I Love This Summer Delight. My Food Police Doesn't Want Me To.

How do you feel about zucchini?

It’s not a favorite of mine.

I just think it doesn’t bring much to the party flavor-wise.

I do, however, love zucchini bread—making it and eating it. 

Well, that’s not entirely true. While I do enjoy making it for the most part, I do not enjoy the messy act of shredding the zucchini. 

Although it’s a pain to clean up, this doesn’t stop me from gathering zucchini from my family’s garden and baking multiple loaves throughout the summer. 

But let’s face it. Traditional zucchini bread, in my opinion, can be a bit ho-hum. 

I like to jazz it up by adding an abundance of walnuts and dark chocolate chips. Doing so adds additional layers of flavor and texture resulting in a truly yummy summer delight.

Knowing I have a freshly baked loaf of nutty, chocolatey zucchini bread to relish with a few mugs of piping-hot tea in the morning always makes me a bit more excited to get out of bed. I especially love dunking pieces of it in my tea as doing so turns the chocolate chips warm and gooey.

Food Police Spoiled It
There was once a time in my life when I couldn’t enjoy my homemade zucchini bread with such gusto. 

When I was entrenched in diet culture, my inner Food Police, the voice in my head that’s always trying to make me feel bad about my eating, was relentless. 

It was loud, critical and punitive. It made me feel guilty and regretful of my choices. 

It told me I shouldn’t be eating zucchini bread, that desiring it was wrong, that I needed to restrict my consumption, that I needed to make it a rare treat, that I should at least use a low-cal recipe.

It made me feel like I couldn’t be trusted with it, that it would be better to give it to a neighbor, take it to my coworkers, put it in the freezer, or just toss it in the trash.

As with many other foods it deemed bad, it insisted on spoling my relationship with zucchini bread. 

Instilled a Deprivation Mindset
By instilling a deprivation mindset, my Food Police caused me to obsess about the zucchini bread. All day long, I wanted to go back into the kitchen for more but, according to my Food Police, doing so was a big no-no.

My preoccupation with the zucchini bread wasn’t due to a lack of willpower, weak self-control or food addiction. It was a natural human response to deprivation and scarcity.

My brain perceived my Food Police’s command to deprive myself as a threat that scarcity was just around the corner. To protect me, it urged me to consume the zucchini bread as quickly as possible before there was a shortage. Basically, it was telling me to “Get it all now before it’s gone!”

Of course, I didn’t know at the time that food restriction, whether real or perceived, leads to food obsession. 

All I knew was that my Food Police made me feel like crap and I was tired of feeling crappy about my eating. Something had to change.

With help from some wise guides, I started to divest from diet culture, defy my Food Police and give myself unconditional permission to eat however much zucchini bread I wanted whenever I wanted.

Slowly, I began feeling more neutral about its presence and the act of eating it. To my surprise, I eventually discovered I could enjoy it when I wanted it and then move on with my day. The same became true with the other foods my Food Police demonized.

Like a Bothersome Fly
I’m grateful I’m now able to savor my zucchini bread throughout the summer without guilt, shame, fear or regret. 

I’d be lying, however, if I said my Food Police no longer barges in. 

Even though it’s been years since I stopped restricting my eating, it still occasionally pops up and tries to enforce its food rules. Unsurprisingly, I find its presence incredibly annoying.

A big difference between my restriction days and now is how I respond to my inner Food Police, which, infuriatingly, may never completely go away due to how deeply pervasive and ingrained diet culture messaging can be.

Today, I no longer listen to my Food Police or abide by its commands. Instead, I swat it away like a bothersome fly and stay focused on what tastes and feels the most satisfying to me, whether that’s zucchini bread or some other delight. 


What foods does your inner Food Police make you feel bad about? How would it feel to challenge this voice? How would your relationship with food change if your Food Police no longer interfered with your eating?