This was a guest post by Lara Zibarras on Brainz Magazine

Can you tell us a little about your background story and how you came to be doing what you are today?

I am a registered psychologist with a PhD and throughout my career I have worked both as an academic and a freelance practitioner. During my training as a psychologist, I had a very negative relationship with food and suffered from an eating disorder. In recovery, I was working with a nutritional therapist and this sparked my interest in nutrition, so years later I decided to train as a nutrition and wellness coach. Alongside my day job, I started coaching a handful of clients to “get healthy”, yet found that so many women were trapped inside the dieting cycle of restricting and then bingeing. They felt helpless and out of control around food – much like I had previously.

It was learning about intuitive eating that helped me refine my approach as a coach where, instead of focusing on food restriction (as in many diets), I focused more on helping clients create a healthier and happier relationship with food. This meant that all foods could fit in a healthful and wholesome diet, and that “health” was attained through focusing on health promoting behaviours. I now use a combination of psychology, mindset and intuitive eating to help people feel at peace with food and find their “true health” but without obsession.

You call yourself a food freedom psychologist ‒ what exactly is “food freedom”?

At the heart of the food freedom concept is the idea that we don’t need restrictive rules around food. When we have rigid rules, food will always hold some power over us (which is exactly why food restriction often leads to binges which make us feel out of control). Food freedom allows us to say goodbye to diets, rules and the idea of “good vs. bad” food (think spinach versus chocolate). Food freedom allows us to have a “normal” relationship with food without controlling it, or food controlling you.

Food freedom is about ditching diet culture, it’s where “all foods fit” in a healthy approach to eating. We learn to neutralise food and stop labelling food as either good or bad – this takes the emotions out of eating where an apple is just and apple and ice cream is just ice cream (neither is good/bad, healthy/unhealthy). This perspective allows us to eat for nourishment and enjoyment, without guilt.

Now you may be wondering where “health” comes into this – a question I am asked regularly is: how can I be healthy and care about my health goals whilst pursuing food freedom? It’s a great question! Well, the research shows categorically that dieting is bad for you in the long-run. In fact, researchers such as Traci Mann have shown that if you track dieters over time (between 2-5 years) you find that most of them have put on the weight they originally lost, and in ⅔ of cases end up heavier than when they started.

So when you understand the science, it’s clear that a different approach is needed rather than focusing on restricting food. What I help my clients focus on is “health promoting behaviours” to help them feel good in the long-run. These are behaviours like getting more movement into your day, eating more fruit, vegetables and fibre, getting more sleep and working on mindset and habits. It’s certainly no “quick fix” like many of the diets and healthy eating plans promise, but if you are after long-term health, then this type of approach is best.

Read the full article here…