What to Expect When You Stop Restricting Food; How to Feel in Control Around Food Again
If you have ever felt like you couldn't keep foods in the house because they would be gone in .2 seconds without a doubt, I see you. I've been there. The first thought that probably pops up in your mind is that you shouldn't buy those foods or let them anywhere near your kitchen cabinets! It makes logical sense. However, what you might not know, is by avoiding those "trigger foods," you may actually be perpetuating the feelings of "addiction" to those foods! By participating in the diet cycle, the foods we restrict become the foods we feel out of control around or maybe even binge on. The truth is, no matter how hard we try, we are going to eventually be exposed to all foods. Take cake for example. If you're restricting sugar, and you go to a birthday party, how present are you able to be in the event? Do you find yourself thinking about the birthday cake? If you let yourself "cheat" and have some cake, are you able to have just one slice? If you do have just one slice, how much willpower are you exerting?? Honestly, it can get pretty exhausting. The good thing is, willpower is NOT your problem. Dieting is.
What deters people from breaking the diet cycle most often is the rebound effect that can (but does not always) occur when you start re-introducing your forbidden foods. This means you might experience feeling out of control when you first start keeping those foods in the house! Your body still views those foods as scarce. As long as there's scarcity, your body is going to want as much as possible at once, because it has no idea when or where it's going to get that food again.
Food habituation:
Ok so where's the upside to all this? Eventually, you'll experience food habituation. Food habituation is a form of learning in which repeated exposure to a stimulus (food) leads to a decrease in responding (eating). When we don't give ourselves unconditional permission to eat all foods, we set ourselves up to perceive the restricted foods as novel stimuli, and our brain pays extra attention to that. With repeated exposure to the restricted food, alongside the full intention to never restrict it again, the out of control feelings will decrease over time. However, it may take a few exposures to get to this place! It's not a one-and-done thing most of the time. This is why we can guarantee that letting go of restriction will stop binge eating. Combined with properly fueling your body overall, you're setting yourself up for food freedom!
Tips for developing food habituation:
Go buy more of any one or more forbidden foods than you know you could ever eat in one sitting.
This way, your brain will see there is an abundance of that food and not stress over the scarcity!
Variety is your friend.
If you just buy one forbidden brand of chips, your brain is going to notice that those chips are the only novel item in the house, and still want to attend to them, no matter how much you buy.
Try buying multiple brands or a wider variety of forbidden foods to experience more neutralization!
Of course, there are a lot of components that are essential to intuitive eating and food freedom, but letting go of restriction is absolutely the most essential. You can do all the emotion work, self-acceptance work, and education in the world, but if you're stuck in the diet cycle or intentionally restricting foods (not due to allergies, intolerance, or medically necessary restrictions - you can learn more about that here), you will stay stuck.
A lot of the studies on food habituation emphasize that the more we normalize foods, the less we will eat, which may result in weight loss. I cannot emphasize enough how much that is NOT THE POINT here. The point is, you will no longer feel "addicted" to food due to restriction. You will feel free to make food choices and follow your cravings, knowing your body has your back. You will be on your way to healing your relationship with food. THAT is the point.
Want the receipts? Here are some studies on food habituation (CW: a lot of these studies mention ob*sity and use other fatphobic language):
Benton, D. (2010). The plausibility of sugar addiction and its role in obesity and eating disorders. Clinical nutrition, 29(3), 288-303.
Epstein, L. H., Temple, J. L., Roemmich, J. N., & Bouton, M. E. (2009). Habituation as a determinant of human food intake. Psychological review, 116(2), 384.
Ernst, M. M., & Epstein, L. H. (2002). Habituation of responding for food in humans. Appetite, 38(3), 224-234.
Hagan, M. M., & Moss, D. E. (1997). Persistence of binge‐eating patterns after a history of restriction with intermittent bouts of refeeding on palatable food in rats: Implications for bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 22(4), 411-420.