True Food Freedom: Why Structure Sets You Free [Ep. 139]

0:00 This is the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast. I'm Lisa Salisbury and this is episode 139, True Food Freedom, Free. Welcome to eat well. Well, the podcast for busy women who want to lose weight without constantly counting, tracking, or stressing over every bite. I'm Lisa Salsbury, a certified health weight loss and life coach, and most importantly, a recovered chronic dieter here. You'll learn to listen to your body and uncover the reasons you're reaching for food. When you're not truly hungry, freeing you to focus on a healthier, more fulfilling approach to eating.

0:40 Welcome back. Thanks for joining me today. Today we're going to be talking about a phrase that gets thrown around a lot in this health and wellness space, food freedom. Maybe you've heard it and thought, yes, yes, I want that. Or maybe you've wondered what does that even mean? Because let's be honest, the term food freedom can be kind of vague. Some people believe food freedom means eating whatever you want, whenever you want with no structure, no rules, no accountability. But here's the thing. That's not freedom. That's just eating without a plan. For most people, that kind of approach doesn't actually feel good in their bodies.

1:21 The underlying desire here is to eat whatever you want, quote unquote, eat whatever you want. Without consequences, and that just doesn't exist in the real world. So today we're going to talk about what real food freedom actually looks like, why structure is actually the key to feeling free around food, and how you can start creating that freedom for yourself in a way that feels sustainable. So by the end of this episode, I'm hoping that you'll have a totally new way of looking at food freedom. One that actually helps you feel in control of your eating rather than constantly swinging between restriction and chaos. So let's dive in.

2:03 First of all, I want to talk about what food freedom is. Okay, let's start with the biggest misconception here. The idea that food freedom means zero structure and complete flexibility. I get it. It sounds appealing. After years of dieting and following rigid meal plans, the idea of just eating whatever I wanted, whenever. Felt like a big sigh of relief, but when you do this, what usually happens at first kind of feels amazing. You say yes to everything, desserts, takeout, snacking, whatever. But pretty quickly, it starts to feel what you might call out of control. You eat things you don't even really want just because you quote unquote can.

2:44 And then. The guilt sets in, you feel like you've messed up again, and the cycle starts all over. Not to mention the havoc that you have wreaked on your body. Your physical body is probably not feeling good. You might not be sleeping well. You might not have the energy to move your body in the way you really want. So you want to think about how that feels physically as well. And this is what I call the pendulum swing, going from super restrictive to super unstructured. Neither one actually feels good. I have definitely done this in the past. I wanted to be done dieting for good, and I thought I wanted total food freedom. So I stopped planning meals, stopped thinking about portions, just ate whatever.

3:29 And at first it does, it does kind of feel amazing. You're like, look at this, I can do whatever I want. But when, within a few weeks, of course, I actually felt worse. Bloated, sluggish. And then I'm constantly thinking about food. The more that I ate, the more I thought about food. This doesn't actually feel like freedom. I was just stuck in a different kind of food trap. So what does real food freedom Look like if food freedom, isn't just eating whatever and whenever with no structure, what actually is it? Here's the truth. Freedom doesn't come from having no structure.

4:09 It comes from having the right structure. Think about financial freedom for a second. If you just spent money whenever you felt like it, with no budget, no savings plan, no financial goals, would that actually make you feel free? Probably not! It would make you feel anxious every time you opened your bank account or got a credit card statement. And also, of course, there's the analogy of the guardrails on the mountain highway. They aren't there to limit you. They are there to keep you safe and from plummeting over the edge. Food is the same way. True food freedom means First and foremost, this is probably the biggest definition I have.

4:51 True food freedom means no longer feeling controlled by food. And that goes both from the eating too much, to the eating too little, to the constantly thinking about food. When food isn't the only thing you think about, when food isn't the first thing you think about in the morning, that's when you're starting to get food freedom. Food freedom also means eating sweets without spiraling into guilt or binging. It means making food choices based on your actual goals and values, not just your emotions. True freedom means finding the balance between enjoyment and nourishment.

5:33 And the way that you get these things structure, but not the rigid diet rules of your past structure that actually supports you. So I want to talk about how to build this food freedom with structure. It comes down to a few key strategies. So number one, I want you to create sustainable eating patterns. Instead of just jumping on the latest diet, I want you to focus on eating in a way that feels good long term. This is constantly what I'm working on my clients with. It means knowing which foods give you energy. It means knowing which breakfasts, for example, help you feel stable throughout the day.

6:15 Is it a high protein, high fiber breakfast? Hint, uh, it is, but you need to experiment with that. You need to try different things and find the one that works best for you. It means understanding what portions actually feel like enough. Not all the way to satisfied or full. We need to question our portions. As you're first learning to use the Hunger Scale, you think you know what feels Like it's the right portion, but if you're on a steady, um, increase, if you're on a steady weight gain, situation, or if you're in a maintenance where you're like, I'd like to lose weight, but I just seem to stay the same. We need to start questioning the portions that are actually feeling like enough. We might just be eating a few bites too much.

6:56 another thing that helps you create sustainable eating patterns is planning meals without being about it. It's not about quote unquote, following the rules. It's about finding a rhythm that works for your body and lifestyle. I'm going to refer you here to the go to meals guide. I it's been out for a long time. So if you're a long time listener, you probably have that, but that link is always in the show notes. That's a great way to create some sustainable eating patterns and to find meals that work for you without over complicating planning or. you know, trying to reinvent the wheel every single day with what you're eating. Number two, identify and address your emotional eating.

7:37 I know I talk about this a lot, but it's kind of what this podcast is about, right? A lot of what makes us feel out of control around food isn't actually the food. It's the emotions behind why we're eating the food. That's why true food freedom isn't just about what you eat, but also why you eat. So, of course we want to just start paying attention to, are we eating because we're physically hungry? Or are we eating because we're stressed, bored, or procrastinating, right? When you can separate emotional hunger from physical hunger, food starts to feel way less overwhelming. Um, you know I did an episode about this actually just a couple weeks ago about breaking out of emotional eating cycles.

8:22 It's called Why You Keep Emotional Eating and How to Finally Stop. It's episode 137. It's just a few episodes back, so if this is an issue for you, that's worth another listen. Number three, build the skill of intentional eating. Eating structure doesn't mean never eating dessert or skipping social events. It means knowing when and how to enjoy these things without throwing yourself off track. Intentional eating brings eating back up into our higher brain. It removes all of the habit eating. And intentional eating also incorporates things like always eating at a table from a plate. We stop eating on the go, grabbing and just grabbing things and taking it in the car.

9:06 It's, you know, instead of mindlessly snacking on cookies from the pantry, you might decide I'm going to sit down at the table. I'm going to have one cookie, not five. You dish it out onto a plate. You savor it. Enjoy it. The end. Right? So We, instead of just grabbing one every time we walk through the pantry or eating it, standing up in front of the pantry, we want to be really intentional about eating the things that you actually want to eat. That's real food freedom. Still eating what you love, but you're doing it in a way that supports your goals. Number four, we want to relationship with all foods. No more labeling foods as good or bad.

9:46 Food isn't the enemy. Food also doesn't have morality. It's an inanimate object. It can't be good or bad. The problem with labeling foods good or bad is that that label then becomes on us. We become good or bad for eating those particular foods. The goal is to understand how different foods make you feel. So you can make choices that align with how you want to feel. So this could mean again, choosing a protein packed breakfast because it helps you stay full longer. I probably will never stop talking about this. Getting enough protein in the morning, along with some fiber will really set up your day, will decrease your sugar cravings and.

10:30 And even though you're not going to be full from breakfast at four in the afternoon, I'm telling you it helps with those four in the afternoon cravings when you start your day with a protein and fiber forward breakfast. Um, this could also mean enjoying a dessert after dinner because you genuinely want it. Not because you're emotionally eating or because you plan to have it. I had a client today. I was looking at her plan for this week and she's like, Oh yeah, it's husband's birthday. He loves tres leches cake. So we've got that on the plan for Thursday. Great planet have it. We don't need to feel guilty for having that. And that is true. Food freedom is knowing I can have tri celestries cake on my husband's birthday, and it's not going to set me back because I'm going to eat exactly the amount I want to eat.

11:17 It also means saying no to food when you're not hungry, instead of eating it just because it's there. This is all part of developing that healthy relationship. With all foods. It doesn't mean we have to eat the cake. It doesn't mean we have to eat the chicken and broccoli It doesn't matter what it is. If we're not hungry It's okay to either stop eating if we're all done or just to not start if we're not hungry When you stop seeing food as a battle or as a morality issue of the good or the bad, food freedom becomes so much easier to maintain. I want to address one thing, which is how does this differ from intuitive eating? A lot of people have asked me if I'm an intuitive eating coach.

11:59 I am not. You might be wondering how this kind of compares and why I'm not an intuitive eating coach. Intuitive eating, as it's traditionally taught, is a non diet approach that completely removes weight loss as a goal. intuitive eating counselors are specifically trained not to promote weight loss. The focus is solely on reconnecting fullness cues. Eating without restriction and letting go of external food rules. While there is so much value in learning to trust your body again, many women still want weight loss to be part of their journey. And that's where the approach I teach is a little bit different. I believe you can create food freedom while still working towards a weight loss goal.

12:43 And partly I believe that because I've seen it, I've seen it in action. I've seen my clients do it. They come back to me and they're like, it's so weird. I just said, I didn't want that thing. And it was no big deal. And I felt better and I'm also losing weight. And so, I mean, I've just, I've seen it so many times. I know we can do these two things. In conjunction, the key is to doing it in a way that isn't based on deprivation, shame, or rigid dieting instead of abandoning structure altogether. We use it as a tool to make eating simpler, to create consistency and to help you feel better physically and mentally, there's absolutely a place for intuitive eating. And I follow several certified intuitive eating counselors.

13:25 On instagram and I think their work is amazing But the difference is that what I teach isn't about strict diet rules It's not about cutting out entire food groups or punishing yourself for eating something off plan It's just about making choices that align with both your body's needs and your personal goals Especially if those goals include weight loss, you can eat in tune with your hunger and fullness, enjoy your favorite foods without guilt and still see progress towards a healthier weight, if that is what you want. So if you've ever felt torn, wanting to trust yourself more with food, but also wanting to lose weight, you don't have to choose one or the other.

14:07 You can have both. So here's the big takeaway from today's episode. Food freedom isn't the absence of structure. It's not the free for all that we think it might be. It's having the right kind of structure that supports you. When you stop seeing structure as a set of rules, and start seeing it as a way to reduce decision fatigue, build confidence, and create consistency, that's when you truly feel in control of your eating. If you've been struggling with the pendulum swing between restriction and chaos, I want you to know there's a middle ground. A way to enjoy food, trust yourself, and still reach your goals without obsession.

14:49 If this episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear it. Send me a DM, share this episode with a friend, or leave a review. It helps more women like you find a way to eat that actually Feels good. And if you're ready for more personalized support, let's chat. I help women create real food freedom every day, and I'd love to help you to book a free consult session to see if my full 12 week one on one coaching program is right for you, you can schedule it at the link in the show notes. Remember, it's not just about the food. It's about empowering yourself with choices that truly serve you. Have a great week. And as always, thanks for listening to the eat well, think well, live well podcast.