutrition labels are not Law.

3. Bring awareness to the cues of hunger and fullness in your body. You might notice more than just stomach sensations.

4. Name the voice in your head that’s skeptical of this new information. You know, the one that watches your every food move, or convinces you that skipping lunch will help you lose weight (it won’t). Start to watch that voice and know that it’s not the only voice that’s present anymore.

5. Let yourself explore the experience of desire, both with food and in other areas of your life.

No matter where you’re at in this relationship, know that more freedom is possible. If you feel fear of losing control if you were to shift out of your old paradigm and into a new one, i want you to know that this is common and normal. Anytime we face a change to our belief systems, we’re sure to feel discomfort and disorientation to some extent.

If you’re thinking, well I LOVE the idea of food freedom, but I also value nutrition and disease prevention! Know that the two are not mutually exclusive! I have found for myself that exploring food freedom is actually a prerequisite to making empowered health choices.

I’ve seen enormous transformations happen in just one session with clients, while deeper patterns and behaviors can take months to fully unravel. If you want to go deeper into this healing process around food and body, click the button below to learn more about working together one-on-one.

*This is not medical advice but to be used for educational purposes only; if you have undiagnosed symptoms or an untreated eating disorder, seek help from a licensed medical professional.