Still Struggling With Food Even After Quitting Dieting?

If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “I’m not dieting anymore, so why does food still feel so complicated?”—you’re not alone. You might have deleted the calorie app and sworn off diets, but something still feels…off. You want to feel free around food, but guilt and fear still sneak in. That’s what I call the messy middle, where you’re technically not dieting, but you’re still not fully at peace either.

This week on the podcast, I sat down with the incredible Julie Duffy Dillon—registered dietitian and author of Find Your Food Voice—to talk about what it really means to move through the messy middle and start trusting yourself again. You can listen to the full episode here.  

Emotional Eating Is Normal. Really.

One of the most liberating parts of our conversation was reframing emotional eating. We’ve been taught to treat it like a problem, something we should avoid at all costs. But Julie reminds us that emotional eating is not only normal, it’s necessary.

Think about it: food is emotional. It connects us to our culture, to celebrations, to comfort during grief. From birthday cake to funeral casseroles, food shows up during life’s most emotional moments, and that’s not a mistake. That’s being human.

If you’ve ever felt ashamed for eating emotionally, this is your permission slip to let go of that shame. Emotional eating is not a lack of willpower. It’s a valid coping strategy, and in some seasons, it might be exactly what your body and nervous system need.

Bingeing Isn’t a Failure, It’s Survival

We also talked about binge eating, another area where so many people carry guilt. If you’ve been bingeing and feeling like a failure, I want you to hear this loud and clear: bingeing is not the enemy. It’s often your body’s way of protecting you after restriction or trauma.

Julie calls it “diet trauma,” and it’s real. Years of on-and-off dieting, food scarcity (real or perceived), and body shame can leave deep wounds. Bingeing may be a way your body is trying to make sure you’re fed and safe. The solution isn’t more control. It’s more compassion.

How to Start Finding Your Food Voice

Julie describes your “food voice” as your internal compass, the voice you were born with that knows what, when, and how much to eat. The voice that gets buried under years of dieting but never truly disappears.

Finding your food voice means reconnecting with that part of you that’s rooted in trust. It’s flexible. It’s kind. It’s nurturing. And it sounds different for everyone.

Some people connect to their food voice through hunger and fullness cues. Others feel it in their energy levels or mood shifts. If you’re neurodivergent or living with a chronic illness, your food voice might speak to you in totally different ways, and that’s okay. There’s no one-size-fits-all here.

Gentle Nutrition That Adds (Not Restricts)

When chronic conditions like PCOS or diabetes enter the picture, a lot of people feel pressure to restrict or cut out entire food groups. But Julie offers a refreshing approach: gentle nutrition that starts with nourishment, not elimination.

Instead of focusing on what to cut out, ask yourself: What can I add to feel better? Maybe it’s protein at breakfast, fiber that supports digestion, or a supplement that helps regulate blood sugar. But above all, the foundation has to be eating enough. That’s non-negotiable.

This additive mindset takes the pressure off and brings you back into a partnership with your body, not a battle.

The Power of Looking Back

One of the most powerful exercises Julie suggests is creating a timeline of all the diets you’ve ever tried. Not to shame yourself, but to gather data. When you see just how many times you’ve tried to “fix” your body with restriction, it becomes clear: dieting didn’t fail because of you. It failed you.

If this hits home, I highly recommend reading The Hidden Grief of Quitting Dieting. It walks you through the emotional side of this process, and how to move forward without turning back.

You’re Not Failing. You’re Healing.

If you’re in the messy middle, please know that what you’re doing is brave. Healing your relationship with food takes more than just giving up diets. It takes unlearning, grieving, and rebuilding trust with your body from the inside out.

And that trust? It’s there. You may just need to peel back some layers to find it again.

🎧 Listen & subscribe:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Deezer | Google Podcasts

Referenced Episode: Ep.185 – PCOS and Managing Your Health Without Dieting with Julie Duffy Dillon

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

• Listen to episode #119: Grieving the Things You’ve Lost to Diet Culture with Erin Kinzel
• Join the Intuitive Eating Made Easy Facebook Group
• Grab my FREE Daily 3 Body Kindness Journal Pages
• Intuitive eating education on the blog
• Work with Katy