I’m going to start with a story.
My oldest son, age 11, and I like to go play Pickleball on Saturday mornings whenever possible. We are pretty competitive and I expend a lot of energy trash talking (haha). He practices all his tricky tennis skills on me, so it keeps me running and jumping. Love it. A few Saturdays ago we headed out a little later than usual. I had some grapes before we left and then the whole family met us at the park to play after. When we got home I went straight to an early lunch. I taught a class in the early afternoon and I underestimated how hungry I would be after class and didn’t pack a snack. I went straight home and grabbed lunch #2, but by that time my blood sugar had dropped lower than I would have liked.
This doesn’t happen often nowadays since I make it a regular practice to eat consistently, regularly and adequately. But sometimes it sneaks up on me and – just like clockwork – within a couple hours I will see an acne breakout, usually on my chin.
I’ve had acne since I was a teenager. It’s better now but every once in awhile I’ll get a breakout, particularly one or two cystic acne on my chin. Historically I have blamed it on food – chocolate, dairy, sugar, blah, blah, blah.
But in the past few years I’ve figured out the real trigger – eating too little or going too long without eating. So what I used to attribute to a food group or a food ingredient, I now realize is a result of under eating. I share to hopefully give you permission to make EATING your solution. If you have physical symptoms that you attribute to food, it may be the behavior around food or inconsistent eating patterns rather than the food itself.
This post on Metabolism will help explain the importance of eating to support metabolic function.
One of the reasons I blog is so you can learn from my mistakes. The particular point I would like to make here is that chasing “inflammation” kept me stuck in very disordered eating. While I’m sure there is room to talk about inflammation in some circles and some conversations, it’s concerning that it’s used so regularly. It’s usually accompanied with a list of foods to avoid and if your experience is anything like mine, it’s easy to keep eliminating foods until you’ve got nothing left to eat.
I truly attributed my worrisome physical symptoms to inflammation rather than seeing it for what it was: under eating and a huge lack of variety, flexibility and balance. Not to mention that under eating itself causes inflammation. So I’m telling you what I wish someone would have unequivocally told me: you will feel better when you eat consistently, regularly and adequately while NOT EXCLUDING any foods or food groups. Whenever I did hear anything close to that, there was always this disclaimer along the lines of “but of course there may be some foods that you can’t tolerate so listen to your body…”. And then all the fear came rushing back.
I get why, I’ve done it. We want to be sensitive and inclusive and evidenced based and legitimate. We also want to recognize that everyone’s food preferences are different, and each of us have foods or patterns of eating we favor and gravitate to for various reasons (that’s Intuitive Eating). But orthorexia made me hyperaware to all physical symptoms and I just wanted someone to validate what I felt…that I needed to quit overthinking and make peace with ALL foods.
So if you need what I felt like I needed, let me be clear: there was nothing I couldn’t tolerate. I made it up. All of it. It was totally psychosomatic. I get there may be people with different stories than mine (it’s likely less then we assume). But for those who’s stories are like mine, trust the feeling you have that food freedom means freedom with ALL food.
I’ve got to make this point while we are at it: we are human and susceptible to aches and pains. I’m a mom of 3 busy kids, a business owner, I volunteer in a demanding church calling, I’m HOA president, I’m the chair for our local United For Adoption chapter and I have various hobbies and interests I like to keep up with. Not complaining, I’ve chosen all of it (well except for HOA President, my husband volunteered me for that). I’m sure you have a lot on your plate too – we all do. That means that we’ll have some days where we’re more tired or we might get a headache every once in a while or your tummy might feel sensitive…it’s called being human and manipulating food isn’t your (or my) answer. I am, however, an advocate for saying “no”, taking breaks and getting rest when you feel like you need it.
I do feel WAY better practicing the principles of Intuitive Eating than I ever did micromanaging my food choices. I had this sneaky suspicion all along that enjoying food without judging it was my solution. Turns out I was right. I do have clearer skin, I do sleep better, I do feel calmer and my digestion is WAY better to name a few. I can’t emphasize enough how much better I feel by not eliminating, overthinking, overanalyzing or second-guessing food. I’m not promising perfect health (nor should you expect it ever) but I am promising you the ability to self-moderate without rules so you can consistently feel your best.
Emily Fonnesbeck RD, CD
THIS. <3
🙂 <3
Love this ❤️
<3
Love this ❤️
<3
I am so glad I found this. I have a similar story and this is the push I was looking for to stick to healthier eating habits. Thank you!
I’m so glad! <3
I agree I have always felt my best when I have eaten intuitively with regular meals and exercise.
I’m so glad to hear that, Bahee!
Thank you for sharing a personal post. I love how you said "without rules so you can consistently feel your best."
I’m so glad that spoke to you, Julie. I believe it!! xx
Thank you for sharing a personal post. I love how you said "without rules so you can consistently feel your best."
I’m so glad that spoke to you, Julie. I believe it!! xx
Wow, I never really made the connection for me before between undereating and acne, but I think that might be my problem too! I had recently thought about it being the reason why teenagers get acne, because they have a growth spurt but maybe don’t eat extra so are in a relative energy deficiency. It makes sense that if you are underfuelled no matter what age you are, this can be the trigger! I also blamed chocolate, sugar, dairy etc, but that’s probably because if I under eat badly, I crave those things and usually end up eating them when I’ve been most energy deprived, because they’re quick energy dense foods. So glad I found your blog on my journey to food freedom- another little step in the right direction:)
I am so glad this was helpful, Eimear! I like where your head is – sometimes we need to dig a little deeper rather than just taking it at face value. This often means looking at behaviors rather than just blaming the food. I am SO happy to hear you are on the road to food freedom, it can be hard but so worth it. I’m so glad to connect with you!
Wow, I never really made the connection for me before between undereating and acne, but I think that might be my problem too! I had recently thought about it being the reason why teenagers get acne, because they have a growth spurt but maybe don’t eat extra so are in a relative energy deficiency. It makes sense that if you are underfuelled no matter what age you are, this can be the trigger! I also blamed chocolate, sugar, dairy etc, but that’s probably because if I under eat badly, I crave those things and usually end up eating them when I’ve been most energy deprived, because they’re quick energy dense foods. So glad I found your blog on my journey to food freedom- another little step in the right direction:)
I am so glad this was helpful, Eimear! I like where your head is – sometimes we need to dig a little deeper rather than just taking it at face value. This often means looking at behaviors rather than just blaming the food. I am SO happy to hear you are on the road to food freedom, it can be hard but so worth it. I’m so glad to connect with you!
This may be a bit long but this was pretty much what I have been thinking all along. I am an avid healthy eater and I crank it out at the gym. I work in holistic health so you can imagine I am inundated with health health health…..including and especially food. I have blamed autoimminity and food sensitivities on my skin my entire life when the truth is really thatnits more than likely anxiety….which makes me stress more about all conditions ….hence making me break out. I just read the book Hungry by Joey Lott and it got me thinking that although I wasn’t physically hungry, my body was starving. I always felt that 1600-1800 calories a day was sufficient ….. but I exercise A LOT and last year I was training for a marathon and barely eating 2000 a day. Crashed and ended up with severe eczema on my face. My skin is so sensitive and when I break out, it takes a while to heal. Again, I wonder if that’s because I have low immune function from notneating ENOUGH…. although I feel like I am constantly stuffing my face. Thing is that I don’t bpeat between meals…… I do bullet proof green tea before workout…. eat breakfast at 7:30…. lunch at 12:30… dinner at 5:30/6…. and a shake before bed…..when I added it up on MFP, it came outnto be only 1600 calories…..
These days everyone is more concerned with being thin and lean than they are with being healthy…..I want both but am really over having the little inconveniences of skin issues at 43. I have a good complexion but when I break out its bad and leaves hyper pigmentation….. I look forward to experimenting with this and perhaps adding a snack between lunch and dinner
Great post…thanks for sharing
Thank you for your comment, Tracy! I hear what you’re saying – I totally felt like the anxiety about food (or other things) caused way more symptoms than the food ever did. And then of course, realizing that underrating actually causes inflammation was a huge aha moment for me. It sounds like your gut is telling you the same and the hardest part is listening to that when your habits (and fears) around food have been the opposite. My heart goes out to you but I completely agree with your thinking!
This may be a bit long but this was pretty much what I have been thinking all along. I am an avid healthy eater and I crank it out at the gym. I work in holistic health so you can imagine I am inundated with health health health…..including and especially food. I have blamed autoimminity and food sensitivities on my skin my entire life when the truth is really thatnits more than likely anxiety….which makes me stress more about all conditions ….hence making me break out. I just read the book Hungry by Joey Lott and it got me thinking that although I wasn’t physically hungry, my body was starving. I always felt that 1600-1800 calories a day was sufficient ….. but I exercise A LOT and last year I was training for a marathon and barely eating 2000 a day. Crashed and ended up with severe eczema on my face. My skin is so sensitive and when I break out, it takes a while to heal. Again, I wonder if that’s because I have low immune function from notneating ENOUGH…. although I feel like I am constantly stuffing my face. Thing is that I don’t bpeat between meals…… I do bullet proof green tea before workout…. eat breakfast at 7:30…. lunch at 12:30… dinner at 5:30/6…. and a shake before bed…..when I added it up on MFP, it came outnto be only 1600 calories…..
These days everyone is more concerned with being thin and lean than they are with being healthy…..I want both but am really over having the little inconveniences of skin issues at 43. I have a good complexion but when I break out its bad and leaves hyper pigmentation….. I look forward to experimenting with this and perhaps adding a snack between lunch and dinner
Great post…thanks for sharing
Thank you for your comment, Tracy! I hear what you’re saying – I totally felt like the anxiety about food (or other things) caused way more symptoms than the food ever did. And then of course, realizing that underrating actually causes inflammation was a huge aha moment for me. It sounds like your gut is telling you the same and the hardest part is listening to that when your habits (and fears) around food have been the opposite. My heart goes out to you but I completely agree with your thinking!