I Love This Summer Delight. My Food Police Doesn't Want Me To.

How do you feel about zucchini?

It’s not a favorite of mine.

I just think it doesn’t bring much to the party flavor-wise.

I do, however, love zucchini bread—making it and eating it. 

Well, that’s not entirely true. While I do enjoy making it for the most part, I do not enjoy the messy act of shredding the zucchini. 

Although it’s a pain to clean up, this doesn’t stop me from gathering zucchini from my family’s garden and baking multiple loaves throughout the summer. 

But let’s face it. Traditional zucchini bread, in my opinion, can be a bit ho-hum. 

I like to jazz it up by adding an abundance of walnuts and dark chocolate chips. Doing so adds additional layers of flavor and texture resulting in a truly yummy summer delight.

Knowing I have a freshly baked loaf of nutty, chocolatey zucchini bread to relish with a few mugs of piping-hot tea in the morning always makes me a bit more excited to get out of bed. I especially love dunking pieces of it in my tea as doing so turns the chocolate chips warm and gooey.

Food Police Spoiled It
There was once a time in my life when I couldn’t enjoy my homemade zucchini bread with such gusto. 

When I was entrenched in diet culture, my inner Food Police, the voice in my head that’s always trying to make me feel bad about my eating, was relentless. 

It was loud, critical and punitive. It made me feel guilty and regretful of my choices. 

It told me I shouldn’t be eating zucchini bread, that desiring it was wrong, that I needed to restrict my consumption, that I needed to make it a rare treat, that I should at least use a low-cal recipe.

It made me feel like I couldn’t be trusted with it, that it would be better to give it to a neighbor, take it to my coworkers, put it in the freezer, or just toss it in the trash.

As with many other foods it deemed bad, it insisted on spoling my relationship with zucchini bread. 

Instilled a Deprivation Mindset
By instilling a deprivation mindset, my Food Police caused me to obsess about the zucchini bread. All day long, I wanted to go back into the kitchen for more but, according to my Food Police, doing so was a big no-no.

My preoccupation with the zucchini bread wasn’t due to a lack of willpower, weak self-control or food addiction. It was a natural human response to deprivation and scarcity.

My brain perceived my Food Police’s command to deprive myself as a threat that scarcity was just around the corner. To protect me, it urged me to consume the zucchini bread as quickly as possible before there was a shortage. Basically, it was telling me to “Get it all now before it’s gone!”

Of course, I didn’t know at the time that food restriction, whether real or perceived, leads to food obsession. 

All I knew was that my Food Police made me feel like crap and I was tired of feeling crappy about my eating. Something had to change.

With help from some wise guides, I started to divest from diet culture, defy my Food Police and give myself unconditional permission to eat however much zucchini bread I wanted whenever I wanted.

Slowly, I began feeling more neutral about its presence and the act of eating it. To my surprise, I eventually discovered I could enjoy it when I wanted it and then move on with my day. The same became true with the other foods my Food Police demonized.

Like a Bothersome Fly
I’m grateful I’m now able to savor my zucchini bread throughout the summer without guilt, shame, fear or regret. 

I’d be lying, however, if I said my Food Police no longer barges in. 

Even though it’s been years since I stopped restricting my eating, it still occasionally pops up and tries to enforce its food rules. Unsurprisingly, I find its presence incredibly annoying.

A big difference between my restriction days and now is how I respond to my inner Food Police, which, infuriatingly, may never completely go away due to how deeply pervasive and ingrained diet culture messaging can be.

Today, I no longer listen to my Food Police or abide by its commands. Instead, I swat it away like a bothersome fly and stay focused on what tastes and feels the most satisfying to me, whether that’s zucchini bread or some other delight. 


What foods does your inner Food Police make you feel bad about? How would it feel to challenge this voice? How would your relationship with food change if your Food Police no longer interfered with your eating? 

Is It Ok to Eat Sweet Potatoes? When Food Stresses You Out

Many years ago, when I was deeply entrenched in wellness culture, I was listening to an episode of a popular podcast that was all about optimizing your health.

The host and his guest were taking calls from listeners. I’ll never forget one listener who called in to ask if sweet potatoes were allowed on the particular “lifestyle diet” she was following. 

I was struck by the distraught tone of her voice and how stressed she was about whether or not it was okay to eat a sweet potato. 

Of course, there was a part of me that related to her struggle. 

While I never restricted sweet potatoes, I certainly restricted many other foods I considered “bad."

Like her, I often felt confused about what I should or shouldn’t be eating and feared breaking a food rule as doing so felt catastrophic. I identified with her desire to eat perfectly and her need to be in control of every morsel she consumed.

And, I understood all too well the overwhelming, relentless stress and anxiety that comes along with all of this. 

I Felt Sad, Too
However, there was also a part of me that felt sad—sad for her and sad about the entire situation. 

I remember thinking there was something not quite right about being so stressed out about eating a particular food—and something not quite right about three adults discussing the pros and cons of her eating it.

It was distressing to consider how much time and energy we were all wasting on our quest to be perfect, healthy eaters when there were so many more important, meaningful and fulfilling things to focus on. 

Was this really the best use of our lives? 

And, if what we were doing in the “name of health” was causing us so much emotional stress, was it really healthy?

Started to Question
It was moments like these that caused me to start questioning wellness culture, which is mostly diet culture in disguise, and my participation in it.

I was beginning to see the many ways it can trigger disordered eating with all its fearmongering, good and bad foods, eat this, not that lists, and gazillion other often conflicting and harmful messages, all largely driven by anti-fat bias.

I started to examine my own food rules and fears, including investigating where they came from, the evidence behind them, and if they truly supported my wellbeing. 

I discovered that none of them were warranted.

They disconnected me from my body, caused a lot of needless suffering and stress, and stopped me from having an intuitive, satisfying and peaceful relationship with food.

Of course, if I had a health condition that necessitated avoiding a specific food, like Celiac disease or a shellfish allergy, trepidation about consuming gluten, shrimp, etc. would be an understandable, rational fear. 

I hope the sweet-potato lady eventually overcame her unnecessary food fears, ditched her stressful rules and found her way to food freedom. And, I hope you do, too. 

After Dinner, I Went Looking for More Food

Has this ever happened to you?

Immediately after finishing dinner the other night, I started rummaging through my cupboards looking for something else to eat.

I wasn’t hungry. I was unsatisfied.

I didn’t completely dislike what I ate for dinner. It just didn’t hit the spot. 

My ho-hum meal left me wanting more. It left me wanting pleasure.

Feeling pleasure-deprived, I kept trying different foods until I found something that truly satisfied me. Once I did, my eating experience felt complete and I was able to move on with my evening.

Wired for Pleasure
As humans, we’re wired for pleasure. When our meals lack pleasure, it’s a natural human response to seek out food that meets our fundamental need for it.

There are many reasons why a meal may be pleasure deficient.

It could be because the recipe you made didn’t turn out quite right, or you’re stuck in a food rut, or bored with your leftovers. 

Maybe the entrée you ordered at the restaurant didn’t live up to your expectations or wasn’t what you really wanted because you were trying to make the “right” choice. Or perhaps the takeout food you had delivered arrived irreparably tough or soggy.

Or maybe you were dieting, which is rarely pleasurable.

If you’ve ever followed a plan that restricted what you were allowed to eat, that didn’t let you have what you really wanted, that didn’t satisfy your hunger or taste buds, you may have frequently found yourself after finishing a lackluster meal digging through your fridge or cabinets looking for something more to eat.

You may even have found yourself feeling a bit binge-y after your meal.

Despite what diet culture wants you to believe, this is not due to a lack of control, willpower or self-discipline. It’s due to being human. 

You’re simply trying to take care of your unmet need for pleasure.

Satisfaction-Based Eating
If you have a history of dieting, most of your eating decisions have likely been driven by questions such as “What am I allowed to have?” or “What have I earned the right to eat?” or “What should I eat?”

When working with my clients on shifting from restrictive, rules-based eating to unconditional, attuned eating, their food decisions start to be guided by satisfaction- and pleasure-based questions, such as:

• What sounds satisfying? What will hit the spot?

• How can I make my meal pleasurable?

• What will taste and feel the most satisfying?

• What will satisfy my hunger level, my appetite, my desires?

It may be hard to answer these questions in the beginning as dieting can cause you to lose touch with what you actually like to eat.

Radically Change Your Relationship
Approaching eating decisions through the lens of pleasure and satisfaction versus rules and restriction can radically change your relationship with food, and frankly, your overall quality of life.

Of course, not every meal is going to be a five-star experience. For most of us, life doesn’t work that way. 

Sometimes food is just fuel to get you through your day. Sometimes whatever you have on hand is good enough. 

Sometimes you may have barriers that prevent you from having what you really want, like budget, time, energy or access limitations.

However, if your eating experiences are often unsatisfying due to all the diet and wellness culture rules you’re following, I encourage you to experiment with making choices based on what you’re desiring instead of what you’re denying yourself.

Understandably, doing so might feel pretty scary, especially as diet culture conditions us to mistrust our bodies, our instincts and our desires. 

Most of us worry we’ll lose control if we allow ourselves to eat what we actually want. We’re afraid we’ll never stop eating and completely go to pot. 

The opposite tends to be true, however. My clients are often surprised to discover their eating feels much more balanced, nourishing and fulfilling when they make choices based on pleasure and satisfaction instead of restriction and deprivation.

As the journey toward a more pleasurable, satisfying relationship with food is often full of many challenging twists and turns, it can be quite helpful to get support from an Intuitive Eating community, therapist, counselor or coach. I’m here for you if you need me.