Why You Shouldn't Restrict Food (and what to do instead)
Have you ever tried avoiding certain foods as a way to meet your health goals?
Are your health goals only centered around weight loss?
A common pattern I see with my health coaching clients is being stuck in the restrict and binge cycle.
Here is how this plays out:
Removing food such as carbohydrates in the pursuit of weight loss
Lasts for a few days, or maybe even a few weeks, until eventually the carb cravings become so strong and you cave and eat carbs at a family dinner or when your partner brings home carbohydrates you’ve been keeping out of the house.
You end up eating more servings than what you are hungry for and eat past fullness and enjoyment.
Afterwards you feel guilty, like you have done something terrible wrong and ruined all your progress.
The next day you vow to never eat carbs again and the cycle repeats itself.
If this story, or something very similar, sounds familiar and keeping certain foods out of your diet is a constant struggle then read on my friend!
Let’s get you out of this cycle and practicing a more balanced approach to eating.
SO HOW DO YOU UNWIND THIS PATTERN?
First, just by creating your own category of "off-limit" foods you are preventing yourself from creating healthy and balanced eating habits.
Let’s breakdown why this is.
Either from Instagram, blogs, what I eat in a day videos, or from past diets that tell you to eat this and not that, conversations with friends, coworkers, family… somewhere along the way you have developed rules around food as a result of diet culture messaging.
By placing foods in an off-limit category because you have labeled them as “bad” or “unhealthy,” you are placing morality on your food choices and creating an all or nothing mentality.
And this makes your hyper aware and hyper-focused on that food choice and creates obsessive thinking about food.
And when you inevitably eat any of these foods that you try to have control over, you lose control and believe that it has a certain power over you. Food can FEEL addicting, when this is really just a natural response to restriction.
Instead of restriction, here is how to practice healthy and balanced eating:
Fuel yourself with nutrient dense foods that give your body what it needs to feel its best and function optimally.
Give yourself permission to ENJOY all food with freedom and flexibility, and without the moral labels of good vs. bad. Food is not just fuel and nutrition, it is also enjoyment, connection and community.
Break your food rules. Start slowly and start with awareness of what they are. Download my free 4 Steps to Food Freedom worksheet to get you started on your path to a better relationship with food that is free from restriction.
Other resources on this topic:
Why Guilt-Free Foods are Actually Full of Guilt
The REAL reason you feel guilty after eating certain foods
** cake pictured is made with Simple Mills Vanilla Cake mix and Miss Jones Confetti Pop Frosting