Journaling for Food Freedom
Using journal prompts for food freedom can be an excellent tool. As a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor, I highly recommend journaling and reflective practices to all of my clients. I’m a firm believer that being able to process our thoughts, feelings, and emotions related to our relationship with food is the path to healing.
It can be difficult to be an observer and learn from our thoughts when they’re all swirling around in our minds. Let’s be real, when we have too many thoughts bouncing around in there, it is super overwhelming! So using journaling as a practice can help you to decipher what’s truly going on. It also helps you to stop spiraling and be able to look at your thoughts with more curiosity and compassion, and less judgment.
Benefits of Journaling
There are so many benefits of journaling in general. So before we get into the food freedom journal prompts, let’s take a look at how journaling can support you. I don’t know about you, but love to know the “why” behind what I’m doing before I do it. It just feels so much more impactful when we’re connected to the reason things work! Here are some benefits of journaling that go hand in hand with your food freedom journey:
- Helps to get all of the thoughts out of your head
- Less anxiety and spiraling thoughts
- Allows for deeper reflection and self-awareness
- Creates a growth mindset
- Assists with emotional regulation
- Can improve your overall mental well-being
- Creates clarity on how to move forward
- Can shift you out of obsessive thought patterns
What if I don’t Like Journaling?
To all the journaling skeptics out there – it’s okay if you’re a little skeptical! Maybe you think journaling is a little too “woo woo” or fluffy. Maybe you tried a form of journaling before that didn’t work for you. Whatever the reasoning is, I’d encourage to give this a shot with an open mind. Try it out, and see how it goes using some of these different approaches:
- Stream of consciousness journaling – you just let whatever thoughts come to mind get written down
- Using journal prompts! – instead of trying to figure out what to write, use prompts to follow (like the ones below) so that you can proceed with an intention in mind
- Try both pen-to-paper and digital journaling – see what method works best for you
- Talk it out loud instead – if pen-to-paper or digital journaling doesn’t feel right for you, try speaking your thoughts out loud instead. Talking it into your voicenotes app, or an AI transcription app, can be helpful for folks who process better by talking than writing.
Overall, give it a shot with an open mind and tweak it to fit your life! Afterall, we do need some level of self-awareness and reflection to move forward and reach our goals. You got this. Let’s dive into the prompts.
15 Journal Prompts for Food Freedom
No matter where you’re at on your food freedom journey, these prompts will be so expansive for you to see where you’re at, where you want to go, and how to move forward.
Get out your journal, notebook, or notes app, and let your thoughts just flow for each of the food freedom journal prompts below. The key is to let whatever comes up go onto the page, not filtering it, and not judging yourself for what comes up. Proceed with a lens of curiosity and not judgment.
Your Journal Prompts for Food Freedom
Take time to reflect on each of these prompts:
- What has my past relationship with food been like?
- What have I tried in the past? How did that go?
- How do I currently feel around food?
- What thoughts do I have about food?
- Do I feel satisfied by my meals & snacks?
- Are there any foods I place off limits?
- Do I have any automatic habits with food?
- Do I turn to food when I feel emotional?
- How is my current relationship with my body?
- Do I treat my body with respect?
- How could I be a little more kind to my body?
- How do I want to feel around food?
- What’s my dream relationship with food?
- What shifts can I make to get closer to that dream?
- What’s one small step I can take today?
How to Incorporate Journaling into Your Food Freedom Journey
I’d encourage you to save the above prompts in whatever way works best for you. Take a screenshot, write them down, copy & paste, save the above image, Pin it to your Pinterest account, whatever works. Just save them somewhere you’ll be able to come back and refer to them.
Here are a few different ideas of ways you can incorporate these journal prompts for food freedom into your journey:
- Reflect on 1 prompt per day for the next 15 days
- Do a 1-day deep dive into all 15 prompts (set aside a good chunk of time for this!)
- Revisit these prompts a couple of times a year
- Save this blog post or image above for a reminder to continually be reflecting on your journey
- Find a friend or support group you can explore these questions with together
- Revisit these prompts whenever you’re feeling “stuck” on your journey
- Bring your answers to these prompts to a professional to help you even further on your journey and to implement what you uncovered
Again the most important piece of advice I have for you when exploring your relationship with food with these prompts is to do so with curiosity, not judgment. It’s so easy for us to be hard on ourselves. So be intentional about being kind and compassionate to yourself as you’re figuring out this whole food freedom thing out. This journey takes time, never give up.
What’s Next?
If the above prompts gave you clarity but also left you with more unanswered questions, you might benefit from getting support on your food freedom journey. At The Intuitive Nutritionist, we have lots of support options ranging from free resources to paid intensive coaching programs.
Free Why Do I Binge Eating Quiz
I created a free Why Do I Binge Eat Quiz that you can take right now. And it only takes a couple of minutes to get your results! This free quiz will allow you to figure out what’s keeping you stuck in the binge cycle and holding you back from food freedom the most at this time. You’ll get a personalized action step that you can do today. So you can get a little bit closer to food freedom!
Group Coaching Support
Embodied Food Freedom is my highly supportive binge eating group coaching program. This program was carefully crafted to take you from binge eating, overeating, and emotionally eating to embodying your version of food freedom. If you’re feeling like you’re stuck in the cycle of binge eating, I’d love to support you in finding peace and freedom with food inside of EFF! Click here to apply or join the waitlist.
Jenn is a non-diet Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor that helps women overcome binge eating, overeating, and emotional eating so that they can embody their version of food freedom. Jenn is dedicated to helping guide her clients and community to leave all of the “shoulds” of diet culture in the past and find confidence in their own inner wisdom to guide their eating decisions, increase their self-worth, and embody their most authentic selves.
References
Baikie, Karen A., and Kay Wilhelm. 2005. “Emotional and Physical Health Benefits of Expressive Writing.” Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 11(5): 338–46. doi: 10.1192/apt.11.5.338.
Ford, B. Q., Lam, P., John, O. P., & Mauss, I. B. (2018). The psychological health benefits of accepting negative emotions and thoughts: Laboratory, diary, and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 115(6), 1075-1092.
Sohal, M., Singh, P., Dhillon, B. S., & Gill, H. S. (2022). Efficacy of journaling in the management of mental illness: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Family Medicine and Community Health, 10(1).
Watson, R., MSN, RN, Fraser, M., MSN, RN, & Ballas, P., MD. (n.d.). Journaling for Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=4552&ContentTypeID=1
