Diet culture is an ever-present influence in our lives, shaping our perceptions of food choices and instilling the belief that these choices carry a moral value. It insists that the only path to cultivating a positive relationship with food is by adhering to rigid food rules and shunning so-called “bad foods.”
But what if there was a different way of approaching food and health?
What if there existed an alternative path to nurturing a healthy relationship with food—one that defied the constraints of diet culture’s inflexible food rules?
Imagine being able to embrace your inner intuitive eater, making food choices that encompass a wide array of options, all without feelings of guilt.
What if you could grant yourself unconditional permission to enjoy so-called “bad foods” without any lingering sense of shame, knowing that this choice could have a positive impact on your physical health, mental health, and emotional health?
The answer lies in the concept of food neutrality.
Concept of Food Neutrality
The concept of food neutrality is founded on the understanding that food possesses no intrinsic nutritional or moral value.
It centers on the acknowledgment that there is no such thing as healthy foods and bad foods, as all food choices are integral components of true health and should not be tied to one’s personal character.
Food neutrality promotes the adoption of neutral language when discussing food choices, challenging the notion of categorizing someone as a good person or a bad person based solely on their dietary preferences.
Why Practice Food Neutrality?
As a registered dietitian specializing in the field of eating disorders, my daily work exposes me to the detrimental impacts of diet culture on not only our physical health, but also on our emotional and mental well being.
People find themselves caught in an ongoing struggle when deciding which types of foods they believe they should consume.
Conventional wisdom has led us to believe that establishing a food hierarchy, complete with rigid food rules, is a constructive approach to fostering a healthier relationship with food.
However, what I consistently observe and what research shows us, is that this approach to nutrition and health fosters feelings of guilt and shame that lead to self-loathing towards one’s own body and health.
It has become increasingly clear that different individuals opt for different food choices for a variety of different reasons – and this is perfectly normal.
It is important to recognize that consuming a variety of foods is important because different foods contribute a different nutritional value to our diet.
No single food holds the power to dramatically enhance of harm our overall health – even so-called junk food.
- Imagine going to a birthday party and enjoying a slice of chocolate cake without feelings of guilt
- Imagine waving down the ice cream truck on a hot summer day to enjoy an ice cream cone without worrying about excess sugar consumption?
- Imagine going to the grocery store and purchasing nutritious food choices that truly sound good to you
- Imagine giving you and your child judgement-free permission to eat a happy meal from a fast food restaurant.
It’s understandable if the idea of food neutrality seems foreign to you, but I encourage you to think about whether the food narrative diet culture preaches has been helping you create a healthy relationship with food and leading to body positivity or causing unneeded emotional turmoil.
It’s time we all take a step back and begin looking at true health in a different way.
Food Neutrality vs Diet Culture
According to body image researcher Nadia Craddock, diet culture can be described in simple terms as:
“Telling us that there's one way to be and one way to look and one way to eat, that we are a better person, we're a more worthy person if our bodies are a certain way and if we eat a certain way.”
The origins of diet culture can be traced back to ancient times with the publication of the first diet book in the 1500s. Since then, an array of fad diets and diet trends has emerged, all sharing a common thread—none of them appear to yield sustainable results in the long run.
Food Neutrality
Diet Culture
- Neutral language that encourages non-judgmental food thoughts
- Discourages use of food rules
- Promotes positive relationship with your body
- Encourages healthy relationship with a variety of foods from all food group
- Improves kids’ relationships with food and their body
- Focuses on individual hunger and satiety cues
- Promotes physical activity that feels good to your body
- Labels foods as good vs bad and healthy vs unhealthy
- Promotes restrictive food rules and avoidance of forbidden foods and bad foods
- Places foods within a food hierarchy
- Focuses on calories rather than individual needs
- Places moral value on food choices
- Increases changes of developing eating disorders
- Promotes physical activity as a weight-loss strategy
Strategies for Food Neutrality
Embarking on the journey of embracing food neutrality may initially seem daunting and unsettling, as it contradicts the teachings of diet culture that many of us are so accustomed to.
However, if you’re prepared to shift your perspective and start relishing all types of food without feelings of guilt or shame, a great place to start is with these food-neutral strategies you can begin integrating into your life today.
1. Practice Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating is a form of nutrition that aims to improve both physical health and mental health by encouraging you to get back in touch with your body’s internal hunger and fullness cues.
It encourages the intuitive eater inside all of us to become the expert of our body’s individual needs rather than listening to diet culture’s restrictive food rules.
We all need different foods in different amounts at different times and intuitive eating allows us to make these choices for ourselves.
2. Aim for Body Neutrality
You have likely spent many years degrading yourself and making it difficult to have a positive relationship with your body image.
Has this made your life easier or just increased feelings of guilt?
It’s unrealistic to assume you will start loving your body tomorrow, but a powerful way to begin working towards a positive relationship with your body is to start by being nicer to yourself.
Understand that different people are meant to look differently – weigh different amounts – have curves in different places.
When you are able to work towards a more neutral relationship with your body, you will naturally work towards a more neutral relationship with food.
3. Incorporate more Fun Foods
When was the last time you had fun with food or gave yourself judgement-free permission to eat your favorite foods – even if diet culture considers them junk food?
With food neutrality, there are no forbidden foods, no food rules, no food hierarchy.
Food possesses the remarkable capacity to evoke nostalgic memories and foster connections, underscoring its importance in our lives.
Start having fun with food again.
4. Stop Reading Food Labels
The next time you go to the grocery store, make a promise to yourself that you will avoid looking at food labels.
Instead, practice harnessing your intuitive eater and make food choices based on your genuine preferences and what sounds good in the moment.
Think less about the calories and fat grams and more about which nutrient-dense foods sound appetizing.
5. Start using Neutral Language
This can be much more difficult if you are used to constantly labeling foods as good foods or bad foods.
A great way to begin using neutral language with food choices is to use descriptive words to describe the food or call the food by its actual name.
Rather than saying “I had junk food for dinner”, try saying, “I had pizza for dinner”.
It’s a very simple adjustment that uses neutral language and starts you on your journey to a more positive relationship with food.
6. Ditch the Food Rules
The only food rule you are allowed to have is that there are no food rules.
Stop putting foods on a food hierarchy.
Stop placing moral value on foods.
There is no wrong way to eat and nourish your body.
Besides, when have food rules ever improved your relationship with food and your body long term?
Final Words on Food Neutrality
Like I always ask tell my clients, most of us have done our own personal research on diet culture.
Most have us have tried various fad diets, based our food choices on the latest diet trends, eliminated all the ‘bad foods’, religiously read food labels, or counted calories.
But how many of us have tried gentle nutrition using food neutrality where we make food choices based off what sounds good to us, or given ourselves unconditional permission to eat, or even questioned whether diet culture was doing more harm than good?
Probably not many of us.
I encourage you to try a new approach to food and health.
Besides, if you hate it, you can always go back to diet culture’s food rules.
But who knows, you might just discover a more positive relationship with food and your body.
Kelly Melanson, Registered Dietitian
