9 Normalized Eating Behaviors That Are NOT Normal

Many disordered eating behaviors have become so normalized that you might not even realize you are struggling. You might pass them off as “being healthy” and others might praise you for these behaviors. Unfortunately, these  habits with food might be part of a much deeper issue.

Here are some common normalized eating behaviors and why they are not normal at all. 

1. Skipping meals to save up

Skipping meals because you are eating out later or saving up for something can cause way more harm than good. Skipping meals will not only make you feel terrible but when you finally get to eat you will be so hungry that most often you will eat past your comfort level. Focusing on eating balanced meals throughout the day and honoring your hunger is a much better approach. Enjoy those times out with good food. You do NOT need permission to eat and you do NOT need to restrict yourself.

2. Exercising to make up for guilt

If you have ever found yourself putting extra time into cardio because you ate too much at dinner the day before, well, this is not normal. You do not need to earn your food, and you definitely do not need to punish yourself for enjoying a good meal. Movement should be enjoyed and celebrated, it should not be associated with shame and guilt. Enjoy your food and move on with your life. Instead of punishing yourself, go back to your normal routine and enjoy some movement if that feels good to you, if not, that's okay! 

3. Only eating at certain times

Have you ever found yourself pushing back lunch because it's “too early” ? 

Whether you are following “intermittent fasting” or you feel like you can't eat at a certain time because you want to “save calories” for later, this is not normal. Not only does this create so much stress around eating, it can also ruin the trust you have with your body. It can dull hunger cues which makes it so hard to eat intuitively.

Focus on listening to your body and noticing when you are hungry, if you just had breakfast and you're hungry for lunch a couple hours later.. EAT. Your body is smart and if you are feeling hungry, honor that. There is no perfect time to eat, your body will tell you when it's time. 

4. Increased stress around not knowing the ingredients in your food

Unless you have an allergy to food, you should never feel stressed about the ingredients in your food. Oftentimes people feel so stressed about going out to eat or enjoying a meal made by someone else because they don’t know how many calories are in it or if diet culture would like the ingredients. This stress can keep you from going out with friends or family to enjoy a meal or can cause distraction from the people you are with and can ruin your time. When you look back at life you want to remember the good times and not the time spent stressing about every little ingredient. All foods fit!

5. Not keeping certain foods in the house

This is a big one for a lot of people. Maybe you stopped buying oreos because you had no “self control” or had to stop buying chips. Whatever it is, this is not normal. Restricting these foods causes a very unhealthy relationship with them. We need to remove the “good” and “bad” labels from foods and know that we can have these foods whenever we want. When we restrict certain foods, this makes us want them more. Enjoy the foods you love and know you can enjoy them whenever you want. 

6. Drink water or coffee to curb appetite

If you find yourself trying to curb your appetite by drinking coffee or water, I want you to know that you should NEVER feel guilty for feeling hungry. You are not thirsty, you need food! If you just ate and are still hungry and think “maybe i’m just dehydrated, i'll just drink some water” and after you are still hungry, your body is trying to tell you something. Maybe whatever you ate was not satisfying enough. Work on giving your body what it wants and needs by making balanced snacks and meals that have protein, carbs, and fat!

7. Measuring all the time

It’s time to put the scale away (in the trash) and put away the measuring cups. Measuring all the time creates a very unhealthy relationship with food. It starts off innocent and then it turns into not being able to eat out because you need to know the weight or size of every little thing. It creates so much stress around food. If you are someone who follows every serving size recommendation to a tee, I want you to know that serving sizes are not based on how much you should eat. They will never be that way because all bodies are different and what you need could be completely different from what I need! You know what your body needs, eat what you want, and stop when you feel satisfied. 

8. Spending extended time food shopping over analyzing labels

Do you really “love” grocery shopping or are you just there for so long obsessing over ingredients? This can lead to buying the “healthy” alternative which is most often more expensive, and you might hate it. Again, unless you have an allergy and you need to make sure that a certain ingredient isn't in a product, stop obsessing over every ingredient. Maybe you pick something up that looks really good to you and you look at the nutrition label and think it has “too many” calories, so you put it back. Pick it back up and put it in the cart and enjoy it! Buy food that looks good to you and stop stressing about every aspect of the food.

9. Cutting out entire food groups

Diet culture loves to demonize specific food groups. Sometimes it's gluten, dairy or sugar, or all of them, the list goes on. You never need to cut out entire food groups  unless you have an allergy. Cutting out things like gluten or dairy can cause intolerances that you would have never had if you just eat your normal diet. It can cause much more harm than good, and it's completely unnecessary. I've said it before and I'll say it a million times, all foods fit. 

If any of these behaviors resonate with you, I want you to take a step back and think about how they are affecting your life. Navigating through these food issues and behaviors is challenging and not something you should go through alone. Happy Strong Healthy offers the community you might need, whether it's through private coaching or group coaching, HSH has what you need. Just by reading this article shows that you are on the path to food freedom, take the next step today and kiss diet culture goodbye.

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Written by Morgan Hamler, CPT

Hey, I'm Morgan!

I’m a CPT as well as an RD2B! I graduated from West Chester University with a BS in Dietetics and I’m currently completing my dietetic internship with Be Well Solutions. I have a passion for health as a whole and believe that nutrition is just one important piece of a whole puzzle. I want to help people improve their nutrition, physical health, and mental health to help them live their best lives!

Learn more about me and the HSH offerings here.