The Path to Food Freedom - Part 1
A New Look at Food & Dieting
In this part, we’re looking at a few popular food myths that are perpetuated by the dieting industry.
The main theme of this part is that your body needs to eat food! It’s a necessity. And it probably needs more than you’re eating right now…and that might be hard for your head to get around. This part explores those old dieting beliefs that all human bodies don’t like.
If anything found in this section is hard to digest or triggering, don’t hesitate to reach out so we can talk about it ❤️.
The calories in vs calories out myth
Every single diet and meal plan I’ve come across lately has one similarity – they promote a 1200 calorie diet. It’s been a popular target for so long that we need to talk about a few important points:
1. 1200 calories is the caloric intake of a 2 – 3-year-old child (not a grown person, who needs at least DOUBLE that amount of food).
2. Dramatic calorie restriction causes your body to go into starvation/preservation mode (slows down metabolism, slows down energy, triggers cravings for fast hits of energy, gobbles up muscle for energy).
3. Many people following a 1200 cal diet begin to feel obsessed about food because your body feels its starving.
4. It doesn’t provide enough nutrients for your body to function properly, leading to nutrient deficiencies.
Basically, this form of dieting sets you up for failure. Your body, because it feels like it’s starving, will try to knock you off of this diet as quickly as possible. And, the longer you stay on it the more your body will ensure you don’t try this again anytime soon.
It can’t work. No matter how many “hacks” or shakes or products they say will help you get through the hunger.
It can’t work.
Calories are a very abstract way for us to measure food, but it’s also our only way to compare the energy density of different foods. So, I’ll use it in this discussion, but I want to stress how problematic this measurement is.
On average, adults need between 2200 – 3500 calories per day, more when exercising. The low end of that range is for menopausal women and the high end is for young men. And, our needs change each day.
One day your appetite might be low, you don’t really feel like eating…and another day you might feel ravenous. In our current calorie counting world, those low appetite days are considered “good” days, and the ravenous ones are “bad” days.
But they’re not good or bad, they’re just days. They’re just days where your body adjusts its intake to match its needs.
A little kindness…
Many of you reading this will have a long history of low-calorie and restrictive eating. To get through the stress of those diets, your brain has learned to ignore your body’s hunger signals. It was the only way to get through these diets.
This masterclass will take you through a process to help you reattune to your body’s signals, especially hunger. An important step is to recognize hunger when you feel it (just an “oh wow, I’m hungry!”), and then notice what your automatic reaction is. Do you eat something? Do you ignore it? Do you have any feelings toward your hunger? Like anger? Or frustration?
The first step is to notice how you feel toward hunger, whenever that signal pops back into your awareness. Overtime, honouring your hunger will help you find balance (we’re talking more about that in Part 4).
Restriction = Bingeing
Do you feel out of control when you’re around certain food? The feeling that if you eat just one bite you won’t be able to stop?
This feeling was caused by your history of food restriction and that feeling can be hard to overcome.
We’ll talk more about this in Part 4, I wanted to mention this now because it’s an important to recognize your relationship to food. And, this isn’t your fault. You simply followed the advice of thousands of health practitioners to avoid this beloved food of yours, and now your body feels so deprived it just wants to dive into a giant vat and eat as much as possible.
Think of this part of your brain as an inner 2-year-old having a temper tantrum. It wakes up the moment you see something and say “no, I can’t have that”. Your inner 2-year-old starts its tantrum screaming, “but I WANT THAT!!! Give it to me!!”. Two-year-olds always know exactly what to do to get the attention they need.
You can change your relationship with this food so it no longer feels as tempting. You will probably always like it, but you’ll be able to eat some and stop when you’re satisfied.
(and, for some people, they realize that they never really like the food in the first place, it was simply that they couldn’t have it that drove their craving).
We’ll talk more about this in Part 4, but in the meantime, just begin to notice when you feel your inner 2-year-old wakes up. What would it like? How demanding is it? Are there any other circumstances that cause it to tantrum? (like a stressful day, feeling ignored, being tired, etc).
“Bad” Food vs. “Good” Food
Have you noticed that the list of good foods and bad foods keeps changing? And, in the last decade or so we’ve been given so many lists that many disagree with each other?
Carbs, fat, dairy, gluten, sugar, plant lectins, animal protein…the list could go on and on.
None of these foods are actually bad…nor are they good. They just are.
When we can take away the good and bad label with food, it becomes much easier to hear what your body would really like. It will guide you to a way of eating that works for you (but, sometimes, after it enjoys a bunch of the food that’s been restricted…that does pass).
Your body is miraculous. It can pull nutrients from anything you eat…especially if you eat it calmly and lovingly. When you relax and enjoy what you eat, no matter if it’s a whole food or a donut, your body will extract what it needs and stop when it’s done. Guilt, shame, and stressing over food choices blocks this important feedback.
Even If you’d like to lose weight…you just might need to eat more
I know this might be hard to get your head around, especially if you’re holding onto more weight than you’d like. But, it’s true.
Or, how about a different way to look at it – you need to eat more than you think you do, and you need to feel satisfied with the food you eat. Look to your evening cravings as your guide.
Your body gets the food it needs eventually…so if you keep your intake low during the day then every day or every once in a while, your cravings will get too intense to ignore. Evening cravings ALWAYS pop up when you haven’t been eating enough and your body will rebalance your energy deficit…but not with the food you’d like your body to use.
Instead of getting the energy through nutrient-dense whole food, it comes as whatever your body can finally convince you to eat that evening. Like chocolate, ice cream, chips, cheezies, or icing straight out of the jar.
Your body always wins…and that’s a good thing, it’s trying to protect you.
One thing to consider, have you internalized the belief that any food is too much food? Even subconsciously?
If you’ve been on a low-calorie diet over the years, (anything under 2000 cal), your reference of how much food is enough to fuel your body might be skewed as well.
By eating enough to always feel full and satisfied after a meal will allow your body to relax and start to trust you again. Over time, your body will start to release the excess energy it has stored because it’s not worried about being starved again.
All of those diets were wrong, long-term weight loss comes from eating enough to be satisfied. Dieting causes boomerang weight loss – it comes right back.
It’s time to move onto Part 2 where we look at practical ways to find balance with your food ❤️
Got any questions or comments? Comment below, jump to our private Facebook Group, or the Ask Lisa page :)