The food police. The thoughts in our head that are telling us what, when and how to eat. Some of these rules we have been following or trying to break since we were kids, others were picked up on the way. Altogether, your collective experience and exposure to diet culture comments, images and even lessons in school have shaped your inner food police.
So how do we go about breaking those down? I’m glad you asked! Here are 3 ways to start tackling food rules one by one:
1. Make a list of all your food rules and ‘off limit’ foods
Try to be thorough, judgment free and continue adding them as you come up with them. It happens all of the time, what starts as a list of three rules, becomes a long list of rules and an even longer list of ‘off limit’ foods. Remember you have been collecting these either consciously or unconsciously your whole life! Like remember no dessert before dinner? What about no eating after 7 o’ clock? Sugar = bad?
2. Categorize them by how easy they will be to break
When putting them in order I like to think of this as a red, yellow, green light system. Rules that will be easy to break or are simply thoughts and don’t bring about guilt or shame go in the green light category. Yellow light rules are slightly more challenging, but seem doable. Red light rules could be foods you absolutely don’t trust yourself to be in the same room with or rules that you couldn’t imagine yourself breaking. For example, if you have been weighing out your food or tracking your calories for 10 years, it can feel unrealistic to just stop. Don’t give up hope on these, just recognize it might take some time to overcome them especially if you have memorized portions or calorie counts.
3. Challenge each food rule.
When challenging these rules we want to look at more than just research. I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to you, but you can find research to support just about anything so one (or five) articles should not be enough to limit a food or whole food group if that doesn’t serve you.
When challenging these rules and ‘off limit’ foods ask yourself a couple questions:
- How does this serve me and my life?
Is this preventing you from living the life you want to live? Ex. enjoying ice cream with your kids.
Does this food actually harm you? Are you allergic to it or just afraid of it.
- Is this food rule realistic or obtainable?
Is this rule causing you to binge or feel out of control around food? Is it restricting you calorically or any major food groups?
- Is there scientific evidence that says otherwise?
If you really need to see the evidence I encourage you to look deeply into reliable sources on both sides. Often research done is from non-human studies, usually rodents and on an outrageous amount of a chemical or ingredient. That being said, having food once in a while is very different from a rodent being force fed a food for an extended period of time in a stressed environment. Another thing to be skeptical about are studies done based on correlation and not causation. This is often where weight loss studies come into play. Weight loss may be a result of the behavior changes (ex. Increased vegetable intake and exercise regimen), but weight loss itself is not causing the outcome, the health behaviors are.
The process of breaking down these food rules can bring up some discomfort about weight and body changes. It can also make you feel like you are losing a sense of control. But, if you want to make peace with food and be free of food obsession it is vital to face these fears and discomfort to get to your goal.
It can be very overwhelming to try and break every rule at once. I recommend starting with your easy list and implementing challenges throughout your everyday life. Go slow and reflect on why it might be difficult some days. Identify your fears so you can face them to get to the life you love.
