5 Sneaky Ways You’re Stuck in the Diet Mentality

After years of trying the latest fad diets and feeling frustrated, you’ve decided it’s time for a change. You’re choosing nutritious foods and listening to your hunger and fullness signals. You’re trying not to focus on the number on the scale. But while you may not be following a specific diet plan, you still feel a sense of anxiety about food, nutrition, and health. What gives?

Despite trying to break free from diets, you may still be stuck in the diet mentality. Diet culture is all around us, and it’s not surprising that it influences our thoughts even as we actively try to avoid it. Here are five sneaky ways that the diet mentality shows up in our lives – and strategies to break free from it.

You compliment people on weight loss.

“Wow, you look great! Have you lost weight?”

Complimenting people on weight loss is a social norm. However, despite what many of us have been taught, losing weight doesn’t always mean someone is healthy. Weight loss can also be related to illness, stress, eating disorders and financial struggles.

Compliments about weight and body size also imply that a person is somehow “better” than they were at a higher weight (even if that wasn’t your intention). The problem with making changes in weight or body size the focus of our compliments and conversations is that it reinforces the need to control the size of our body. Often, this train of thought can send people spiralling back into Diet-Town.

Shifting the conversation: Instead of focusing on weight-related changes, choose compliments that are related to the things you truly love about people (like the way they make you laugh or their fantastic baking skills).

You still think of food in terms of whether it’s “good” for you

“I’m not dieting, I’m just trying to eat more real/clean/healthy food.”

We often talk about food as if it has moral value. If we feel that we’re eating food that doesn’t fall into our definition of “good”, we often try to justify our choices. While this isn’t dieting per se, it can still take up a lot of mental energy and can lead to an unhealthy fixation on food.

Pressing pause on judgment: Instead of thinking about food in terms of whether it’s “good” or “bad” for you, try to think about what that food does for you. Does it pack a lot of nutrients? Does it bring you pleasure? Does it give you the energy to get through a long day? All foods serve a different purpose, and at the end of the day, food isn’t “good” or “bad” – it’s just food.

You don’t eat during certain times of the day

When you first start eating intuitively, listening to your hunger, fullness, and satisfaction cues can often feel frustrating. Many people find that while they listen to these cues during the day, they ignore them in the evening because they feel they’re not supposed to eat after dinner.

Tuning in to your cues: If you’re constantly hungry after supper, there’s a good chance that you’re not eating enough or not eating balanced meals earlier in the day. By making sure you’re eating well-balanced meals and snacks frequently throughout the day, you’re less likely to feel hungry in the evening. But if you are hungry in the evening, that’s totally ok! There’s nothing wrong with listening to your hunger signals and having a snack after dinner if that is what your body is telling you it needs.

You’re mentally restricting certain foods

One of the most important aspects of intuitive eating is the idea that “all foods fit.” Certain foods are not better or worse than other foods, and you’re not a bad person for choosing to eat foods that some people label as “bad.”

But while you may be giving yourself permission to eat all foods, are you really giving yourself permission to eat as much as you like? Many people who are learning to eat intuitively are still subconsciously restricting certain foods because they see them as “treat” foods.  

Giving yourself unconditional permission to eat: An important part of intuitive eating is giving yourself unconditional permission to eat. And this doesn’t just apply to “healthy” foods. You have unconditional permission to eat all foods, in whatever amount feels good for you. In the beginning, you may find yourself eating larger amounts of the foods you were mentally restricting, but with time, these foods will become commonplace, and you likely won’t crave them as much as when you were restricting them.

You’re trying to eat intuitively but don’t feel satisfied

Imagine this. You’re at a birthday party and pieces of your favourite cake are being passed around. You’ve recently started trying to eat intuitively, so you check in with yourself and realize you’re not actually hungry. You pass on the cake, but secretly wish you could have had some.

Honouring your hunger, fullness and satiety cues are important principles of intuitive eating. However, physical fullness is only one component of what signals our bodies to stop eating. Satiety (or “the satisfaction factor”) involves our “mental fullness” – whether or not we have enjoyed our meal and are mentally satisfied.

Letting go of perfection: Eating intuitively means that sometimes you’re going to over- or under-eat in order to feel truly satisfied. It’s important to view these experiences without judgment and to remember that food is an important part of pleasure and celebration.

Final Thoughts

Breaking up with diet culture isn’t easy, and the diet mentality can sneak into our thoughts even as we actively try to avoid it. By being more mindful of our thoughts and actively working to reframe the diet culture thoughts that sneak in, you can start to embrace intuitive eating in its entirety.

What are your strategies for breaking free from diet culture thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!