Permission to Eat: Rebuilding Trust with Your Body

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I’ll be good tomorrow,” or “I shouldn’t be hungry again already”?That quiet battle that plays out in your head around food — guilt, rules, control — isn’t about willpower. It’s about trust.

When eating starts to feel like a constant tug-of-war between your body and your mind, it’s usually a sign that permission — true, unconditional permission to eat — has been lost somewhere along the way.

Often people I work with tell me they know what they “should” eat — yet feel anxious, confused, or out of control when they try to eat freely. Somewhere, the message that food needs to be earned, tracked, or justified has taken hold.

It often starts with good intentions: eating “healthier,” training smarter, wanting to feel better. But over time, those intentions turn into restrictions — cutting carbs, skipping snacks, ignoring hunger cues. The body, wired for survival, pushes back.

You might start thinking about food all the time. Meals feel stressful. And when you finally “give in,” it can feel chaotic or like you’ve failed. But in truth, your body is doing exactly what it’s meant to do — trying to protect you.

What Permission Really Means

Giving yourself permission to eat doesn’t mean eating anything, anytime, without thought. It means removing the moral value from food — no more “good” or “bad.” It’s about reconnecting with your body’s cues: hunger, fullness, satisfaction, energy. It is allowing your body to trust that food is coming regularly and reliably — not just when you’ve “earned it.”

Permission sounds gentle, but it’s incredibly powerful. When your body feels safe again, it stops shouting for food. The urgency fades. The binges, the guilt, the second-guessing start to quiet down.

What I know- permission alone isn't often in recovery and healing from an eating disorder, structure provides the safety net that permission needs.

Regular meals and snacks — spaced every 3–4 hours — help regulate blood sugar, stabilise mood, and reduce the physical drivers of bingeing.This rhythm tells your body: you’re safe; nourishment is coming.

Structure doesn’t mean rigidity — it means reliability. When you pair structure with permission, your body starts to rebuild trust. You begin to feel hunger again, and over time, you realise it’s okay to respond to it.

Support!

This process isn’t easy to do alone — especially when food guilt has been a part of your story for a long time. Working with a dietitian can help you find that balance between evidence-based nutrition and emotional healing.

Together, we can:

• Unpack the beliefs that have kept you stuck in all-or-nothing thinking.

• Create a meal structure that supports energy, mood, and stability.

• Relearn hunger and fullness signals in a safe, guided way.

• Make space for flexibility — because food is more than fuel; it’s connection, comfort, and culture.

Healing your relationship with food is not about losing control — it’s about letting go of control that’s been hurting you.When you rebuild that trust, eating stops feeling like a battle and starts feeling like living again.

If food still feels like a battle, you don’t have to do this alone.

At Stepping Stones with Helen Dean, we’ll take it one step at a time — combining structure, compassion, and support to help you find peace with food and your body again.