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What Do Body and Food Freedom Look Like to You?

Amanda Mittman, MS, RDN, LDN

Hi friends,

When we think of July 4th, we think of the words FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE, right?

Ok, well, I also think about food, but yes, "Let Freedom Ring" and all of that. The word "freedom" is a tricky one right now, with SCOTUS overturning Roe v Wade- I don't know about you, but freedom ain't ringing so loudly in my world. Our choice, our agency, around abortion and our rights was taken away and y'all, I'm SHOOK. The bottom of this email will have resources for you to learn more and take action.

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In honor of the upcoming July 4th holiday, I asked a question in my Anti-Diet Society Membership group: "What do food and body freedom look like to you?"

We got some fantastic responses and I would love to share them with you!

  • "Eating something and not instantly naming it good or bad" -P

  • ​”Not thinking about weight loss and instead embracing Intuitive Eating”-R

  • "Food freedom is not just thinking about food all of the time. For me, ease, joy and nonchalance is food freedom"-S

  • "For me, I finally found food freedom the first time I forgot there were Doritos in the house. Another big one was actually wanting to eat a salad- not because I was on a diet, but sitting down and seeing a taco salad and thinking, that looks good!"- M

  • "I'm still working on the body part, but something that's made a huge difference is for me is saying out loud if a chair is uncomfortable or moving to a different seat when possible instead of forcing myself to be uncomfortable almost as penance for my size"- M

And I'll just add mine here for good measure:

  • Food freedom means that I have so much more space in my brain to live a big, juicy life here in Western Massachusetts

  • Dieting, guilt, shame, and anxiety around food no longer pay rent in my head- so that frees me up to enjoy food and just LIVE.

  • Body freedom is similar to me- that while yes, I have bad body moments just as you do (hello fellow human!) the lows aren't as low and don't hang out for very long.

  • Body freedom means that I am in a relationship with my body that requires consistent work, care, tenderness, and compassion and I am willing to do that work.

  • I refuse to play small just because my body got bigger, and that is the best freedom of all.

Now it's YOUR turn- what do food and body freedom look like in your world? What COULD it look like? Reply to this email and let me know!

Until next time,

Amanda Mittman

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As promised, here are some resources to continue the fight against the overturning of Roe v Wade: