A new fad diet is always on the wellness market. Saying that these diets will solve all your health issues in one quick and easy purchase or hack is probably not true and these diets are not likely to be a long-term solution to your health goals. One review found that dieters, on average, regain more than half of the weight they shed within two years. A fad diet may result in weight fluctuation, but other lifestyle factors and habits may have a lasting impact.
Although there are certainly diets that are approved by experts and can help people to achieve and maintain their health and weight goals, the National Eating Disorder Association reports that people who try to diet are five times more likely to develop an eating disorder. typically around 800 calories a day ? the study found that they didn?t lose as much body fat as those on a moderate-calorie diet. The study found that those on a diet with extreme calorie restriction didn’t lose as much body fat as those on a moderate calorie diet. Their risk of developing an eating disorder increases dramatically.
Many experts in the fields of nutrition and psychology believe that the current culture of dieting and restricting food intake is harmful and instead promote the idea of “food freedom” or the ability to eat what you want without guilt or restriction.
What Is Food Freedom?
Food freedom isn’t a dietary plan. D., a professor at York University. Instead of being controlled by “shoulds” from diet culture, Monique Bellefleur, Ed.D., a professor at York University, says it’s better to listen to your body’s intuition when it comes to food. M is a mental health counselor who specializes in helping people with eating disorders and chronic dieting.
An example of this would be allowing yourself—and really knowing—that it is okay to have a slice of pepperoni pizza for lunch today because you aren’t judging your self-worth off what or how much you ate, Bellefleur explains. If you are not concerned about what you eat and you trust your body to make the right choices for you, then you are in a place of food freedom.
Caitlyn Friedrichsen, MPPD, RD, LMNT at the Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, says that food freedom does not mean eating without considering the nutritional value of food. The IIFYM approach is flexible, allowing you to eat a variety of foods, including indulgent ones, while still honoring your hunger, fullness, and cravings. There are no “off limits” foods with this approach.
Why Food Freedom Matters
Two-thirds of Americans are planning to diet in order to lose recently gained weight by 2022. This will involve restricting calories and cutting out specific foods. There are a few concerning realities that experts point out about this upswing in dieting.
Diet culture has the goal of finding flaws in our bodies so they can be “fixed”, according to Friedrichsen. This is done through fad diets and weight-loss supplements. “[But] research tells us that over 95 percent of diets fail.” Because dieting can be so all-consuming—given the planning, calorie-counting, and self-control it requires—when our diet fails, it’s a direct hit at our self-esteem.
This guilt can have a negative impact on someone’s self-esteem. However, this can also make them do unhealthy things to make themselves feel better such as not eating, throwing up food, or working out too much. The aforementioned behaviors can result in eating disorders that are both serious and mentally disturbed.
Food freedom is a way of eating that is not restrictive like dieting and does not have the same negative connotations, Friedrichsen points out. Having the ability to be flexible with our diets provides us with more liberty in other aspects of our lives.
This means that you cannot fail if you have a food freedom mindset. When thinking about food isn’t your number one priority, you’re less likely to feel guilty about eating something unusual, Kathryn Coniglio, a clinical psychology doctoral candidate from the University of Pennsylvania, explains. Technically, true freedom means that you can never “slip up”.
How to Achieve Food Freedom
Friedrichsen encourages people not to worry about doing food freedom “right,” because everyone’s definition of food freedom is different. You don’t need to love your weight, shape, or appearance to find food freedom.
Evaluate Your Relationship With Food
Coniglio believes that a good first step to becoming more creatively free is to assess the restraints that you currently adhere to and reflect on where they come from. She says that there could be food rules that you are following but you may not even be aware of them. “When you go to the grocery store, are there foods or maybe even entire aisles you habitually avoid?” Let yourself experiment with incorporating more variety into your diet, and know it’s okay to start small.
Understand That All Foods Fit
According to Bellefleur, this means that all types of food have a place in our life. It’s important to have nutrient dense foods in our diet, but being able to enjoy birthday cake with friends and family is also important. Developing this mindset starts with giving yourself unconditional permission to eat while re-learning your body’s hunger, fullness, and craving cues.
Disconnect Your Self-Worth From Food Choices
A lot of mental energy goes into dieting. Coniglio points out that when you stop fixating on food and weight, you open yourself up to a whole new range of things to value yourself for.
To take this one step further, practice identifying positive qualities about yourself that are unrelated to weight or appearance, and clean up your social media. If an account causes you to feel bad about yourself, block it. Add one body-positive or food freedom-related account for each unfollow.
Build a Support System
Friedrichsen recommends surrounding yourself with people who share your views. Many studies have found that having social support helps people reach their physical activity and exercise goals—and the same concept holds true for achieving dietary change. A study published in Public Health Nutrition in 2021 found that having a supportive social circle can help you make progress towards your healthy eating goals.
Have Patience With Yourself
It is difficult to be content with our appearance because our society idolizes being thin. Translation: Friedrichsen says that this can make us feel like we have failed or that if we just worked harder, our body and body image would transform. It can also be difficult to shift out of a cultural mindset.
The goal of attaining food freedom is a long-term one, and it is okay to take things slowly and to ask for help from others. According to Bellefleur, if you’re struggling with your diet, you should contact a therapist or registered dietician who specializes in intuitive eating and disordered eating recovery.
Lessons from a Mom About Feeding Kids and Food Freedom
- It’s Time to Reimagine the Family Meal
We can get so caught up on the details of a family meal or what it should look like to feed our family that we miss the big picture. I understand why we would want to do things correctly.
It is our hope that our children will have good manners and be willing to try new foods. We would like for everyone to sit down at the table together and eat the same thing.
It is beneficial to pursue goals and dreams, however, if it takes away from time with family and friends, it may not be worth it.
When you’re in survival mode, it clear what is most important. For example, you know it is important to feed your kids and to eat together as a family.
One of the most important things I’ve learned is that it doesn’t matter as much what you’re eating or how you’re eating it, as long as you’re eating with your family.
It is important to keep family meals focused on connection by understanding what everyone can handle and not having any preconceived notions about how things should be. That way, you can better cater to your needs.
This makes it so that there is less pressure, guilt, and stress surrounding family meals, and instead makes them a time of joy.
2. Connection over correction every time
The way you interact with your family during meals is important.
If we want our children to be healthy, we may feel pressure to make them eat in a certain way or to eat certain foods or amounts. This is because diet culture says that this is the most important aspect of raising a healthy child.
We tend to try and find something to hold onto when we feel like everything is out of our control, especially during times of stress. This is because it gives us a sense of control. Paying too much attention to how our kids eat can give us a false sense that we’re in control.
Mealtimes can be an opportunity to connect with our children and help them develop a positive relationship with food and their bodies.
3. Mealtime burnout is real
The daily routine of having to feed your children, plan meals and deal with everything that goes along with it, is tiring.
When you’re in a tough spot, it can be even harder to keep track of things like mealtimes, especially when you’re already stretched thin.
It is not possible to do all these things without becoming overwhelmed and experiencing negative consequences.
By abandoning unrealistic goals, I eased the mental stress of having to cook for my family, and allowed myself to focus on taking care of them as best as possible under the current circumstances.
If you’re struggling to come up with meal ideas or just feeling burned out from cooking for your family, this post may be helpful. It offers some tips on how to make meal planning easier.
4. Feeding is learning
Our children do not need a perfect parent. To be honest, this is not something that exists, so it’s okay if you don’t meet this goal.
How we interact with our children about food can teach us a lot about ourselves and our own attitudes towards food and our bodies. We can learn a lot about ourselves from the way we react to our kids and their eating habits. This can help us to keep growing and changing.
Some parents might feel like they need to have everything perfect when it comes to feeding their children, but it’s not necessary. Our family went through a lot of grief together, and I learned that it’s okay if things aren’t perfect.
You don’t always have to have everything figured out. It’s okay to not know what’s going to happen next. Show up anyway. The learning never ends. You may also learn something new about yourself during this process.
5. Cake for breakfast is always a good idea
In the weeks after my dad died, some friends sent us a rich chocolate cake.
Our family was blessed in the best way by the most unexpected surprise.
I was so overwhelmed with grief that I couldn’t even plan or prepare meals. Having cake brought back a sense of joy into our home as it is something we would only eat on special occasions. The momentary alleviation of pain through the pleasure of eating foods we love and enjoy was a welcome relief.
We get to have cake? And it’s not even someone’s birthday?
I had forgotten how a simple gesture like sharing food could lighten our family’s load.
We had chocolate cake with dinner that night and continued to have it for breakfast and lunch the following day.
Even though it wasn’t a special occasion and even though we were sad, it didn’t matter.
We ate and shared it together because it tasted delicious and was something we all enjoyed – even multiple times a day with meals and snacks because it was available to us.
I feel that part of having food freedom as a family is being able to enjoy moments together without worrying about food rules. Also, the food we eat should add to the joy and closeness of the family. I was still able to find hope and gratitude even during a season of grief and loss.
Feeding and eating with your family can be a joyful and anchoring experience, even during tough times.
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