My Journey to Food Freedom

For fifteen years, I struggled with drug addiction. By August of 2012, I was isolated from loved ones and barely employed, all while battling a myriad of yet-to-be diagnosed chronic diseases. Thankfully, there were people and resources that helped guide me to recovery before it was too late.

While Adderall and other amphetamines were my drug of choice, my journey to rock bottom began with a bad relationship to my body and food. Once I entered recovery, achieving food freedom became a crucial goal for my long term sobriety and quality of life. Today, I am the healthiest and most excited about life that I have ever been. In the process, I’ve learned lessons that I believe are crucial for redefining a previously toxic relationship with food.

Understand your unique needs

We all have unique nutritional needs, especially people with histories of substance dependencies. Our genetic histories play a part in determining our risk for chronic illnesses such as heart disease, and our cultural backgrounds can impact which dietary approaches resonate with us most. It’s important to be clear about these needs and priorities before you get started.

Take into account your prior relationship with food and your lifestyle. For example, if you have good memories of going to a farmer’s market with friends, make a weekly trip to the market part of your routine to reinforce those positive connections. If you work late into the evening, center your new nutritional approach around quick, healthy dinners you can meal-prep in advance. Understanding your unique needs will help improve your chances of long-term success.

Resist one-size-fits-all approaches

Because we are all different, a prescriptive, one-size-fits-all approach to health and nutrition won’t work. While a diet that is high in fiber and low in saturated fat is likely to be healthy for most people, it’s important that we each consider our body’s unique needs when developing a plan.

Social media can be a double-edged sword in this area. Instagram and TikTok are great places to connect with others and share recipes, but users on these platforms also often promote very specific diet plans. Rigid, cookie-cutter diets, no matter how well they’ve worked for others, can make things worse. We all have different needs, so stay true to your initial motivation and don’t listen to anyone who tells you their plan is the only one you should consider.

Cut out the critics

From a young age, I witnessed people in my family criticize themselves for the way they looked and related to food. In school, I was bullied by peers who mocked my body. My self-confidence suffered greatly as a result, contributing to my addiction. Thankfully, when it was time to make a change, I had a network of family and friends who were supportive. That being said, I know not everyone is as fortunate.

When you set out to transform your life, there will often be critics — people who want you to stay the same, because your transformation threatens their own stability. My advice is to build a support system. It’s better to have a small but fierce group of friends cheering you on than a big group of people who aren’t entirely supportive.

Invest in self-confidence

In order to redefine a long and toxic relationship with food, I had to get real about what was at the heart of these issues. I had lived most of my life believing that my body was my greatest adversary. This perspective needed to change before any real healing with food could actually begin.

While in sober living, I had a breakthrough talking to my house manager. I realized my body wasn’t the enemy. In fact, it had been fighting to keep me alive this entire time. When I began to view my body as a partner, I was able to better prioritize caring for it. Not everyone will need to go to rehab, but I think everyone trying to redefine their relationship to food should invest in some sort of confidence-building work. This may take the form of therapy, self-help books, or peer-to-peer support groups. The important thing is that you accept that rebuilding your self-confidence is worth the investment.

Don’t be afraid to experiment (and fail)

Your relationship with food won’t seamlessly transform overnight, and that’s okay. When I first started my journey, the only vegetables I’d eaten was the lettuce that came on my burger. When I thought about trying to shift my approach, I was naturally overwhelmed. I kept thinking it would be too difficult. I told myself I’d start small, by incorporating more veggies for seven days at a time, and take it week by week. In time, I stopped viewing my failures as “trial and error” and started viewing this process as “trial and learning.”

Eventually, this method allowed me to become excited about finding out what worked and what didn’t, seeing both results as equally valuable. I was able to develop systems that helped me make healthy choices without relying on willpower alone. It’s okay to try out a nutritional approach and decide it’s not right for you after a few weeks or months. The most important thing is not to get dejected or give up entirely.

Cultivate community

Doing anything difficult becomes easier when you’re not alone. The good news is that it’s not rare to struggle with your relationship to food. There are lots of us who have had similar experiences and found a better path. Find the people whose stories resonate with you and connect with them.

In large part, I became addicted to drugs as a way to manage the pain of a disconnected life. In the years since rehab, I’ve formed rich relationships through new lifestyle habits and hobbies. Joining a recipe club, volunteering at a local farm, or signing up for a community hike or run can be a great way to make friends with similar goals who can support you through your journey.

Connect to something greater than yourself

Sometimes, on challenging days, it helps to get outside of our individual experience. Travel and volunteering are both great ways to recognize your place in the greater world and gain some perspective. In my experience, I found plant-based eating to be helpful for further connecting to the world around me and developing my spirituality. Working in the plant-based food space has also helped me gain awareness of my profound interdependence on all living things.

The journey to food freedom is a deeply personal one. It’s about discovering what works for you and how to create a sustainable, healthy relationship with food that allows you to thrive. Understanding your unique needs, resisting one-size-fits-all approaches, cutting out critics, investing in self-confidence, and committing to experimentation are all powerful tools to redefine your relationship with food. My hope is that by taking small steps to incorporate what I’ve shared above, you too can experience the empowerment that is true food freedom.

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Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash