Restrictive Diets Can Lead To Rebellious Eating

“I got so pissed off, so I said ‘stuff it’ and ate everything”

One client’s honest description of an overeating episode, after their partner commented on what they were eating on their diet.

It seems odd to have such a reactive response, right?! But many of us have been there. Because actually, it’s quite a natural response.

How many times have you done exactly the opposite of what someone wanted because you couldn’t stand being told what to do, or felt you didn’t have control over yourself?

That my friend is psychological reactance.

Where we feel a threat to our freedom and we’re motivated to regain our freedom, which usually means our rebellious side coming out.

So when my client’s partner commented “should you be eating that?”, they reacted by eating the food. Why would that be the natural response?

Because by choosing to overeat or choosing to eat foods which aren’t on ‘the plan’, was a way for them to regain their freedom in the situation.

They rebelled over being questioned about their food choices and eating behaviour.

And the same, can happen when we’re following a restrictive diet. When we are being told, we can’t eat x,y,z. We’ve had all our choices taken away from us. We feel stifled and controlled.

So what can we do to feel in control of ourselves? We’ll break the rules and eat what we want.

I don’t know about you, but when I have experienced reactance, it’s usually preceded with a “I don’t give a f$^%”. And I feel as if the chains around me have dropped.

This is why, I don’t believe in following fad diets that have very narrow food lists. Not only can it cause to become more focused the all the foods, we can’t eat. But it can drive us to feel very emotionally restricted.

And when someone pipes up to ask if, we should be eating something. I believe the threat we feel comes from the person over-stepped our boundaries. They’re encroaching on our personal choices on how we live our lives.

Take a moment and reflect:

How do you feel someone is getting all up in your business?
How do you feel someone questions your efforts to change your eating behaviour?

If you feel stifled or controlled, how do you react?

Do you eat out of rebellion?
Do you follow their input and feel yourself seething with resentment inside?

How can you regain control your freedom in a way that keeps you moving towards your goals?

This might take some time depending on how easy you find communicating your true feelings.

Are you able to respectfully tell them, their ‘helpful’ comments are not helping?

Can you ‘talk yourself down’ from eating in rebellion?

There’s no quick or easy answer, however I think just by taking the time to reflect on how you feel and when you feel stifled by others or by diet rules when it comes to your eating behaviour, is a huge stepping stone to changing.

Think about the diet rules or people who make you feel stifled and how can you change that situation arising?

Do you need to verbalise your boundaries e.g. tell people what you don’t want to hear?

Do you need to create self care strategies to help you react in a positive way for yourself?

Does it make you feel angry, when you’re told you can’t eat specific foods?

I realise, I haven’t given you a clear cut answer of what to do.

However, I believe by being able to recognize when we experience psychological reactance is an important ‘A HA’ moment, which can lead to us thinking about how we can change our behaviour by understanding what’s going on.

Instead of falling into the trap (which we’ve been told for years!) that it’s just because we don’t have willpower or we don’t want it bad enough.