Food Rules that Keep You from Living in Freedom
Have you ever heard of the food police? The police enforce the rules. I didn’t realize how many food rules lived in my mind in my first few years of exploring the nutrition field. I wanted to incorporate every vegetable, take out every fried food, and save everyone from chronic illnesses. All in good intention, but with a heavy streak of fear and guilt.
When we learn about something new, it clicks, we get excited, & we tell other people in hopes that they will also get excited about it & it’ll change their lives for the better. This is a normal process but it can be used for good and for not so good. This is how food rules are adopted & stick around for so long. They fall on the not so good side more often than not & what’s worse is they can seem totally normal, in your best interest, and 100% truth.
A food rule is any limitation you put on a food or eating pattern & put into practice - mostly out fear, guilt, shame, disgust, hatred, etc. Food rules are basically sayings or beliefs about a particular food, food group, eating pattern, etc. that were created by the diet industry to promote a particular way of eating (or not eating) to result in you buying what they were selling. Let me give you some examples of a few food rules I’ve heard:
You shouldn’t eat after __:00
Eggs are for breakfast
____ food is good
____ food is bad
You can only eat desserts on special occasions; you can only have 1
Organic is the healthiest; I only eat organic
Eat vegetables first in your meal
Save dessert for last
You cannot have ___ food more than ___ times a day/week
You have to have ___ food at least ____ times a day/week
I only eat whole, unprocessed, clean foods
I don’t eat/drink _____
Your biggest meal should be breakfast and smallest dinner
Tell me you haven’t heard every single one of those! If you haven’t, I apologize for exposing you. Before you go down the rabbit hole reading this, hang on. Let’s think about it. These are all food rules. Where have you heard these before?
Magazines
Commercials/Ads
Radio/Podcasts
TV (*cough cough Dr. you know who*)/Movies
Influencers
Teachers (God I honestly HOPE not)
Coaches
Friends & Family
Chiropractors
Personal trainers
Nutritionists & Health Coaches
Dietitians
Nurses
Doctors
Ok, literally everywhere - even dietitians. You hear a food rule from a magazine & it’s easy to say, “yeah, ok they aren’t the most reliable.” Then you say, “But Desa, dietitians & doctors even give me these great tips! What about them?!” Not all doctors and not all dietitians are created equally. Mostly anything that is framed as an absolute regarding nutrition is a red flag. Sometimes a research study can be misrepresented or stretched too far. It may've been relevant when we didn’t know as much but now is totally out-dated. Nutrition science is growing daily, and we’re learning more and more that a lot of old approaches to health, mainly in the realm of weight loss, simply do not work & typically have multiple negative side effects that last longer than the glimpse of a “successful” outcome that was experienced.
You may have thought “that’s not a bad thing to believe” when reading some of those. Some rules do have a place. For example, “you shouldn’t feed an infant baby solid food” is a rule; however, it’s more of a health practice for the safety and well being of your child. It’s not that the baby will never eat solid foods. The mentality is that when it’s appropriate, the baby will eat solid foods. On the opposite end, having a rule that you are only allowed to eat dessert X times a week probably isn’t rooted solely in the intention of good health. It’s all about intention.
What differentiates a food rule from a health practice? A health practice is based in the intention of caring for the body - adequately providing appropriate nourishment, movement, rest, etc. They are fluid & changing, accounting for the grey areas, based on physical & emotional needs. A food rule is a hard & fast belief or limitation leading to rigidity & inflexibility. There is no grey area. Breaking a food rule may lead to further anxiety, guilt, shame, feeling like a failure, feeling a lack of control, etc. & later result in increased rigidity and inflexibility. They can contribute to, fuel, or linger from an eating disorder. Sometimes rules can be helpful, but often it’s more fun to break the rules.
How to Start Breaking Food Rules & Finding Freedom
How did I stop acting like the food police, to myself and other people?
I matured as a dietitian
I learned to think critically about where my beliefs were coming from, why they were my beliefs, and the implication my beliefs had on my life and the lives of others.
So what are your food rules? What beliefs do you attach to food? I challenge you to think of the ones that stir up any kind of negative feeling in particular. Write them down. Look at them. Beside each one I want you to write down why you believe and practice it. Where did you heard it? What encouraged you to subscribe to this rule? Lastly, write down what would change if you didn’t subscribe to this rule? What would life look like? How would you feel in the short term? How about the long term? Would any burden be lifted? Would you find that this rule held less space in your mind? Would you find more freedom in your eating, how you perceive the food, and how you perceive your self?
**Disclaimer: this is not one size fits all. As always, if you find that you are experiencing a barrier grappling with this information I highly recommend working with a dietitian who is informed and experienced with these concepts.