Something I am passionate about when it comes to food is the idea of increasing permission with food. Working on “permission with food” is almost always a big part of disordered eating recovery.
Giving yourself greater permission with food might look like…
- Allowing yourself foods that you like but typically avoid because they are “less healthy” (and doing so without guilt or “compensatory measures” like restricting the next day)
- Growing in flexibility with how you approach food, such as enjoying a dessert at a time of day you might not normally eat dessert
- In general, starting to heal any food rules you might consciously or subconsciously be using to navigate food decisions in a fear or anxiety-based way
Many of us may know from experience that restricting food intake and/or NOT giving yourself permission with food is a surefire way to experience chaos and obsession with food. You can read more on this idea and the cycle of restriction in this blog post. Chaos/obsession with food might look like binge eating, compulsively eating, and/or obsessively thinking about food (whether or not you “act” on those obsessions by eating).
If you are growing in healing your relationship with food and your body, maybe you have started to experience some of the benefits (nutritionally and mentally/emotionally) of giving yourself greater permission with food. HOWEVER, you may also be at a place in your journey of wondering when/if it is “okay” to say no to a food without doing this from a place of restriction…(the place/mentality you are working so hard to leave!).
When making a food choice, is there a healthy/life-giving way to say no to a certain food without it coming from a dieting/restricting mentality?
In other words, what is the difference between setting what I call a “healthy food boundary” versus engaging in unhealthy, disordered eating-type restriction?
Let’s begin to explore this idea in the rest of this post! As always, I’d love to hear any thoughts that you have (feel free to leave them in the comments or message me personally).
To get us thinking, let’s consider an example evening dessert scenario.