3 Tips To Get Over Food Rules & Make Mindful Choices Instead
Welcome to episode 21 of Wellness Wednesday’s Audio Series.
I’m Nissrine, registered holistic nutritionist, and mindful nutrition & wellness coach for busy females who are looking to prioritize their health and wellbeing without fad diets and wellness trends.
I created this series to bring a fresh perspective to nutrition and wellness, one that is centered on and lead by you.
There’s a plethora of information out there and it can be really hard to know what to do and eat to feel good in your body.
It’s easy to get caught up in fad diets and wellness trends, often questioning, doubting and second guessing your decisions when it comes to the way you nourish and care for yourself.
But I wholeheartedly believe that; reconnecting with your own innate wisdom to know what your body needs to thrive is the first step to a life-changing transformation and true lasting wellness; and that progress is made by taking small steps, mindfully, intentionally and consistently.
Now If you’ve been listening to this audio series, reading the blog, following me on social media or engaging in my online events, you’ll know that I’m not a fan of diet culture and the restrictive one size fits all, all or nothing mentality it promotes.
While I encourage my listeners, readers, clients and community to practice healthy and balanced eating & lifestyle habits, I believe in the power of a gentle, compassionate approach that’s simple, pragmatic and sustainable long term.
Now I’ve experienced first hand how yo-yo dieting and living with restrictive food rules can negatively impact your relationship with food and your body, your mental health, your social interactions, and so much more, and my mission is to help women find freedom from diet mentality and the notion of achieving perfection in the way you nourish and care for yourself.
So that’s why, in today’s episode I’m sharing 3 tips to help you get over food rules while still being able to make mindful food choices.
Now, let me be clear about something first. Being mindful about your choices and having food rules are NOT the same thing.
A food rule is a belief that something is bad and should be avoided, eliminated or limited, right? And leads to shame and guilt or the feeling that you somehow have to make up for it when you do eat that food.
Being mindful about your food choices on the other hand is recognizing that some foods are more nutritionally dense than others and choosing to eat foods with awareness and more importantly without judgment.
While food rules give moral value to food choices and are often based on perceptions and myths, mindful food choices are based in facts and evidence.
All of that said, here are 3 ways to help you get over food rules and make mindful food choices instead.
1 - Take note of your food rules
The first step to change is ALWAYS awareness.
So, the first step to getting over food rules is to make a list of all the food rules you have.
Now, before you say, “I don’t have any food rules Nissrine” I want you to ake a minute to reflect on your thoughts and feelings about food.
All the food.
Be honest with yourself.
Do you really allow yourself to eat anything, anywhere, at any time?
Do you label some foods as good and others as bad?
Do you feel guilty eating some foods? Or the need to eat less and/or exercise more after eating certain foods?
Do you find yourself telling people you’ve been bad or actually feeling like you’re being bad when you have some foods, like french fries, ice cream, cake, etc..
Now, some rules, you know around food, are tricky to recognize because they’re socially accepted as truths…
I shouldn’t eat anything after 7pm.
I can only have dessert on weekends.
Carbs are bad for me.
They tend to be socially accepted truths, or perceived as truths.
While some rules may seem harmless at first glance, they can often do more harm than good. They promote disordered eating patterns which can often cause you to lose control around food and negatively affects your quality of life, social interactions and your health on so many levels, mentally, emotionally and physically.
2 - Challenge your food rules
Now that you’ve made a list of your food rules, it’s actually time to challenge them.
The easiest way to do that is a two step process:
Fact check your food rules
So look at all your food rules, look at the list and then really think about what is true and what isn’t about the foods?
So if you have a rule about eating carbs and you think that they’re bad for you and you can’t eat them and you shouldn’t eat them. What do the facts tell you?
The reality is that most food rules are based in extremes and all or nothing, black and white thinking which often leads to extreme myths about the food.
The more you fact the food rules the more you’ll realize there’s a lot of grey, there’s a lot of nuance, and that no single food has a significant impact one way or the other.
Reframe your thoughts and words around that food
Once you’ve fact checked your food rules, it’s time to reframe your thoughts and words around that food. So you want to start to remove good/bad food associations and use more neutral language to talk about food.
The easiest way to do that is when describing the food, avoid the use of the words good and bad, junk food, health food and instead use descriptive adjectives like this is crispy, fluffy, creamy, chewy, it’s delicious.
Think about the food in terms of how it makes you feel, think about the food in terms of wether it nourishes your body or soul.
We know that some food are more nutritionally dense than others but that doesn’t make it taboo to eat the food that are less nutritionally dense.
Challenging your food rules isn’t easy or quick. The process can be lengthy and difficult, ok, it takes time, because most food rules are socially accepted “truths” or perceived truths as i said earlier, that run deep in the collective subconscious.
So, start this practice, make a list of all the food rules and begin challenging them and just be compassionate with yourself and give yourself time to work through this.
3 - Practice mindful eating
I’ve talked about this before and I love talking about this because I think it’s a really powerful tool for learning to nourish your body more mindfully.
Mindful eating is about eating with intention and wisdom, right? and most importantly without judgment, shame and guilt.
It’s about presence and awareness and immersing yourself in the eating experience, savouring the meal and paying attention to your internal cues of hunger, satiety and satisfaction.
Now the more in tune you are with your body during the eating experience, the more you’ll likely be able to make more mindful food choices, without food rules and without passing moral judgement on yourself.
Remember, mindful food choices don’t assign moral value to food. You choose what you want to eat and how much of it you want to eat based on how you feel in that moment and how you’d like to feel during and after the meal.
With mindful eating, what often happens is that it leads to eating foods that both nourish and satisfy you. It leads to a more balanced and enjoyable approach to eating, more self-control around food, more confidence in your food choices and a lot more trust in your body and in your innate wisdom.
Now don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean never choosing to eat french fries and ice cream again, or always choosing the broccoli and skipping dessert, but rather making your food choices with awareness, right?
It’s about choosing to close the gap between what your body needs to thrive and feel nourished and what you want and crave in that moment.
Once again, this is not something you can snap your fingers and do overnight. It takes time and a shift in mindset away from diet mentality, self-control and manipulation and toward nourishing yourself from a place of love and compassion.
So to recap:
1 - you want to take note of your food rules. Be honest with yourself about your thoughts and beliefs around food. Acknowledge and recognize the rules you subscribe to when making food choices.
2 - second, challenge those food rules by fact checking and distinguishing between reality and perception and stop attaching more value to food.
3 - and third, and most certainly not least, practice mindful eating, reconnecting with yourself on a deeper level and truly embracing the eating experience.
Now, if you’re tired of dieting, restricting and living with food rules and love the idea of making more mindful food choices with ease, simplicity and confidence, I’d love to invite you to book a complimentary wellness consultation with me, to chat about your goals and how to get you there on your own terms and at your own pace. At the very least, we’ll have a nice chat about where you are now and where you’d like to be, and you’ll get some clarity about the wellness journey ahead of you.
Book a Complimentary no Obligation Wellness Consultation
To chat about your goals and learn more about my coaching programs and packages and how I can support you in reaching your wellness goals with ease and simplicity as you build the business and life of your dreams.
Now, last but not least, If you’d like to be a part of my pilot program, entitled (re) Awaken Your Innate Food Wisdom, a self-paced mindful nutrition program with 4 weeks of group support to help you prioritize your nutrition & wellness without fad diets and trends, then get on my mailing list to get an exclusive invitation once I’m ready to launch it later this fall.
It will be a journey to learning more about your body and what it needs to thrive; a mindful approach to nutrition that will improve your relationship with food; and a wellness education program that will guide you for life so that your nutrition and self-care will always be a priority.
To get on my mailing list, all you have to do is subscribe to this audio series or you can download my simple 5 step framework to nourishing meals in minutes and you’ll be the first to know when the pilot program is ready for testing.
A Simple 5 Step Framework To Nourishing Meals in Minutes
You’ve got your hands full and more than enough on your plate. Take the guess work out of what and how to eat and make meal preparation a breeze, even when you’re short on time.
Now, if you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and share it with a friend and be sure to tune in next week for another episode of Wellness Wednesday’s Audio Series, where I a share a short audio clip each week to inspire you to reconnect with yourself on a deeper level so you can start nourishing and caring for yourself, more mindfully and intentionally.
Until next week,
Stay healthy, happy and safe,