Challenge The food police!
Welcome to Principle #4 of Intuitive Eating Challenging the Food Police!
The thought of stealing or lying would instill a sense of guilt in most of us, but many dieters are able to create an equivalent level of guilt when they’ve eaten pizza or a ice cream. The level of despair that is felt when they are eaten can be very intense, much like the guilt in our tummy when we have actually done something bad. The first bite often evokes a sense of having failed or being :bad”. And in turn eating a “bad” or “illegal” food then becomes a morality issue. The subsequent guilt that builds is enough to initiate a period of overeating that can destroy any feeling of perceived “diet success.” So it is important to rid ourselves of the internal or external police that are making us feel so guilty.
We live in a society that worships the lean body, it easily becomes virtuous to eat foods associated with slimness.. It is no wonder that dieters have been found to think of food in terms of absence of guilt.
The food police are alive and well—both as a collective cultural voice, the external and at the individual voice, the internal.
Here is some of the “knowledge” and thoughts that prevail in the minds of dieters:
Sweets are bad for you.
I shouldn’t eat anything after 6 P.M.
You should take in zero grams of fat.
You should avoid carbs.
If I eat breakfast, it will just make me eat more throughout the day.
Dairy products are bad for you.
I shouldn’t have any salt.
Bread will make me gain weight.
The Food Police The Food Police is a strong voice that’s developed through dieting and diet culture. It’s your inner judge that determines if you are doing “good” or “bad.” The Food Police is the sum of all your dieting and food rules and gets stronger with each new diet or food plan. It also gets stronger with new food rules that we read about in magazines, on social media, and or messages from friends and family. The Food Police is alive and well even when you are not dieting, or when we think we aren’t dieting.
To see if you are truly diet, meaning putting conditions on food check our our video on Making Peace With Food here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_gESyxm8cE&list=PLTXIZyccmQTkDTjgp1lUSqGfHxb5ao42T
Here are some common rules by which the Food Police may judge our eating:
• Don’t eat at night
• Better not eat that toast—too many carbohydrates.
• You didn’t exercise today, better not eat dessert.
• It’s not time to eat yet—don’t have that snack, even if you feel hungry.
It’s important to remember that even when you reject dieting and begin to make peace with food, the Food Police will often surface.
The Food Police scrutinizes every eating action. It keeps food and your body at war. Can food police help? No! This is one voice that does not turn into an ally. By identifying its strong presence in your mind, however, you will learn how to challenge its power and end its grip on you.
Let us see a different but just as sneaky voice:
This voice may tell us to religiously count calories or macros, only eat carb-free foods, eat low-fat and often all in the name of health (pretty sneaky!). While this may seem “healthy”, it’s a mirage.
The Nutrition Informant makes statements like:
• Check those calories/macros, any deviation is unacceptable.
• Don’t eat foods with added sweeteners, or any natural ones.
How It Hurts. This voice colludes with the Food Police. It operates under the guise of health, but it’s promoting an unconscious diet.
Can it help?
The Nutrition Informant becomes the Nutrition Ally when the Food Police are gone once and for all. The newly emerged Nutrition Ally is interested in healthy eating with no hidden agenda (which mean eating all foods unconditionally). It’s a choice based on health and satisfaction, not deprivation, or dieting.
One distinguishing factor between the Nutrition Ally and the Nutrition Informant is how you feel when you respond. If you make, or reject, a food choice in the name of health, but feel shame or guilt, thinking it will make me gain weight rather then thinking I’ll avoid because it hurts my stomach, then you know the Food Police still have a tight grip hold on your Nutrition Informant, who’s guiding your decision.
What are some ways we can challenge the Food Police?
• Bring awareness to your thoughts around food. Are they judgmental or neutral? Are they helping you to engage in all forms of self-care? Are they uplifting or do they tear you down?
• When the Food Police start to share thoughts in your head, say NO. Replace it with a voice of self-care. And this may be something that pops up over time, rejecting diet culture after being in it for so long will take time, so be patient with yourself.
• Surround yourself with friends, Instagram accounts, and other social media that also are challenging diet culture and support your journey to find peace with food.
Challenging the Food Police can seem daunting at first. Be patient with yourself as you being to observe your destructive thoughts with curiosity and practice changing them to thoughts that encourage self-compassion.
