Maybe you're on a journey to leave diet culture in the past and maybe that means the pendulum swing went pretty far in the other direction. It definitely did for me. After rejecting the behavior associated with dieting, it's normal to feel a little out of control. Basically, you are breaking all your own old rules eating forbidden food, which you told yourself would cause you to be out of control. So yeah, checks out. I went through this phase...eat whatever I want and not workout at all as I learned to navigate this new thought process, but I can assure you, it's okay to trust the process.
A big piece of intuitive eating is learning to become in tune with how your body feels and what it needs in regards to nourishment, satisfaction, soothing, etc. This is hard to do when you rely on external rules, apps, etc to tell you what your body needs. We tend to become very disconnected from our body's own messages when we ignore them long enough. Luckily, once there are truly no longer any rules around food and movement, you can begin to notice how different things make your body feel and use this information to give it what it needs; physically, emotionally, mentally.
Some days, your body assessment may lead you to choose something that makes your body feel physically good, like a salad. Other times, you may be craving chips and dip, fully understanding that there isn't as much nutritional value and eating too much may make you feel like garbage, but it will be satisfying. Overall, the more information you can utilize, the better decision you can make about what you need at any given moment.
This is in contrast to when you restrict certain foods from yourself. An abundance of research has shown that deprivation leads to out of control eating and obsessive thoughts about food. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment in 1944 demonstrated this when studying the effects of food deprivation on healthy males for food rationing during war and basically ended up giving these men eating disorders. I highly recommend checking it out.
By reverse engineering this idea of deprivation and making all foods available to ourselves, if we are able, we decrease the intense cravings by removing the restriction. Like I said, you may feel super out of control in the beginning, but it does get better and eventually good doesn't hold the power over you as it once did.
If you need help navigating this, I encourage you to learn more about intuitive eating and or seek assistance from and intuitive eating counselor or Registered Dietician for more severe eating issues.
Stay strong and trust the process ❤️
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