Food Talk: Voices In Your Head

by | Jul 17, 2021 | Diet Culture, Diet Recovery, Intuitive Eating

What do you hear when you go about choosing the food you eat each day, at each meal?

Is that voice considerate and kind? Judgmental and harsh?

Where do these thoughts originate?

As you begin doing the work of healing your relationship with food and your body, you have to face these voices head on. You have to question why you think the way you do and if it is serving you.

Years of dieting and disordered eating, compounded with the nearly constant Diet Culture messages that bombard us…. It can be hard to make heads or tales of what is really true and helpful.

That is the main reason why I coach clients to process through the thoughts, questions and criticism they hear when choosing food to eat, or after eating certain foods.

  • Here are some common thoughts that might come up:
  • Carbohydrates are bad and should be limited
  • Refined carbohydrates are bad
  • You should only eat during a certain time window
  • Dairy is bad for you
  • Gluten is bad for you
  • Animal products are bad for you
  • You should avoid high-fat foods
  • You should avoid trans-fat foods
  • Bread will make you fat
  • You shouldn’t eat after 8pm
  • You should only eat whole foods

Even if you challenge these thoughts and determine that they don’t serve you anymore, they will be difficult to shed. You will notice these ideas coming back, creeping into your mind…. You’ll notice that you feel guilt or shame after a meal.

But never fear, this is a cause worth fighting for! As you continue to challenge those ideas… they will fade. Replace them with accepting and loving thoughts. Choose thoughts that encourage you to acknowledge your value as a human being and NOT just as something to look and evaluate.

In the next few blog posts I’ll be talking in greater detail about the different Food Voices that plague us. I can promise that you will recognize one or two!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brooke Spendlove

I’m a certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and NASM Certified Personal Trainer, and the owner and creator of Spendlove Coaching.

My own wellness journey led me to getting my Master’s Degree in Health and Wellness Coaching from Creighton University – Go Blujays!

I help my clients discover that they are the experts of themselves. Using the tools learned inside my program and during coaching sessions, clients learn how to shift their mindset, taking back the power they have lost to dieting and diet culture