Look Who's Talking: Understanding Dieting and Ally Voices
Does it ever feel like you have several voices in your head telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to your food choices? When practicing Intuitive Eating, it can be really difficult to make sense of the different voices that pop up and whether they are helpful or hurtful. Today, we are diving into some common voices that you might encounter and whether they are helpful or hurtful.
Dieting Voices versus Ally Voices
Intuitive Eating principle #4: Challenge the Food Police is all about building nonjudgment awareness and identifying the different types of self-talk related to food choices and body image. The Intuitive Eating book breaks the self-talk into different voices - dieting voices and Intuitive Eating ally voices. It’s important to note that the dieting voices might not fully ever go away - their speaking volume can be turned down and you can utilize different tools and resources to talk back or challenge them when they pop up.
Dieting Voices
Food Police
The first voice is rife with diet culture messaging, The Food Police. The Food Police is the “inner judge and jury” that determines if you are doing a ‘good job’ or ‘bad job’ with your food choices. The Food Police is “the sum of all your dieting and food rules and gets stronger with each food plan [1].”The Food Police keeps track of all your food rules and food labels.
What It Might Sound Like:
I ate too much for dinner last night, I need to work out extra hard today.
Eat the lettuce ‘bun’ instead of the regular burger bun.
Don’t eat past 7:00 pm.
How It Hurts: The Food Police scrutinizes decisions about food and body and keeps us at war with our bodies. Not following the rules of the Food Police can leave you feeling guilt or shame.
How It Helps: While the Food Police does not have many redeeming qualities, if we look at it as a part of Self, the Food Police - or however you identify it - can sometimes act in a protective capacity. In diet culture, where your worth and morality are measured by your food/exercise choices and how your body looks, it’s not a far stretch to look at the Food Police as a protective part, working to keep you feel worthy and seen.
The Nutrition Informant
The Nutrition Informant works closely with the Food Police to provide “nutritional evidence to keep you in line with” diet culture standards [1]. As diet culture evolves and changes its language from more diet-based to more wellness/lifestyle change-based, so does the Nutrition Informant.
What It Might Sound Like:
Always check macros and never deviate from your numbers.
Avoid foods with added sweeteners, processed foods, and high-fat foods.
Each meal needs to have Xg of protein and Xg of veggies to be healthy.
It’s not a diet. It’s a healthy, lifestyle change.
How It Hurts: The Nutrition Informant ends up promoting unconscious dieting and food restriction, though it operates under the guise of ‘health’. The Nutrition Informant’s always has a hidden agenda - to follow diet culture rules.
How It Can Help: As you move towards becoming an Intuitive Eater (link), the Nutrition Informant can turn into the Nutrition Ally!
The Diet Rebel
The Diet Rebel is that inner voice/part that is angry, upset, and determined. It’s the part that does not want to eat another meal of boiled chicken and broccoli. It’s the part that can’t wait for your partner to be out of town, so you can eat whatever you want without judgment.
What It Might Sound Like:
I’m out with friends, so I’ll cheat on my diet a little bit and order a burger and fries.
How It Can Hurt: The Diet Rebel acts out against diet rules, like a young child or teenager may act out against parents This could look like ‘F-It Mentality’. Perhaps you are doing well on your diet for the day, but a decision to eat an extra cookie turns into you saying ‘F-It!’ and eating whatever you want because you already ‘messed up’.
How It Can Help: Like the Nutrition Informant can turn into the Nutrition Ally, so too can the Diet Rebel turn into the Rebel Ally as you move towards becoming an Intuitive Eater.
Powerful Ally Voices
The Food Anthropologist
As the neutral observer, the Food Anthropologist observes without judgment, allowing space for curiosity and exploration. The Food Anthropologist provides insights into how you interact and behave around food. It uses a neutral voice and facts, not judgment.
What It Might Sound Like:
Even though I just ate a meal, my stomach is gurgling and I’m feeling hungry.
While the ice cream cone I ate tasted good, I also felt a bit of guilt.
How It Helps: The Food Anthropologist is great at helping you sort through facts, stay in touch with your inner cues (interoceptive awareness), and find loopholes or roadblocks in your thinking.
The Nurturer
Like the Food Anthropologist, the Nurturer does not pass judgment. Instead, its voice is compassionate and gentle and can be cultivated as the voice of positive talk in your head.
What It Might Sound Like:
I’m noticing I check in with my feelings before automatically going for a snack to determine what I actually need.
It’s okay to eat more even if I just ate a meal.
Having a snack of protein, fat, and carbs leaves me feeling satiated for longer!
How It Helps: The Nurturer can help you challenge the Food Police, as well as provide ways to respond when the Diet Rebel and Food Police start talking too loud.
The Nutrition Ally
Like the Nutrition Rebel, the Nutrition Ally is interested in healthy eating but has no hidden agenda. It helps you make choices based on satisfaction, health, and personal preference. The main difference between the two is how you feel when they start talking and when you respond. The Nutrition Rebel might produce feelings of guilt, shame, frustration, or disgust. The Nutrition Ally can make you feel assured, empowered, free, or even neutral about your food choices.
What It Might Sound Like:
“Eating a cookie for a snack sounds good. I know if I pair it with hummus and veggies, I’ll be more satiated until dinner.”
The Rebel Ally
The Rebel Ally is all about putting up and reinforcing boundaries. Rather than acting out, the Rebel Ally empowers you to use your voice to speak out against diet culture.
What It Might Sound Like:
“Please do not make comments about my food choices.”
“I’d prefer you not make mean comments about your body around me.”
“The recommendations of that wellness influencer might work for them, but they do not work for me and my body, and that’s okay!”
The Intuitive Eater
An Intuitive Eater “honors gut reactions, whether they are biological, satisfaction-based, or self-protective. The Intuitive Eater is a team player and can draw from the voices of the Nurturer, the Food Anthropologist, and the positive traits of both the Diet Rebel (Diet Ally) and the Nutrition Informant (Nutrition Ally) [1]”. We talked about how to become an Intuitive Eater earlier this year, so revisit that post for more insights!
Wrapping It Up
While all this information can feel really overwhelming, we encourage you to take some time to digest everything (pun intended). One of the most powerful first steps you can take is to build awareness. If you’re new to Intuitive Eating or leaving diet culture, take some time to build awareness of these different voices or parts. What do they sound like to you? How does the volume level of each voice change based on your stress level, work schedule, or weekend life?
After building awareness, get curious. Why is Diet Rebel's voice louder around family members? How different did it feel to have Food Anthropologist voice make observations about food choices rather than judge them? What would it be like to have Nutrition Informant turn into Nutrition Ally? It’s okay to take things slow and experiment and explore as you go!
If you or someone you know is looking for support, feel free to reach out to our Team by visiting the contact page.
[1] Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2020, June 23). Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition (Updated). St. Martin’s Essentials.
Collaborative Counseling & Nutrition is an outpatient nutrition and body image counseling center, with locations in Indianapolis and Carmel, that provides compassionate, holistic eating disorder treatment. Through practicing mindfulness, intuition, and Health At Every Size, we are on a mission to help you find a true state of well-being! We take an anti-diet, weight-inclusive approach with all our clients and work to help guide you towards a way of healthy living designed by you, just for you! This post is for education purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for treatment for an eating disorder. If you are looking for a registered dietitian or therapist to assist you on your recovery journey, please reach out today!
