The Number-Free Diet

People are always talking about something-free diets: cutting out a food, a food group or a whole macronutrient category in order to achieve some result, usually weight loss. How often do you hear someone talk about fat-free or carb-free diets?

Also, there is no doubt that one result of processed foods replacing traditionally prepared whole foods is a dramatic increase in food allergies and sensitivities. So, gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free diets are commonplace in daily conversation (well, at least in my circles). I will write more about food sensitivities in future blogs, but here I’m going to suggest something else to cut out from your diet and your life. Just go with me, think of it as an experiment.

In our diet-obsessed culture of counting calories and points, weighing and portioning, exercising and tracking, this is going to sound radical. I challenge you to try a number-free diet, if only for a week. What would it be like to be completely free of the numbers that hold power over us?

Take note this week. Where in your life do numbers rule? Do numbers of calories or numbers of points make your food choices rather than listening to your body? Does the scale dictate how you feel about yourself for the day? Do the green blinking numbers on the treadmill at the gym decide how much exercise you need? Or are the bank account numbers or the numbers on the clock making you anxious?

Once you’ve inventoried the numbers that hold power over you, identify the places in your life where you can begin to take back the control. Obviously this can be a long process of reframing how we think about important things such as diet, body image and stress, but I want to plant the seed of a new way of life. Let me know how it grows.