Food Neutrality
A core component of recovering from dieting, disordered eating, and/or eating disorder is developing a more peaceful relationship with food. This includes unlearning food ‘rules’ and letting go of feelings of shame, guilt and fear around food. One way to practice this in everyday life is through Food Neutrality.
Food Neutrality
Non-neutral language uses words with moral or emotional connotations to describe something. This can be quite direct (‘good’ or ‘bad’) or more indirect (‘clean’, ‘cheap’, ‘light’ etc).
Non-neutral language can communicate a lot of information in only a few words and is an important part of our dialect. However, it also has been used by the food industry and diet culture to perpetuate fear around food. For example, referring to a food as being a ‘treat’ suggests that it must be earned. This can cause feelings of guilt if a person eats the food without feeling they have ‘earned’ it, contributing to a distrusting and distressing relationship with food.
Food Neutrality takes a different approach, describing food with neutral language. Food Neutrality believes that food has no moral value, and that our eating behaviours do not affect who we are. It describes food based on what it is, rather than how or why it is eaten.
Below are some examples of neutral and non-neutral language used to describe food.
Notice how you feel when you read each word – is there a difference?
Neutral language
Savoury, sour, sweet, salty
Soft, chewy, crunchy, bubbly
Warm, cold
Hungry, more filling, less filling
Simply name the food (e.g. Milo)
Non-Neutral language
Good or bad (e.g. ‘good fats’)
Healthy or unhealthy
Junk
Light, heavy
Indulgent, naughty, treat
Clean
Lazy
Cheat
Picky, fussy
Context-Dependent language
Fresh, raw, organic, processed
Empty (e.g. ‘empty calories)
Controlled (e.g. ‘portion controlled)
Balanced
Context-dependent language are terms which are neutral by definition, but can become non-neutral based on how a person uses them. For example, referring to a food as ‘fresh’ because it isn’t cooked is generally neutral language. However, referring to a food as ‘fresh’ to suggest it is superior to foods which are cooked, frozen, processed or preserved is non-neutral language.
Food Neutrality and Recovery
During recovery, using Food Neutral language can support the individual to nourish their bodies and explore new foods with less distress.
For support people, it can also role model a more positive relationship with food to the person in recovery.
Neutral language can also support individuals to communicate their food preferences more clearly, particularly to caregivers. For example, rather than stating “I want something healthy”, saying “I feel like something cold, crunchy and with some fruit” can help caregivers understand what foods their young person prefers.
Changing How We Talk
To start, notice when you use non-neutral language and see if you can find any neutral words to describe the same food next time. For example, “I need a treat, so I’m going to be naughty and get an ice-cream” could become “I feel like eating something cold and sweet, so I’m going to have an ice-cream”.
You may also notice yourself feeling negative emotions about specific foods – these may be particularly good foods to practice describing in a more neutral way.
Other suggestions include purchasing less foods which use non-neutral terms of labels or packaging, checking your social media feed for non-neutral language, and coming up with a list of neutral terms that work for you.
The last step is to practice! Just as it took time to learn non-neutral language, and it takes time to unlearn.
