Food Freedom: Embracing Independence
As grills sizzle and fireworks light up the sky this Fourth of July, we celebrate freedom in the traditional American sense and continue efforts to maintain our freedoms. Independence Day can also be a reminder of our personal liberations. Food freedom is a personal choice to not allow yourself to be controlled by food.
Freedom from food means not allowing what you eat, your weight, or the way your body looks to dictate your worth, your identity, or your significance. Food freedom doesn’t mean ignoring your health. It means understanding that health is multifaceted, personal, and not a moral obligation. For many, healing their relationship with food is a part of healing their health, especially mental health.
Food Freedom Isn’t Just Personal, It is Political.
One of the quotes I was drawn to during my own eating disorder recovery comes from writer Naomi Wolf:
“Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”
When we are hyper-focused on counting calories or macros, carefully planning each perfect meal, working to “earn” certain foods, and hypervigilant about how we are being perceived by others there is not much brain power for anything else. Especially with an under-nourished brain. Diet culture and eating disorders don’t just affect our bodies, they steal our time, energy, thoughts, joy, and our power. By shrinking ourselves physically, we shrink our ability to make an impact in our culture. We don’t have the capacity to show up as our fullest selves, we physically only have a small fraction of self to give.
Without adequate energy we stay complacent, silent, exhausted. We are less likely to challenge oppressive systems and end up giving them more power with our silence. Being under-nourished affects our ability to think critically and exacerbates struggles of anxiety and depression. Without adequate brain power we are easier to manipulate and easier to sell to. We buy into the lies of diet culture, we buy the products that promise results and invest in the very structures keeping us stuck.
Freedom to Reclaim Yourself
During recovery, my dietitian asked me, “What would you be thinking about if you weren’t thinking about food.” I genuinely had no idea, food took up so much of my time. I wasn’t consuming enough food, but it was consuming all of me. Once I was able to realize how much of a distraction it was, I found space and capacity for things that truly bring me joy. Things like planning trips without fear of how my body will look in pictures, making art just for fun, or spending time with friends without fear of what food might me offered.
It doesn’t happen overnight; freedom takes practice and consistency, and sometimes a fight. When the old voices creep in, I gently remind myself I am free from those thoughts- like a little civic rights defender in my brain protesting against the thoughts that keep me small.
This Fourth of July, I would like to make a toast to food freedom: Cheers to letting go of punishment, rigidity, and shame and embracing nourishment, self-trust, and joy. Cheers to big dreams that will not be kept small or caged by a restrictive diet.
Written by Kristen Knight, Operations Manager.
Kristen oversees daily operations at Northern Nutrition Group including client coordination, social media, and resource management. Kristen underwent eating disorder treatment in 2018-2019 and advocates for recovery and breaking the stigma associated with eating disorders.