Today’s intuitive eating principle is number 3, Make Peace with Food. 

“Call a truce; stop the food fight! Give yourself unconditional permission to eat. If you tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing. When you finally “give in” to your forbidden foods, eating will be experienced with such intensity it usually results in Last Supper overeating and overwhelming guilt.” (From Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch) 

This was probably the scariest principle for me to dig into because I didn’t trust myself around food now that eating was causing me to gain weight. 

Before Trikafta, I truly had made peace with food. I ate whatever I wanted when I was hungry for it, and I didn’t restrict on purpose, the only restriction came from a lack of appetite. I ate McDonalds frequently, always ordered the highest calorie item on the menu, and chocolate was my FAVORITE. 

Once I started Trikafta, I continued to eat like this only this time I started gaining weight because of it. This eroded the trust I thought I had around food, and I began to restrict. Each new attempt at losing weight came with new forbidden foods, and most of these came from the fact that they had too many calories. If I did allow myself to eat them, I measured out small portion sizes as to not go over my calorie allotment, and I was overcome with guilt. If I wanted more, I made sure to only eat them when I had a long run coming up to burn it off. Eating became conditional. 

Suddenly the foods I loved caused so much pain. When I did allow myself to go off plan, I felt I had to get in all the high calorie stuff I could for fear I’d never eat it again. So instead of a burger, I got a burger, large fry, AND a milk shake. Instead of a handful of Hippeas, I’d eat the whole bag. Instead of 100 carefully measured calories of chocolate chips or a scoop of nutella, I’d keep going back to the pantry for more and more and more. 

But once I started intuitively eating and giving myself unconditional permission to eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full, I started to trust myself around food again. I knew that whenever I wanted McDonalds chicken nuggets I could have them. Sure, initially it felt like I was eating “unhealthy” foods all the time. But eventually, they lost their allure. I hated how sluggish I felt after eating a burger. I hated the sugar crash after eating a whole bag of Swedish fish. Soon, the habituation effect kicked in and I was satisfied with a taste of my favorite foods here and there while eating balanced meals most of the time. 

I bought a whole bag of Ghiradelli chocolates as my first “fear food” to have in the house. It’s now a daily ritual to eat just one piece of chocolate after lunch. If I want more, I know I can have it and sometimes I do without guilt! But as I said, the allure has worn off. Now that it’s not forbidden, I no longer feel the need to binge on it. 

Making Peace with Food has allowed me to enjoy eating again! Where I initially thought I couldn’t be trusted, I have been pleasantly surprised how learning this principle has put me back in control of my eating and how little I feel I NEED foods that were once forbidden. 

As always, be sure to check out Intuitive Eating for a full how to guide as to how to start implementing this principle!