If you’re ready to take the red pill and get the f*ck out of the dieting matrix, let’s learn more about all foods fit.
All foods fit is a philosophy that there are no inherently “good” or “bad” foods. This concept is freeing and healing for some, confusing for others, and debated by many. This is why I want to break it down and explain the theory behind all foods fit!
Food Rules
To understand the theory behind all foods fit, we first have to examine food rules. Not sure what that means? Simply put, if you’ve ever been on a diet, you have experienced food rules.
Food rules govern what you can eat, what you can’t eat, how much, when, etc. These food rules are one of the reasons why 35% of dieters develop disordered eating and 20-25% of those dieters develop eating disorders, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.
I would imagine the rates are higher, especially when you consider how those in marginalized communities and especially folks living in larger bodies have largely gone undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.
Examples of Food Rules
If you’re unsure about food rules in your life, notice if any of these statements sound familiar:
Ringing any bells, friends???
A common theme you might see is that there are judgements around the food. One’s food intake is governed by rules that are often placed upon the person by an external entity. This can include, but not limited to “advice” from a friend or family member, a teacher, doctor, social media, diet books, etc.
You might be thinking, but Blair isn’t it important to have some rules. If not, I’d eat myself out of house and home and/or my health would be compromised!?!
This belief feels VERY real when being governed by food rules because that is exactly how rules keep you subservient to them. They provide a false sense of control around food and your body. In reality, you’re not actually in control. That can be a hard pill for some to swallow.
Finding freedom with All Foods Fit
While dieting can promise you the stars and leave you with an eating disorder, all foods fit can provide you with food freedom, confidence and peace of mind. Now, there is a 1000% a learning curve along the way.
It took me yeeaarrss and countless attempts to normalize peanut butter (among many other foods). In the past, it would feel as though the peanut butter was taunting me to eat it until I finished it. I now have various kinds at home and I actually forget about them until I am in the mood for peanut butter.
So yes, you might feel out of control after years of being controlled by food rules. Over time, this levels out for most. Please know that its not a quick fix friends. Nothing worthwhile ever is. Remember that you are unlearning months, years, decades of diet culture.
While I wish I could tell you how long it might take, every person’s experience will be different. Cultivating trust within oneself and one’s body is integral to this process. This is why I love working with the root chakra to help people cultivate trust and connection to the body. You can learn more about that here.
In full transparency, many people will experience weight gain, especially if their weight has been suppressed due to restriction. It is for this reason that many people stop leaning into an all foods fit mindset. This is another reason why it is so important to do this with experienced professionals. You can get help in finding referrals in your area here.
Black and white thinking
Food rules keep people stuck in black and white thinking or binary thinking. An example of this is believing that there are “good” foods and “bad” foods. There is very little space to explore the gray rainbow space in between!
It also pushes people into living in extremes. This is the hallmark sign of binge and restrict cycles. This cycle is not limited to just food, friends! Our relationship with food often parallels other areas in our life. You might see this cycle play out around food, shopping, drinking, exercise, dating, etc.
This binary mindset of labeling foods often leads to someone feeling guilty when they eat a “bad” food. Eventually, this can lead to a great deal of shame.
Guilt vs Shame
Let’s first explore the difference between guilt and shame before diving into the nuts and bolts of an all foods fit approach.
Guilt
Guilt is believing that the action that you’ve done is bad. Therefore, if the food is “bad”, the action of eating it is “bad”. Some people can feel this and move on. Other’s slowly simmer in guilt which, for many, often leads to compensatory behavior.
The term compensatory behavior is a fancy phrase we use in the eating disorder world when someone tries to compensate after eating a certain food or an amount of food they feel is “unacceptable”. Often because of food rules!
To be fair, our society normalizes compensatory behavior. Think back to any exercise class, especially after the holidays. The teacher probably made some reference to burning off the food you ate, or burning off those “excess calories”. While it is normalized, this is a disordered mindset around food and movement.
Now again, I don’t want to be black and white about this either. For example, many cultures eat a larger lunch and a lighter dinner.
In Ayurveda, this is because the digestive fire is said to be strongest between the hours of 10am-2pm. So according to Ayurveda, eating a larger lunch and smaller dinner is actually supporting the natural cycles in the body. This wouldn’t necessarily be disordered if that was the intention behind it. Please don’t take this information as a new food rule. This is a general rule of thumb in Ayurveda, but is not ideal for all bodies. Again friends, you have to individualize your approach and allow the body to help guide the way. Easier said than done, I know!
However, if you eat a larger lunch and smaller dinner because you feel that eating later at night causes weight gain, that would skew more disordered due to the food rule driving the action.
Long story short, it can be extremely hard to notice what is disordered, especially when you’ve been doing it for a long time AND when it is normalized in our society. If you’re unsure, I do invite you to check out this youtube video that explains how to get curious around behaviors and mindsets that might be disordered.
Shame
So we know guilt is feeling badly about one’s actions. How is shame different?
Shame is feeling as though YOU are bad because of your action(s).
If you beat yourself up when you eat a “bad” food, eat too much of any food or if you don’t exercise enough…you have entered the realm of shame. This often becomes a vicious cycle of binge/restrict for many people. We will explore the shame cycle in disordered eating in future posts, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter if you want to learn more!
All Foods Fit Philosophy
All foods fit is an approach to move away from food rules and black and white thinking around food, which fosters guilt and shame. Many people see this as a free for all for food and don’t understand how it could possibly be part of a “healthy” diet. This is what I want to explain more in depth.
The magic of all foods fit is that you have unconditional permission to eat any and all foods. This can also the hardest part of this approach.
A way I like to explain this to people is to think of the freedom you feel when you have given yourself permission to eat freely. Whether this is on holiday, “cheat” day, game day, etc. Allowing yourself to eat freely on a particular day or period of time is conditional permission. Because its conditional, many also feel the guilt and shame shortly after.
The difference between this and all foods fit is that all foods fit (eventually) gives one unconditional permission. This friends is where you can find food freedom.
Now if you are someone that leans into conditional permission HARD and then compensates after, the all foods fit model probably sounds incredibly scary to you. This is another reason why the work to heal your relationship with your body and food should (yes I just “shoulded” on you) be an individualized approach. Having support around it from friends, professionals, support groups can be a game changer when things get hard…because they will. This is also why I LOVE to work with the chakras as a foundation of healing when doing the work around food and body image feels too scary. Check out my course Getting Unstuck to learn more!
So all foods fit means that in time and a lot of hard work, you can give yourself unconditional permission to eat any and all foods that are medically safe for you to do so. I won’t ever sugar coat it friends. 🙂
This will look different for each person. It’s important to meet yourself where you’re at. It’s also REALLY hard to do this all at once.
How to Adopt an All Foods Fit Mindset
A great way to begin to do this work is to do it one food at at time. I invite you to download the food rules handout to help you figure out where to start.
I always recommend starting with something “easy” so that you can build confidence and trust in yourself.
Often, the goal or focus is to have the food every single day to find a natural habituation around the food. Some people allow themselves as much as they like on a daily basis, while others need boundaries at first. This might look like portioned amounts.
So for example, if you’re normalizing cashews, you can buy individual cashew bags and have 1 every day. If it feels too hard to have more than 1 in the home at a time, you can buy one at a time as you increase your self-confidence. If a bag feels like too much too soon, you can also head over to the bulk section in most health food stores and many supermarkets and get a smaller portion.
So same goal, but done in various ways to support you where you’re at. Also knowing, this might shift with whatever life is throwing your way. This is especially true if emotional eating is something you’re working on. Getting curious about what you need in the moment or that day is key. In time, many of you won’t think twice about buying a a large bag of cashews to have at home!
The more you lean into this, you might find that you begin to neutralize and normalize foods you haven’t even challenged! Slowly (very slowly in my experience) you cultivate trust and confidence in yourself.
You shed the false narratives that you can’t control yourself around certain foods. Keeping foods you once binged on in the home becomes the norm. There is a sense of trust that you can eat foods formally known as “bad” and the sky doesn’t fall, your pants still fit and you are in NO way shape or form, a bad person for doing so.
Okay friends, this post is getting long and I don’t want to overwhelm you with too much information! I hope I at least planted the seed that an all foods fit approach can possibly help you on your journey towards healing and reclaiming your relationship with your body and self.
All Foods Fit Summary:
To sum things up:
- All foods fit provides unconditional permission around any and all foods that are medically safe for you to eat.
- This approach can help to move you out of binary thinking, which can also help move you out of a binge restrict cycle if you’re currently stuck in one
- All foods fit can help free you from the false sense of control you get from food rules.
- Leaning into all foods fit helps to normalize and neutralize all foods so you move away from feeling guilt and/or shame when you eat certain foods
- All foods fit can help one in their recovery from chronic dieting, disordered or disharmonious eating and/or an eating disorder.
- The key is to individualize your approach and get as much support as you can providers, support groups, friends, family, etc.
Lastly, i invite you to subscribe to my youtube channel as I am posting weekly education videos and shorts to help in your journey towards healing and reclaiming your relationship to your body and food.
Disclaimer: This post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute individualized support or medical advice.
Blair is a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, E-500 RYT and Reiki Master. She integrates spirituality with modern day science to help people heal and reclaim their relationship with their body and food.