[Article updated on 19/09/2023]
Irrepressible desire for a food? Frustration? Cracking? Guilt ? You know this song by heart and today you have decided to free yourself from it!
Before reading on
I’m not an expert in this field, but I am passionate about nutrition and health.
The articles you’ll find on my site are the result of in-depth research that I’d like to share with you. However, I would like to stress that I am not a health professional and that my advice should in no way replace that of a qualified physician. I’m here to guide you, but it’s important that you consult a professional for specific questions or medical concerns. Your well-being is important. So be sure to consult the appropriate experts and take the best possible care of yourself.
As a Dietitian Nutritionist I intend to give you my tips to help you achieve this!
At the end of this article your new song will rhyme with freedom, pleasure, guilt-free and well-being!
What is a taboo food?
These are the foods that are no longer part of your diet because you have banned them from your cupboard but which you nevertheless love so much… These are ultimately the foods that you are not yet able to consume with complete peace of mind because you do not know ( you don’t know anymore) eat a quantity adapted to your needs!
How to live better with these foods?
- List your taboo foods and prefer, when reintroducing them, to limit yourself to one or two foods per week. The objective being zero deprivation, being able to eat everything while being calm.
- For each type of taboo food, avoid stocking up: prefer to have one of each in your cupboard. If you run out, buy a copy and so on.
- Don’t hesitate to portion out your taboo foods. A packet of M&M’s can become several small packets of 10 M&M’s for example. Consider individual portioned cakes or buying 2 or 3 mini pastries rather than one large one. This will also allow you to learn to taste better.
Remember that a balanced diet is achieved over very long periods.
It is normal, after long months or years of restriction, to initially consume taboo foods in excess. If after consuming a good quantity of high-calorie foods you wait until hunger returns before eating again, this will not cause weight gain and hinder your weight loss!
A few weeks of “junk food” is an often obligatory and natural transition: you will see that in the end you will quickly get tired of it. The desire and need to consume fruits and vegetables is not an inaccessible fantasy, your body will eventually demand them!
Emotional food cravings
Most of the time when you feel emotions that you consider too intense, you try to cancel them out with food, these are emotional eating cravings. This is also where an assimilation can then arise between comfort foods = which make me gain weight because eaten without hunger = suppressed food = taboo food.
Your emotions (stress, sadness, anger, etc.) can become food emotions: you are afraid of losing control, afraid of gaining weight or you feel guilty about what you have eaten or are going to eat. All this becomes so complicated for you that you tend to say to yourself, too bad, I’ll eliminate everything like that with zero temptation… Except that you will cause exactly the opposite effect!
My solutions to combat your emotional eating cravings:
- Try to keep yourself busy, think about something else: film, reading, activity (creative or sporting)
- Try to “relax” and “relax” yourself through various means (relaxation audios, podcasts, etc.)
- Make it a matter of willpower and decide to hold on, not to give in to your emotions while thinking about your health!
How to make peace with food? My advice :
- Schedule meals/menus for the week: plan/organize = manage better, free your mind = maintain your balanced weight over time!
- Stop controlling: make peace with food (what makes you gain weight is eating without hunger, nothing else). The plate is a source of well-being, your health ally and not an object of comfort. We must stop fighting against food and live with it. Eat to live and not live to eat!
- Listen to your food sensations: HUNGER + SATIETY + TASTING => if necessary you can keep a journal, write notes on your sensations, emotions, feelings to then read and understand what you are going through = maintain your weight and continue to listen to your body.
- Know yourself better to change better: take a step back from your eating behaviors (sometimes needing to eat to comfort yourself is ok, we will wait for hunger to return afterwards), take an objective look at your new habits and the impression to break down is just an impression… It’s all a question of balance IN THE LONG TERM! It’s not a race against time, realize that!
- Eat everything without guilt, nothing makes you gain weight, nothing makes you gain weight… Don’t forget to rest your digestive system before/after overeating (to feel good hunger during + return of hunger afterwards).
- Having quality sleep is your ally. balance weight + Live the present moment: in full awareness in order to enjoy each moment 100%!
We are not perfect!
I would like to end on an important note: yes we are not perfect!
Breaking down, feeling guilty, going out of “balanced diet” is normal. We are constantly tempted everywhere and by everything! When we go shopping, buy bread, a magazine, at a motorway rest area,… In short, it’s normal to have fun and above all we are not perfect, but we learn from our mistakes, the important thing is is to always do your best!
Your weight is what it is today because you are constantly making compromises with yourself and those around you! Accept yourself as you are, with your qualities and your faults. This is the first step to take, the rest will follow!