When the Diet Mentality Creeps Back

The diet mentality is sneaky. If you’ve committed to giving up dieting and are working through the process of intuitive eating, I’m so happy for you. But you might have noticed something that’s disturbing – the way the diet mentality and food police show up when you least expect it.

As a person who is no longer dieting, you may not realize that at times, you are actually still dieting. This is called pseudo, or unconscious dieting. You may not think you are dieting, but in actuality, your dieting thoughts translate into dieting behaviors.

Examples of Pseudo Dieting

1. You mentally track how many calories or carbs you are eating per day.
2. You make a decision to buy or eat a certain food based on the calories it contains.
3. You don’t eat past _______ time even if you are hungry.
4. You feel badly because you ate ___________.
5. You have a list of 10 or so foods that you feel safe eating without a worry of overeating.
6. You feel hungry now, but just ate 1 ½ hours ago, so you drink water instead of eating (“how can I be hungry?”)
7. You only eat carbs in the early part of the day, rarely or never with dinner.
8. You eat dinner before you go to a wedding.
9. You eat a light lunch because you ate a larger breakfast.
10. You avoid gluten, just because.

There may also be certain situations in your life that trigger your diet mentality. These may be new experiences that make you feel uncomfortable, unsure of your place in the world, or bring up uncomfortable emotions.

Examples of Life Situations that Trigger Diet Mentality

1. Moving to a new community where you don’t know anyone.
2. Starting a new job.
3. Separating from your spouse or getting a divorce.
4. Becoming a mom for the first time.
5. Becoming a grandma for the first time.
6. Losing a loved one.
7. Getting fired from your job.
8. Marrying off your first child.
9. Retiring after decades of working.
10. Dealing with a troubled family member.

All these situations point to new phases in your life, new experiences or challenging times in which you haven’t yet had to learn coping strategies. So, you fall back into diet mentality and try to control your food, since that’s been so familiar to you for so many years.

Be Gentle with Yourself

When the diet mentality rears it’s ugly head, please be gentle with yourself. If you allow your inner critical voice to bash yourself, telling you that you’ll never “succeed” at intuitive eating, you will harm yourself more than help yourself because this will be your entryway back into the dieting world.

I once had a client who told me that if she gains even ¼ pound, she talks harshly to herself because that’ll get her to “be better”.

On the contrary, this type of talk causes you to feel beat up, abused and running right back onto the diet treadmill.

Instead, remind yourself that you are doing the best you can at this very moment. And, the fact that you have recognized the sneaky diet mentality is actually a WIN! The more you call out these diet-y thoughts, the sooner you will continue to recognize them before they do damage and be able to shoo them away.

Support and Guidance

In order to handle these curve balls that life throws your way, it’s important to have support! That support can come in any variety of ways from an accountability partner, online support group or a private coach.

End of Summer Special on Intuitive Eating Support

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Check it out here. But hurry, this offer expires on Monday, September 2, 2019 at midnight Eastern.