Food freedom is a loaded word, isn’t it?

 

After years of restriction, many of us develop a set of “food rules” which dictate how we interact with food and often involving assigning “good” or “bad” feelings to certain food choices.

 

But is our plate really the place for morality?

 

The short answer is no.

 

In a food freedom framework, no food groups are restricted and no foods are “bad.”

While this may sometimes be inaccurately characterized as eating fast food and sweets all day, that’s not at all the case.

It’s normal to crave these foods with varying intensity, but as you come closer to honoring your hunger you will trend towards striking a natural balance between these selections and other more nutrient dense options.

This is just one example of how food freedom can change the way you interact with food for the better, but what does food freedom really look like in your daily life?

 

In order to help you to better visualize it, I’ve picked five food freedom scenarios. 

Depending on how your thoughts and feelings around food are now, some of these may surprise you – but the most important thing to know is that YOU can get there.

 

 

1.    Food freedom looks like eating dessert in the middle of the day.
Do you restrict sweet foods to a certain time of day?

Or restrict them altogether?

Food freedom is about letting those food rules go and allowing yourself unrestricted access to ice cream, cookies, and all dessert.

With food freedom, letting go of food rules is key.

There will not be only one acceptable time to eat certain foods, which means dessert at noon!

Sometimes a mid-afternoon sweet could be what you need to get through your brain fog of an afternoon.

 

 

2.    Food freedom looks like finally having time for what matters.

Many diets require you to closely track everything that goes in and out of your body, but this can be so time consuming and extremely stressful (at least it was for me).  

Food freedom is about eating when you’re hungry and putting the food aside when you’re satisfied. This means no pesky meal tracking ever again and more time to devote to what matters to you. That means more time for family, friends, and what matters most to you!

 

 

3.    Food freedom looks like understanding your body cues.

Getting to know your body and your body’s signals is the most fun part of the food freedom journey.

Making the decision to quiet diet culture noise around you is truly liberating!

The process of learning your hunger cues and cravings is one of patience and love.

Once you learn how your body feels when it needs food and when it may not, I find this spreads into other aspects of life.

 You’ll know when you need those few extra hours of sleep, when exercise may be off the table for the day, and when a little sniffle may warrant a doctor visit.

Food freedom starts with the food on your plate, but allows you to learn all of the ways your body is talking to you.

 

 

4.    Food freedom looks like takeout for dinner!

You heard that right!

When we’re restricting foods, thinking about where our next meal will come from can be all-consuming. Food freedom reduces that charge because all foods are included.

No food groups are excluded so, tonight dinner could be takeout, but tomorrow dinner could be a delicious veggie stir fry.

We get to this place by understanding that it’s all about balance and keeping all foods in a neutral frame of mind.

 

 

5.    Food freedom looks like no more negative self-talk.

Since we’re honoring our hunger cues, being kind to our body, letting go of guilt around food, we can love our bodies again too! 

 There’s no room for negative self-talk here or beating ourselves up for eating something.

Food freedom and body positivity go hand and hand because we are finally being nice to ourselves after years of starvation and ignoring hunger cues due to chronic dieting.

Body love may come later in the food freedom journey for some, but for me, I found food freedom after deciding to love my body just as it is with no plans to change if that was not in the cards for me.

 

 

Conclusion

I hope you’ve been able to catch a glimpse of what your daily life could be with a food freedom-focused approach to eating. Know that the mindset required to get to this place takes effort but is fully within your reach, especially when working with an anti-diet food, food freedom dietitian to help get you there!