The Evolution of “Eating Whatever I Want” in a Post-Diet World

The Evolution of "Eating Whatever I Want" in a Post-Diet World, LVBX Magazine
I personally eat exactly what I want, without apology, and feel it’s important for my mental health (and freedom from rebellion/binge-eating, etc.) that I be empowered to make whatever food choices feel right for me in any given moment.

That being said, I think it’s important to note that my “wants” around food have changed considerably since I stopped trying to control the way my body looks, and started reconnecting with how my body feels. 

When I was dieting (and/or struggling with diet mentality, poor body image, etc.), I walked around believing I was a bottomless pit—totally insatiable and practically needing to be handcuffed around the very sight of my “trigger” foods.

During that time, “eating whatever I wanted” effectively meant binge-eating all day, because I had no understanding of food’s role in my life, outside of the diet-binge dichotomy (or, more precisely, outside of the self-control/rebellion dichotomy).

But when I stopped looking at my body like a home improvement project—like an ornament to be molded to my liking (or the liking of others),

and started looking at my body like the human person that she is—the child of someone, the sister of someone—a living, breathing animal that feels things,

this shift in perspective, 
from self-loathing to self-care,
slowly but surely, began to influence my “wants.” 

Food stopped being about what I could get away with eating, 
or what I should or shouldn’t have,

and started being about would make me feel good
—physically, emotionally, holistically

not just on my tongue, but in my body,
not just in my body, but in my soul.


ISABEL-FOXEN-DUKEIsabel Foxen Duke is the Creator of Stop Fighting Food — a free video training series for women who want to “stop feeling crazy around food” (and stop binge-eating, emotional eating, and other compulsive food behaviors in the process). You can sign up for her free video training series at www.stopfightingfood.com, and her blog, “How to Not Eat Cake… really fast, standing up, when nobody’s looking,” can be found at www.isabelfoxenduke.com.

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