How to Take Control of Foods You Feel Powerless Around

For a long time, I thought the way to stay in control around certain foods was to avoid them completely.

If something felt like a “trigger food,” I told myself I couldn’t have it. I couldn’t keep it in the house. I couldn’t trust myself around it. And for a while, that seemed like it worked… until it didn’t.

Because eventually, I would eat that food. And when I did, it was never just a little. It turned into overeating, followed by guilt, frustration, and reinforcing the idea that I couldn’t control myself.

What I’ve learned over time is that the problem wasn’t the food. It was the relationship I had with it.

When something is labeled off-limits, it gains power. There’s anticipation, restriction, and emotion tied to it. And when you finally do have it, it feels like you have to get as much as you can before it’s “gone” again.

That’s the cycle most people are stuck in.

What changed things for me was doing the opposite of what I thought I needed to do. Instead of avoiding those foods, I started including them.

Not in a controlled, “fit it into my calories” way at first, but in a way that removed the emotional charge. I gave myself permission to eat the food regularly.

And something interesting happened.

Over time, the food lost its pull.

It stopped feeling urgent. It stopped feeling like something I needed to have right now. And eventually, I got to a place where I could take it or leave it.

That’s the goal.

Not to eliminate the food, but to eliminate the power it has over you.

This takes patience. It takes awareness. And it takes a willingness to shift how you approach food entirely.

But when you do, you stop fighting with food and start making choices around it.

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