7 boundaries for food that gave me freedom.
“This week, I won’t eat after 5 pm.” “I don’t eat sugar during the week.” “I will only have 1 drink when I go out this weekend.” “I’m giving up meat for the month.”
If you can relate to these sentiments, then you have experience with the push and pull of maintaining healthy boundaries around food while also still enjoying yourself and trying not to over-stress. When it comes to nutrition, one of the things I see so consistently in my clients, friends, family, and myself is this need to create little rules around food for ourselves to help control our weight and how we feel. The mental burden of these little battles we have with ourselves about eating can be incredibly heavy.
Boundaries are incredibly healthy and important. Good boundaries feel flexible enough to be realistic yet solid enough to feel purposeful. I’m a big believer in #yolo - food is a love language for me, and you should absolutely enjoy it. I’m also a big believer in that what you put into your body controls you - it literally becomes your cells, modifies your mood, affects how you sleep and drives your energy levels. To maintain my health, happiness, and quality of life, here are the boundaries I’ve created for myself around food, and why.
Food Boundaries:
Stop eating when I’m full. This requires mindfulness. To maintain this boundary for myself, I’ve had to slow down - which can be hard as an athlete running from one thing to the next and shoving food in my mouth in between! But this boundary has become really important to me. When I eat past full, I don’t feel good. I feel bloated, my digestion is worse, and I get tired. When most people eat past full - even with whole foods like veggies, whole grains, and fruits - they experience a huge glucose spike, which inevitably makes you bonk. It doesn’t make me happy to feel controlled by food in that way, or to feel icky and tired after eating, which is why this boundary is important to me.
Focus on real, whole foods. The research behind processed foods (think, anything that comes in a bag, is made in a factory, etc) is undeniable that they make it hard to reach optimal wellness. Processed foods trick your body by overloading your senses with sugar, salt, and texture - which is why it can be incredibly hard to have ‘just one’ cookie. For me, this boundary means I rarely buy processed foods. If they happen to be around while I’m out and about, and they are free, I might have some from time to time - but this boundary is important to me because the less I eat processed foods, the more I realize the impact they have on my body. They don’t make me feel good, and I want to feel good! However, the word “rarely” is important here because my boundaries need to feel open enough to be realistic - for example, tonight I made frozen potstickers from Trader Joe’s. They aren’t BAD for me, but they would be if I ate them ALL the time. Hence, boundaries.
Drink mostly water. I have found that beverages other than water add up big time and not in a positive way for me. Juice, soda, flavored drinks - tons of sugar and calories for not a lot of nutritional or happiness factor for me. If I’m going to have sugar, I want to have dessert! Carbonated drinks like flavored waters with no sugar or calories are also a struggle for me - carbonated drinks never make my stomach feel good, so even though they are tasty, I try to eat things that will make me feel good. This includes alcohol for me - I will have a drink here and there, but mostly water has been a healthy and helpful boundary for me.
Focus on whole, real carbs - and be mindful of timing. Carbs have a great place in my life. I absolutely love me some pasta, bread, rice, potatoes - and they can be really healthy for me as well. However, through some self-experimentation with the help of Levels Health, I have found that carbs can have a huge impact on my day if I’m not mindful of them. When it comes to carbs, my boundary here is that I eat high-quality carbs - for example, real veggies like potatoes, whole grains like rice or quinoa, and real bread made from scratch (my go-to in St Pete is Gulf Coast Sourdough).
Rarely snack after dinner. There are some days where I worked my butt off and I’m still hungry after dinner. In that case, I’ll go for dinner round 2 or a late evening snack. Most days, I don’t need it. This boundary is most important to me because I have found through some self-experimentation that my digestion works better and I sleep more soundly when I give myself time overnight. While I don’t practice fasting per se, I have found that a good 10-12 hours overnight without eating really helps me have regular bowel movements and a better night of sleep.
Focus on quality meat + dairy, in moderation. Like most people, overdoing it on meat and dairy can really cause problems for my digestive system. Overall, meat and dairy make me feel good. I’ve experimented with giving it up, and my body works much better, I feel stronger, and I digest better with some of this in my regular nutrition. While it’s a privilege for me to focus on only consuming high-quality meat and dairy (because it can be much more expensive), my family prioritizes this in our finances because there is some pretty extensive research behind the impact of mainstream animal food on our food system, our bodies, and the environment. Either way, my boundary here is to FOCUS on that and leave wiggle room for life in between.
Focus on me. Eating is SO social. Many times I have found myself in my life is incredibly influenced by others around me. Focusing on myself allows me to be mindful of what my needs are - and not be pressured by those around me to violate my own needs. For example, how many of you have had more to drink when you didn’t really want to drink while at a friend's house or out for dinner? I have definitely been there. Focusing on myself has become an important boundary for me to help me feel my best and most confident.
Food Boundaries Self-Reflection Guide:
What are your food boundaries?
What ways have you experimented with your eating - the content of what you eat, the timing, the habits you’ve created along the way?
How does your current way of eating serve you?
How does it not serve you?
What ways could you experiment with food boundaries in your life?
In my coaching program, I help people create and carry out realistic boundaries around food that become part of their lifestyle. Click below to learn more!
