• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Living Well Kitchen
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizer & Snacks
      • Snacks
    • Main Dish
      • Vegetarian
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Poultry
      • Pork
    • Specific Recipes
      • Vegetarian
        • Vegan
      • Kid Friendly
      • Gluten Free
      • Dairy Free
      • Nut Free
      • Egg Free
      • Soy Free
    • Sides
      • Vegetables
      • Beans
      • Grains
      • Potatoes
      • Bread
      • Sauce
    • Salad
    • Soup
    • Drinks
    • Dessert
    • Slow Cooker
    • Instant Pot
    • Season
      • Winter
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
  • About
    • Meet Meme
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Videos
  • Easy Meals
  • Quiz
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Easy Meals
  • Main Dish
  • Quiz
  • Videos
  • Health
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Easy Meals
    • Main Dish
    • Quiz
    • Videos
    • Health
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ร—

    Home ยป Intuitive Eating

    Food Only Has Power if You Let It

    Published: May 19, 2016 ยท Updated: Apr 3, 2018 ยท Post may contain affiliate links

    Don't let food control your thoughts. Food only has power if you let it. Make peace with food, and enjoy it again!

    Don't let food control your thoughts. Food only has power if you let it. Make peace with food, and enjoy it again!

    Have you ever thought about food in any context other than it giving your body energy and making your taste buds happy? If you're like most people, then the answer is most likely a resounding "yes!"

    It's funny how something that is meant as a basic need can turn into something so much bigger.

    Take a cookie for example... Let's go with a warm chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven. It's chocolatey and gooey and begging for you to put ice cream on top.

    What is going on in your mind?

    You're probably starting to crave this dreamy cookie, and then maybe you remember that you're trying to [insert preferred term for "diet"] and decide that you wouldn't be able to have said cookie.

    [clickToTweet tweet="Don't let food control your thoughts. Food only has power if you let it. Make peace with food, and enjoy it again!" quote="Don't let food control your thoughts. Food only has power if you let it. Make peace with food, and enjoy it again!"]

    Firecracker Cake from Living Well Kitchen

    You'd like to move on with your day -- and you're secretly cursing me for bringing up that cookie -- but now, all you can think about is how much you want that cookie. You're craving that cookie. You need that cookie, but you "can't have" that cookie.

    Instead of eating the cookie you crave, you end up eating a few random snacks that don't satisfy your craving. Finally, you eat the cookie.

    Moving on, what about that bag of chips you scarfed down in a moment of hangry? Did you decide to just throw in the towel on your healthy eating plan? Maybe you went ahead and ordered that pizza instead of cooking dinner for yourself. Then you decided you'd already messed up, so why not keep going?

    Crazy how food can have so much power over our thoughts, isn't it?

    The diet mentality of our culture is ev.er.y.where! You'd have to live alone in a cave to not get a message from something or somewhere about losing weight, eating a certain way, doing a specific exercise, looking a certain way. Whew, I feel exhausted just thinking about it!

    Ranch Burgers from Living Well Kitchen

    Because of the constant pressure to look and eat a certain way, it can be difficult to not let the "diet mentality" get to you. I know. I am surrounded by nutrition advice, food, and people constantly asking me about both in my everyday life.

    That doesn't mean I don't absolutely love what I do, but it can be a real challenge to keep your food from controlling your thoughts.

    If you eat a cookie, does that make you a bad person? No! If you robbed the bakery where you got that cookie then you might be considered a not so great person.

    If that's the case, then why do we feel guilty about eating a cookie?

    I think it's time that we change our perspective around food and make peace with food. Instead of following certain rules all the time, how about you give yourself permission to pick what to eat and how much?

    In general, you want to pick foods that nourish your body and give you energy, but that doesn't mean you can never enjoy foods that are completely devoid of nutrients. Most importantly, when you're eating, enjoy what you're eating!

    Meme

    More Intuitive Eating

    • Why Emotional Eating Isn't Bad
    • Should I Eat Conventional or Organic Produce?
    • Intuitive Eating and Weight Loss
    • What is Intuitive Eating
    • Yummly
    • Share
    • Tweet

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Melanie says

      May 20, 2016 at 4:07 pm

      This is such a great post! It's interesting that we (myself included) sometimes give food so much power to control how we feel about ourselves.

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome!

    Meme (a brunette female) is holding umbrella and spinning around in front of the Eiffel Tower wearing a denim jacket, skirt, and blue shoesHi, I'm Meme, a thirty-something registered dietitian nutritionist from Alabama living in San Diego. Here to help you enjoy food, feel better in your body at any size, and live free of diets & shame.
    Read More

    Let's Connect

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Most Popular

    pork tenderloin with gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans on white plate with yellow and white striped napkin

    Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin

    jar of chocolate sauce with a spoon in it. empty small glass ice cream cups with a bowl of cherries on a wicker table

    Easy Chocolate Sauce

    Protein Pancakes from Living Well Kitchen

    protein pancakes

    white plate with a slice of zucchini lasagna

    Zucchini Lasagna

    spatula holding a microwave cookie

    Microwave Oatmeal Cookie

    stack of almond butter banana cookies with one cookie facing the front on wooden cutting board with a glass of milk, banana, oats, vanilla extract, and almond butter container

    Almond Butter Banana Cookies

    Gluten free Crab Cakes from Living Well Kitchen @memeinge

    Gluten free Crab Cakes

    chicken salad and a ritz cracker in a glass bowl on white table with green napkin

    No Mayo Chicken Salad

    Intuitive Eating

    brunette female holding a heart shaped pizza in a Parisian cafe

    Why Emotional Eating Isn't Bad

    hand holding an apple in front of apple trees

    Should I Eat Conventional or Organic Produce?

    havanese dog standing on arm of cream chair with a quilt in chair

    Intuitive Eating and Weight Loss

    brunette female sitting in a blanket in Versaille garden smiling and holding a container of container of food she is about to be eating

    What is Intuitive Eating

    Easy Meals

    Basil Balsamic Chicken Salad from Living Well Kitchen

    Basil Balsamic Chicken Salad

    smoothie in white bowls topped with peaches, granola, lime, mint, canned peaches

    Peach Banana Smoothie Bowl

    bowl of Buffalo Chicken Salad, blue cheese, wing sauce, celery, cilantro

    Buffalo Chicken Salad

    miso dressing, miso paste, next to two Miso Brown Rice and Kale Bowls

    Miso Brown Rice and Kale Bowl

    Soup

    two bowl of beef soup on blue and white napkins with silver spoons and garlic bread

    Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

    steak potato soup in a bowl with green onions and grated cheese with a silver spoon next to potatoes, pot of soup and block of cheese

    Steak and Potato Soup

    blue and white napkins under two bowls of pumpkin soup topped with bacon next to a small bowl of bacon

    Pumpkin Soup with Bacon

    bowl of ginger beef soup on a gold and white napkin with garlic, limes, and ginger

    Ginger Beef Soup

    As Seen On:

    As Seen On

    In Season

    stemless wine glass with strawberry gin fizzes next to fresh strawberries, bottle of gin, and an orange

    Valentine's Day Gin Fizz

    black spatula pushing Brussels sprouts around on a baking sheet with pecans, honey, and sriracha sauce

    Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts

    four twice baked potatoes on a plate

    Twice-Baked Potatoes

    blue pot with sausage hash, cup of tea, bowl of berries, white plate with hash

    Mushroom Sausage Hash

    Footer

    Living Well Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

    • Recipes
    • About

    Copyright © 2023

    We use cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT