About Intuitive Eating | Challenge the Food Police

The food police have nothing on you.

Have you experienced the feeling of guilt after eating your favorite dessert? Or have you told yourself that you’ve been “bad” after feeling stuffed at a restaurant?If you have had those or similar feelings and experience around food, then you have most likely been influenced by the Food Police.

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Learn more about Intuitive Eating Principles in these articles; Ditch the Diet Mentality and Honor Your Hunger and Make Peace With Food.

The Food Police is our inner critic that judges our food choices harshly and decides if we have been “good” or “bad” based on what and how we ate. This judgmental voice is often developed through dieting and becomes stronger the more diets or disordered eating behaviors we take on. Here are some examples of thoughts created by the Food Police:

• “You’re going to have to work out extra hard to make up for that meal.”
• “Why can’t you just control your portion size better?”
• “There are way too many carbs in pasta, you will regret eating that.”
• “You failed today because you didn’t eat a salad.”
• “You didn’t get enough steps today.”
• “I shouldn’t put creamer in my coffee because it’s bad for you.”
• “I won’t be a good parent of I let my kids eat candy.”

The Food Police is not our friend. It doesn’t help us engage in healthy behaviors and instead breaks us down and hurts our self-esteem. Unfortunately, self-critical thoughts around food are often reinforced by our society through media, influencers, school, friends, family, and even some doctors.

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 starts to share our thoughts in your head, say NO. Replace it with a voice of self-care.
• Surround yourself with friends, Instagram accounts, Twitter accounts etc. 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.

At Nourish we are challenging the Food Police with our clients on a daily basis. The quieter those destructive thoughts are, the easier it is to listen to our internal wisdom and eat intuitively.Are you hungry for change in your life and relationship with food?

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