What is Food Habituation?
Have you ever heard the phrase, food habituation? If you work with a practitioner who practices Intuitive Eating, if you practice it yourself, or if you are interested in practicing Intuitive Eating someday, you have might heard this phrase. But what does it mean? Check out today’s post to learn more!
Confession time: When I was younger, I recorded a Backstreet Boys concert from my TV onto a VHS (I know I’m dating myself here!) and watched it at least 100 times with my cousin. The BSB were my first love, y’all. And I’m not afraid to admit it. This was a year or two before the boys of NSYNC danced the BSB out of the top spot and became my favorite-ever boy band.
My cousin and I would re-watch the hour-and-a-half special over and over again. But after a while, the novelty of the concert wore off and we didn’t watch it anymore. Sure, it might have taken nearly 100 viewings (the actual number is unclear but at the time, it felt like 100!), but the point is, I’m not still watching a VHS tape anymore on the reg.
OR am I?!
What happened with the VHS tape was the process of habituation, a decreased response to stimuli based on repeated exposure. Habituation happens in all areas of life. I’m the oldest of 5 siblings. Growing up, my house was NOT quiet at all. And over time, I learned to adapt because it was consistently loud. As an adult, years removed from living at home with all my siblings and family pets, when I go back home and everyone is around, it’s challenging to handle the noise level for long periods.
Habituation can happen with food as well.
What is Food Habituation?
Food Habituation is a foundational principle of intuitive eating that goes hand-in-hand with Principle #3: Make Peace with Food. “Habituation is a general process in which responses to a repeatedly presented stimulus decrease over time, indicating that repeated presentations of food decrease physiological and behavioral responding for that food [1].”
There was s study done with college students where they were given free pizza every day for a month to test out the habituation factor. The study found that by the end of the month, the students were less interested in the pizza because the novelty had worn off and the habituation factor increased.
Why is Food Habituation Important?
When it comes to dieting, eating disorders, and disordered eating, there are often ‘off-limits’, ‘bad’, ‘fear’, or ‘not allowed’ foods. This creates stigma and fear of the food and a feeling of:
needing to avoid the food due to a lack of self-trust,
a belief that if the food is consumed the person won’t be able to stop eating,
or the belief that eating that one food would start a ripple effect where the person would no longer be eating healthfully.
Experiencing these feelings and/or thoughts on a regular basis can be exhausting. And, depending on the intensity of the feelings/thoughts, they can feel too big to move past. However, being able to build awareness, get curious, and feel comfortable tolerating and moving through big feelings is part of what it means to have a more positive relationship with food. A relationship where all foods fit.
The Intuitive Eating founders say, “The goal of unconditional permission to eat is not to burn out on the food, so that you’ll never want to eat it again (this is actually a form of deprivation). Rather, the objective is to remove the excitement of the forbidden-fruit syndrome through systematic habituation [2].” Essentially, it’s a form of exposure therapy.
How do I do this?!
Get help: Shifting your relationship while living in a culture that pushes the complete opposite all the time can be incredibly challenging. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and support. This can look like following anti-diet, weight-inclusive, Intuitive Eating practitioners on social media, working through the Intuitive Eating workbook, recruiting a friend or family member, working with a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, Registered Dietitian, or Therapist, or doing a group program like Free to Nourish.
Make a list: create a list of your off-limits or fear foods and consider ranking them from most fearful to least.
Write out your fears: what makes these foods so scary? Did someone say they are bad or off-limits? Are they bad or off-limits based on your experience? What do you perceive would happen if you ate the food?
Best Case Scenarios: This is a simple, yet highly effective tool I use with clients. It’s easy to focus on the worst-case scenario over other positive outcomes. What if you ate the fear food and it wasn’t so scary? What if you enjoyed the experience and then moved on? What if you could stop eating? What if you were still able to eat healthfully and balanced?
Practice eating low-fear foods in a supportive way: This might be exploring having one fear food a week, in a space where you feel comfortable and supportive, creating structure around this practice. Examples could be:
eating a low-fear food with your dietitian or IE counselor in your weekly sessions
sitting in a cozy spot with a blanket or warm beverage while eating a low-fear food
enjoying a low-fear food with a friend
Tune in: I feel like a broken record when I say this, but build awareness and curiosity. The more we know, the better understanding we have, and the greater ability we gain to make choices that feel best to us. Notice how a food makes you feel. Notice if you like the taste. Would you prefer it prepared in a different way?
Track your Milestones: Rather than tracking food, which can present a host of challenges, consider tracking your milestones. One of the most common frustrations with my IE coaching clients is when they feel like they aren’t making any progress because they still have challenges around food. One of my favorite things to do is point out all the small milestones and wins the client has shared with me.
Prepare yourself for the pendulum swing: As you start practicing making peace with food, it can be helpful to keep the image of a pendulum in mind. You start on one side and as you do the work, you swing to the other side. This can look like eating a lot more of your previously off-limits foods (and more) more frequently. My clients typically start to wonder 1) if they are ‘doing intuitive eating right’ because of this and 2) when they will stop eating so much. Rest assured, this is what is supposed to happen. My best piece of advice is to build awareness and stay curious throughout the process. As you do this, not only will you learn more about how you and your body respond in certain spots on the pendulum, but your body will also find a spot where it feels comfortable.
Practicing Intuitive Eating, while rewarding, is challenging. Especially while living in diet culture. It cannot be treated like a diet. And you won’t be ‘good at it’ right away. Instead of trying to become an intuitive eater as fast as possible and following each principle to the T, start small. I cannot stress this enough. All your small milestones will add up in the long run. (Grab more practical Intuitive Eating tips HERE!)
Things that might happen as a result of practicing food habituation:
less fear/obsession with specific foods
more brain space to think of other things
rediscovering foods you actually enjoy (that might have once been off-limits)
discovering or reconfirming foods you don’t like (just because all foods CAN fit doesn’t mean they HAVE to fit. You are allowed to dislike foods or have preferences around foods you enjoy/tolerate/want to eat most)
increased interoceptive awareness
increased self-compassion
more flexibility
Moving Forward
If you read this and feel like making peace with food by practicing food habituation feels impossible for you, our team would love to help. Please reach out today!
Resources Used:
[1] Carr, K. A., & Epstein, L. H. (2011). Relationship between food habituation and reinforcing efficacy of food. Learning and Motivation, 42(2), 165–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lmot.2011.01.003
[2] Resch, E., & Tribole, E. (2021, June 1). The Intuitive Eating Journal: Your Guided Journey for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship with Food (1st ed.). New Harbinger Publications. || Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2020, June 23). Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition (Updated). St. Martin’s Essentials.
