We all want to achieve food freedom, but what does that look like?
Does that look like eating whatever you want all the time? Does that look like complete disregard for physical health and only regard for what tastes good?
Food freedom doesn’t have an official definition, or even one thing it means. I’d call it more of an idea or a set of personal values that shows up in food. Today I am just going to talk about one part of food freedom:
The absence of food rules.
Food rules are self-imposed orders that we carry out each day in our food behavior, most often in the name of restriction, weight loss, being “good” or having willpower.
What are some examples of food rules?
- “I can’t have that.”
- “I can’t eat after 8:00 pm.”
- “I don’t eat breakfast before 10:00 am”
- “I can’t have bread twice in one day.”
- “I have to take half of my meal home in a box when out to eat.”
- “I can’t have this unless I do a workout before or after I eat it.”
- “I can’t keep this food in the house or I will eat it all at once.”
- “I can only have one serving of this food.”
- “I always must clear my plate.”
So, food rules do not always apply to a specific food. They could be regarding a time of day, an amount of food, exercise, etc. But they can certainly apply to a specific food. These are just a few examples of many that my clients have shared and that I’ve worked on with them.
Food rules like these often lead to restrictive behavior which leads to inevitable overeating or binging on said restricted foods. It takes some working through to be able to overcome these food rules altogether.
Once you eliminate all food rules though, how do you manage including more of those fun foods the appeal more to our tastes, like sweets, without overeating them or feeling stressed about them?
Here is what I do.
Every couple of weeks when I go to the grocery store, I buy one or two items I know I’m going to want purely for taste and I keep them in the house for when I want something sweet. I’m not limiting myself, I’m just being practical about my consumption habits and needs.
I love looking forward to buying something new and savoring whatever item I decided to go for that week.
This week I went for these frosted animal crackers which are a major nostalgia food for me!