What is Food Freedom? – Five Core Principles
Was there ever a time in your life you felt controlled by food? Whether it’s an actual food addiction/ binge eating on one side or an absolute obsession with an extreme or restrictive diet on the other, food control can take over our lives in either extreme.
With intuitive eating being a hot topic and the realization that restrictive diets don’t work long term, the concept of food freedom seems appealing and is often linked to intuitive eating (following our body’s eating cravings & cues).
But can we trust our body’s to tell us what to eat? Can we trust our cravings?
That depends…On whether or not our metabolic controls have been retrained.
Food freedom goes beyond intuitive eating.
Food Freedom is the power to make food choices based on God’s design and purposes.
That’s a definition you won’t hear very often.
Food freedom should be a process of intentional progression not simply a destination.
As Christians we are quick to jump to the Food Freedom of this church age of grace without going through the garden or law nutrition first.
Freedom is college or graduate school.
Garden nutrition of Eden is elementary.
Law nutrition of Leviticus is high school.
All food instruction in Scripture has a purpose. Following God’s progression of nutrition instruction can actually help retrain our cravings and help us align with His purposes for food leading to freedom!! Understanding this progression that leads to freedom is understanding the entire message of food in the Bible.
Let’s take a closer look at food freedom and what it actually looks like in everyday life by examining what it is NOT.
Food Freedom is NOT:
- Indulging our cravings for empty foods
- Food is a source of taste pleasure only
- A reason for eating whatever we want
- A reason for eating whenever we want
- A releasing of the responsibility of taking care of our bodies
- God’s way of saying food doesn’t matter
- Agreement with the world’s philosophy of food
In contrast true Food Freedom IS when:
- Inner cravings change
- Food is a source of celebration
- Food no longer is a source of guilt
- Food connects us to others
- Our way of eating glorifies God
- God’s design is honored in what we eat
- God’s purposes for food are lived out
- Food no longer controls us
Here are the Five Principles of Food Freedom:
Food Freedom Principle #1: Letting Go of Empty Foods
There are so many tasty foods that have no vitamins, no minerals, no amino acids or fatty acids. No nutrition! These foods are usually full of sugar, artificial ingredients, chemicals, additives etc. and not only offer nothing, but they take away valuable nutrients!! (Did you know it takes 58 molecules of magnesium to metabolize 1 molecule of sugar?)
When we replace empty foods with nutrient dense whole foods, our taste buds and cravings begin to shift. No longer do these empty foods satisfy. It takes far less nutrient dense whole foods to stay full and satisfied. We don’t need these empty foods to fill voids or relieve stress. We can turn to other strategies! That is freedom from all the negatives of empty foods.
Food Freedom Principle #2: Craving Whole Nutrient Dense Foods
The more we choose whole, nutrient dense foods, the more our body craves them. Our taste buds and even hormone signaling can shift and change from the inside out! Especially when we focus on rebuilding our gut health and detox capacities (metabolic controls) we actually turn off the cravings versus try to battle it out in the realm of our wills. For example, when we eat fiber rich plant foods we feed our good bacteria in our guts. These bacteria help to turn off sugar cravings that come from an overgrowth of bad bacteria! Turn off the cravings! Also, when we eat an adequate amount of protein we help support serotonin levels which helps to turn off sugar and carb cravings leading to freedom!
Food Freedom Principle #3: Eating Aligned with God’s Purposes
God outlines seven purposes for food in Scripture:
- Regeneration
- Resurrection
- Dominion
- Identification
- Liberation
- Celebration
- Commemoration
Did you know food pictures all these purposes? Food is a framework to know God and His plan for us! What food gives us physically, provides a beautiful picture of what Jesus has provided for us spiritually. **Have you enrolled in our FREE Course yet? Discover the 7 purposes for food and how to eat aligned with God’s purposes!
Food Freedom Principle #4: Intuitive Eating
We can acknowledge our body’s signals and intuition when it comes to food once our cravings have been retrained. We can now eat something cold or light vs. heavy for example. We feel hungry at the appropriate times, we can stay satiated when we are living in food freedom. When a craving for an empty food comes along, we have the power to say no to it or not let it control our wills. But getting to this intuitive point requires us to understand the process of retraining our metabolic controls.
Food Freedom Principle #5: Gracious Hospitality – Food as Ministry
The most beautiful work God does in our lives is taking something that has caused us struggle or difficulty and allowed us to overcome and turn that same struggle into a blessing to help others. Many people who have once struggled with food control, have now been free to open their home, open their table, open their hearts to use food that once controlled them as a way to minister to others!
Want to learn more about whole nutrient dense foods, and God’s purposes for food? Check out the E! Nutrition Guide and enroll in our FREE Course!!