10 tips to find food freedom

Dear diary,

Dietitian Diaries #4

Dear diary, 

Like many, with Christmas being just around the corner it always seems to be a time of reflection on the years that have been and gone; and the deeper and more trusting the relationship that I have with my body and in turn eating goes, the more grateful I am that food freedom is something I get to experience, especially as the relationship we have with food has so much impact on events, memories and time spent with loved ones.

If food or changes in routine feel fearful our nervous system naturally shifts into protection, not connection and when we are in protection (aka survival mode) experiencing joy, gratitude, compassion and play is pretty impossible. We miss out on so much joy when food or our body changing feels like a threat. 

Here are 10 simple tips that supported me and many of the individuals I have the honour of working with to find food freedom. I hope at least one of them helps you. 

• Eat enough food regularly. I know it sounds like a simple one but this is truly the most important part of finding freedom. When we are under-eating our brains and bodies think there is a famine and push us into survival mode, which is why we often feel anxious, irritable and angry when we are hungry. It is natural for “enough food” to change each day depending on our activity, stress, hormones, sleep and mood so don’t feel you need to eat exactly the same each day but starting with three meals and three snacks is often a good start.

• Think of your inner child or own children. When we are thinking about the way we eat it can be helpful to think about our children if we have them, or our own inner child. Would we really want them to see us weighing out our food, spending hours deliberating over the menu, pulling ourselves apart in the mirror or tracking everything that passes our lips? By thinking of our children or inner child we can greet these behaviors with compassion, not shame and slowly start to change them, starting with easiest - or least hard!

• Eat your cravings and add to them. Craving food is completely natural and normal, when we are feeling a little bit hungry we often want something high sugar which quickly picks up our blood glucose and feels energizing; however if we only have these foods at snack time our blood glucose drops again fairly quickly and we feel hungry again. So this is where we want to keep in the food we are craving and add something with more nourishment to it to make it more satisfying. For example, adding yogurt and berries to a couple of biscuits will make us feel fuller for longer.

• Reframe the belief that food should only be for meeting physical hunger. Food is so much more than fuel, it is connection, memories, fun, soothing and pleasure. Learning to accept that food contains more than nutrients for our bodies and souls can help ease the shame and guilt that diet culture has taught us for eating food at other times when we are not feeling hungry.

• Don’t be afraid of bread. There is nothing wrong with eating bread every day and more than once a day. Diet culture taught us that bread is bad so we have created a bizarre rule that we either shouldn’t have it or can only have it once a day, then we crave it, overeat it, restrict it and the cycle continues. Bread has so many benefits, it is a source of fibre which supports balance our blood sugars, it contains prebiotics for digestive health, it is a source of energy to help us live our daily lives with vitality and it is versatile and cheap.

• Reflect on your experience of living in survival mode. Disordered eating behaviors are a sign that we are living in survival mode, when our nervous system believes that we are in a place of threat we often continue to engage in behaviors that increase our sense of dysregulation because our rational, thinking brain is offline. Overworking, excessive caffeine use, inability to rest, excessive use of social media, compulsive exercise are just some examples of this. It often feels like we are in a “tired but wired” state and a way to explore this deeper is to take time to see how else dysregulation shows up alongside disordered eating.

• Remind yourself that you are worthy of doing things that make you feel good. Diet culture is part of capitalism, it feeds off people's vulnerabilities and markets and sells products which are unsustainable, lacking in evidence and keep people coming back. Therefore by reminding ourselves of an anti capitalist view this can support us take a step back. Repeat : “I deserve to spend time doing things that make me feel good.” “I am allowed to ask for help and I am worthy of receiving it.” “I feel less ambitious about my career than I used to and that's okay.” “I do not need to monetise my hobbies” “I am allowed to pace myself”.

• Explore your bloating. Many people think they are intolerant to a particular food so they cut it out, but actually bloating is often triggered by not eating enough food, overexercising, eating too much fibre, cutting out fat and carbohydrates, filling up on high amounts of vegetables, feeling anxious and stressed, eating in a rigid way, consuming a low variety of food or eating lots of “diet” foods containing sweeteners. Before anyone should cut out any foods, unless there is an allergy or disease, we need to address restrictive eating first.

• Don’t obsess over protein. Protein has so many benefits and we do need to eat it regularly, however we do not need to obsess over it. It is safe and healthy to enjoy meals that are not based around protein from time to time too, especially if there is a food rule around it. Macaroni cheese, sweet potato and peanut curry and pesto aubergine pizza are some of my favorite meals which are not based around protein.

• Acknowledge that you deserve to eat. Nothing changes the fact that you deserve to eat, not the number on the scale, not your plans tonight, not what you ate yesterday, not how your clothes fit.

Be well nurtured,  Love Rachel 

Daily paper

Every day (that I have capacity) I read a nutrition, eating or health focused research paper, here are the takeaways from this week; a little science for soul.

1: Zinc is an essential nutrient; those who are engaging in restrictive eating behaviours are at risk of deficiency, as well as those on a predominantly plant based diet. Zinc is found in red meat, fortified foods as well as nuts and whole grains, but not as well absorbed in the latter two. Low zinc is associated with a low immunity. (link)

2: There is an increased risk of anxiety in those with materialistic traits. Money can only buy happiness up until a certain point, then consumer materialism is negatively associated with wellbeing. Individuals with intrinsic goals e.g. personal growth, community care; are less likely to experience depression and anxiety than those with extrinsic goals e.g. image, possessions, status, reward. (link)

3: Nutritional inadequacy is when there is no deficiency present but food intake is below recommended amount. It can lead to hidden hunger, where energy intake is adequate but nutrient intake is not. Iron, folate, vitamin A and zinc are the most occured deficiencies in the Western world and can lead to intellectual impairment and higher mortality. (link)

Small act of nurturance *

A little more nervous system regulation and a little less nutrient depletion can change us, change the way we parent and heal the next generation. 

Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid, which means the body cannot make it so it needs to be consumed through the diet. It is important for heart health, brain development and immunity. It's most common source is in oily fish such as salmon, sardines and tuna; although omega 3s are originally synthesized by microalgae, not by the fish. When fish consume phytoplankton that consumed microalgae, they accumulate the omega-3s in their tissues. It is advised to consume two portions of oily fish a week; however omega 3 content varies due to what the fish have consumed, so often an additional supplement, especially of DHA can be very beneficial.

 *Generalised advise and not a personal prescription, please seek support from a dietitian or clinician for individual support and guidance.