Nourishment 101: A Simple Guide to Eating Well Without Food Rules

Eating well without diet rules doesn’t have to be complicated. Good nutrition is honestly so simple. Diet culture complicates it. Keep reading for the most important, practical tips I give my clients who want to nourish their bodies without restriction, guilt, or stress.

What is nourishment, really?

Before diving into the “how,” it’s important to revisit the definition of nourishment. Nourishment means more than just eating the “right” foods. It means feeding your body in a way that supports physical health, mental clarity, energy, and emotional wellbeing.

At its core, nourishment is not about food rules—it’s about meeting your body’s needs through consistency, variety, and flexibility.

How diet culture distorts nutrition

Diet culture has layered on the confusion with nutrition. According to diet culture, good nutrition sounds something like this…

“Cut carbs, but keep the fruits and vegetables. Make sure you don’t eat too much processed food, but definitely consider using protein powder or supplements (which are processed). Eat plant based to lose weight and fight disease, or follow the carnivore diet and don’t eat any plants ever. Follow a super low calorie diet, but also try to hack your metabolism.”

You can’t win with diet culture!

Good nutrition is so much easier than diet culture makes it out to be. But rejecting diet culture’s misinformation and confusion might be tough to swallow at first. It may require you to challenge your beliefs about what “good” nutrition even means.

The truth about good nutrition (Without food rules)

Good nutrition as an intuitive eater will be a balance of listening to your body and keeping a flexible routine to feel structured in your eating patterns. Being structured is not the same as being rigid or obsessive.

Structure vs. Rigidity in eating

Honoring your hunger will be a balance of listening to your body and using sound reason to be intentional and structured with your eating patterns. Sometimes specific life circumstances, like navigating a health condition or being an athlete, impact hunger cues.

But theoretically, even if you didn't feel hungry all day long, your body still needs nourishment every day, multiple times a day. If you're not experiencing hunger cues, you need to call upon your rational thought to keep yourself nourished.

Core principles of simple, non-diet nutrition

Here are the foundational practices I recommend to every client starting their non-diet nutrition journey:

1. Eat Consistently

“Aiming to eat 3 meals and 1–3 snacks every day.”

• Meals are non-negotiable to keep your body energized and help regulate blood sugar.

• Snacks may be adjusted based on hunger levels, timing, and taste preferences.

2. Eat Often

“Try not to go more than 4–5 waking hours without eating.”

After this point, blood sugar levels can drop, depending on what/when/how much you ate last. Aiming to eat every 3–4 hours supports balanced energy and mood throughout the day.

3. Eat Enough

“Make sure you're eating enough to provide your body with adequate energy.”

Your body can’t use the nutrients you’re eating if you’re not getting enough total food overall. Undereating—intentionally or not—leads to fatigue, low mood, hormonal imbalances, and slowed metabolism.

4. Eat a Variety

Eating various fruits and vegetables provides micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), fiber, and antioxidants.

“If you are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy, opt for soy alternatives if possible to maximize protein, calcium, and vitamin D intake.”

Create variety from different food groups at meals:

• Carbohydrates

• Proteins

• Dietary fat

• Dairy or dairy alternatives

• Fruits and vegetables

Why these basics matter

Good nutrition is honestly that simple. When I start working with a new client I’ll often tell them that we can’t possibly dive into the deeper, more detailed side of their nutrition if they’re not eating enough and not eating consistently.

“How can we build on a foundation that isn’t there?”

Once a client is eating regularly and meeting their body’s basic needs, then we can explore deeper layers like managing blood sugar, improving energy levels, or adjusting for specific health goals.

Common myths about “Healthy Eating” you can let go

To move forward, you have to first unlearn what diet culture taught you. Some myths to leave behind:

• Skipping meals will help you “eat less”

• Carbs are bad for you

• Eating late at night causes weight gain

• Clean eating is always better

• You need to earn your food with exercise

None of these are rooted in solid science or compassionate self-care.

Nourishment 101: How to start nourishing your body without a diet

To get started with good nutrition, first, tear down the diet culture beliefs about food, nutrition, and your body. Working with a nutrition professional (ahem, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist) will help you distinguish the lies from the truth.

Next, start to replace unhelpful beliefs with sound nutrition science truth. I think you’ll find that it’s a lot more simple than you thought.

Bonus: Questions to reflect on

Use these journal prompts to start reconnecting with your body and unlearning diet rules:

• When do I typically feel hungry or full?

• Are there foods I avoid because of food rules, not because I dislike them?

• What eating habits make me feel energized and well?

• Am I eating enough to fuel my daily life?

Nourishment 101: Keep it simple, nourish fully

You don’t need a rigid meal plan, trendy diet, or calorie-counting app to be healthy. You need enough food, eaten consistently, with variety and flexibility.

Nourishment is simple—and when you let go of the noise from diet culture, you’ll start to see how easy it is to care for your body with food.