When it comes to discussing Food Freedom, I always feel like there’s a bit of an elephant in the room that I can’t ignore any longer. It’s an area where I find myself struggling to communicate properly and wanting to make sure that I’m not sending mixed messages.
A large part of the Intuitive Eating program/movement involves weight and body acceptance, which I am absolutely in support of. From personal experience, it wasn’t until I stopped fighting my body that I learned how to truly practice Food Freedom and gain complete freedom in all areas of my life. It is a crucial first step in Food Freedom that absolutely cannot be overlooked. So if you are someone who has an unhealthy relationship with your body or food, then this is not the post for you. This post is intended for those who are already in a solid place with Food Freedom, in which food does not dictate your emotional or mental health.
With that being said, I fall in the camp that believes it’s possible to have Food Freedom yet still want to reach fitness goals at the same time, including weight loss goals, in a healthy and sustainable way. I very much believe it’s possible to have a healthy relationship with food *and* your body and still want to make improvements.
Food Freedom isn’t about the food. It’s about the freedom.
Please note that I am NOT a health/medical/mental expert, and this is just my own experience and opinions. Please seek a professional before making any changes to your health routine.
Food Freedom includes….well, freedom. No more “good vs bad” thinking.
For me, one of the best things about finding true food & fitness freedom is that I no longer think of things in terms of being “good or bad,” and I’ve stopped pendulum swinging from one mentality to the next. I no longer judge myself or how I’m feeling based on an outside set of circumstances of how I should be thinking or how I should be feeling.
From my perspective, implementing a new lifestyle of freedom doesn’t have to mean denying yourself the desire to look and feel your best. The two can go hand in hand. While there are certain principles to follow when it comes to Food Freedom/Intuitive Eating, my thought is that it shouldn’t turn into yet another rigid mentality like diets do. That’s why I’m a big believer that true Food Freedom is going to look different for every person. While it is a personal goal of mine to provide inspiration for you on how to pursue Food Freedom, always remember that what Food Freedom looks like in my own life might look completely different from yours!
It starts in your mind.
Have you ever done everything by the books with your fitness routine and diet and still couldn’t seem to reach your goals? And then have you ever “stopped caring” and all of the sudden your body seemed to respond positively? Yeah, same. If you’re anything like me, reduced stress could be a huge missing link when it comes to reaching your goals. And (surprise!) approaching goals from a place of being grounded and in a state of calmness/acceptance is the ultimate starting point.
I think we can often underestimate the power that stress has on our bodies, and forcing ourselves to stick to unrealistic, unsustainable diets is certainly putting stress on our bodies and minds. Instead, when you’re coming from a place of treating your body with love – desiring to nourish it and reach a place where you want to look and feel as good on the outside as you do on the inside – that’s where the magic happens.
It’s okay to acknowledge that food can affect the way you feel physically.
Yes, Food Freedom essentially allows you to eat whatever you want, whenever you want to. But it also allows you to make decisions on what foods you eat based on how they might make you feel. Just because I love cookies and mozzarella sticks, I can also admit that they don’t necessarily leave my stomach feeling all that lovely. Does that make them a “bad” food? Of course not. It just means that when I choose to eat those foods, it’s okay for me to take into account how they are going to make me feel. The same goes for when I choose to eat healthier foods based on not just how they taste but also how they make me feel.
My point is, practicing Food Freedom shouldn’t make you feel bad for wanting to eat healthy, nutritious foods. In the same way you should have zero guilt for eating pizza, you’re just as allowed to want to eat a cauliflower pizza crust too. We’re not pendulum swinging here, remember? 😉
You’re not a bad person for wanting to look good.
I said what I said. We’re all human, and it’s normal to want to be the most attractive version of ourselves. Not all desires regarding appearance have to do with what media/society/social media tells us. This is not to say you can’t feel like your most beautiful, confident, bomb-ass self just the way you are! And I 10000% think that making sure your heart and mind are the most beautiful things about you first and foremost.
But, once again back to that whole pendulum swinging thing, you’re not a bad person if you want to make changes either. That’s the beautiful thing about food & fitness freedom – you are entirely up to you. This is your permission slip to let go of comparison and all of the voices telling you what you should or shouldn’t want, how you should or shouldn’t feel.
I’d love to learn more of your thoughts on this. If you haven’t yet, be sure to join the Food & Fitness Freedom Group on Facebook where we’re building an amazing community of likeminded gals discussing all sorts of topics!
You might also like:
Practicing Food Freedom on Special Occasions
The Best Part of Dieting
Dear Body
10 Healthy Habits That Have Changed My Life
I Stand For Food Freedom
What Food Freedom Looks Like In My Life
I’ve been thinking so much about this as I’m following so many people who are promoting intuitive eating and body acceptance right now. I’ve moved away from the diet mentality long ago but would still like to lose some extra weight by watching macros, eating within those macros but also treating myself when I want to. I often feel like I’m ‘not allowed’ to want to change my body for the better and also feel like sometimes the intuitive eating messages can get mixed up. There are so many people out there who simply can’t eat whatever they want without gaining weight and there are people out there saying that if you eat intuitively and your body holds on to extra weight, then maybe that’s the weight your meant to be. But is it? Isn’t it ok to know and accept that your body doesn’t work that way and that intuitive eating might look a little more structured to you so you can maintain your health too .
Anyways, that long rant was just to say I appreciate this perspective and I so agree with you. <3
Thanks for this comment, Becky! I totally know what you mean. I personally think it’s possible to practice Intuitive Eating alongside whatever we know works best for our own bodies. Glad this post resonated with you! xoxo
I love this! I do feel like I have a higher level of “fitness freedom” than food freedom right now,! I constantly am setting new goals–I want to deadlift more, do more pushups, run bit faster, but to me that’s motivating and I’m so grateful that I am healthy enough to move, it’s thrilling to advance with training goals! I love my body for being able to do what it currently does, but I also want to improve my times, strength, reps etc.
I hear ya! I feel like having a fitness routine is so much enjoyable when there are goals like that involved. I want to master pull ups…or maybe at least a single pull up (haha). Thanks for this comment Julie <3