How the Fear of Scarcity Affects Your Eating

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There’s nothing like a viral pandemic for us to truly understand a scarcity mindset.

I walked down the aisles of my local grocery store gawking at empty shelves. I hadn’t planned to buy more than the week’s worth of food I always get.

 But the empty shelves taunted me. I started to panic. The fear of scarcity set in. All of a sudden, when I did see a shelf with a food item I typically buy, I found myself picking up 2 or 3 packages…just in case. 

I knew deep down inside that I didn’t need to hoard. I mean these shelves would be restocked, right? I knew that I would be allowed to revisit the grocery store the next week, or that, worst case scenario, I would need to buy groceries online. But, the fear of scarcity drove me to alter my shopping habits, to bring back extras that I had no room for in our pantry.

 Now let me just acknowledge for a second the privilege I hold that I could even consider purchasing extras. Many visited those same shelves this week maybe wanting to pick up a few more, but it wasn’t in the budget that week.

With COVID-19 on all of our minds, we’re worried about a lot, including lost jobs, poor health, and fears of losing loved ones. No one is immune to fear in this season, but those with financial insecurity and uncertainty are especially vulnerable.

Fear is driving all of our actions, including how we grocery shop. 

Have you ever considered the fact that a similar fear drives our eating patterns? 

This scarcity-driven grocery shopping experience truly opened my eyes to what often drives feeling out-of-control around food. 

It’s a scarcity mindset.

It’s so unconscious that you likely don’t even realize it’s happening. All you know is that you don’t know why you can’t seem to put down the box of cookies or the bag of chips. It’s a scarcity mindset. Even though you have a whole box there with you (or maybe even an extra one in the cupboard), you’re afraid the cookies will disappear, and you don’t even realize that you sit with that fear.

See, if you’re eating a food that you have labeled as “unhealthy” or don’t believe you “should” be eating, then you’re likely eating that food with a scarcity mindset. Fear that there won’t be more. Or that you aren’t allowed to eat more.

You’re eating that food believing that you shouldn’t be eating that food and therefore it will be GONE from your life very soon. It will be gone not just because you are ingesting it, but because you believe you should never buy it again, or never allow it in the house. 

As soon as you are done eating, your plan is to hide this food in a far-reaching corner of your pantry, making it hard to reach back for some more. Or, if you finish the bag, your plan is to not buy anymore for a very long time.

That, my friends, is what leads to irrational out-of-control behaviors.

Believing that the food won’t be available again.

Believing that your very favorite coffee ice cream, once demolished, will no longer be available in your freezer ever again. 

It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Of course you’re going to overconsume if you believe it won’t be there in the near future…just like I was over-purchasing when I believed the shelves may not be restocked. 

So how do we stop a scarcity-driven overeating episode?

It’s simple really (and yet oh so complicated and hard).

We remind ourselves daily, and certainly while eating that favorite food, that we CAN HAVE THAT FOOD AGAIN VERY SOON. Heck, we can have that food for breakfast the next morning, if we really want it. 

Now, chances are good it’s not going to necessarily sound good the next morning for breakfast. But you tell yourself that you can have it anyways. You tell yourself you can have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

That’s the only way to win this mind trap. 

Now, before you freak out and tell this dietitian she’s totally lost it, hear me out. You’re probably going to overconsume it a few times until this full permission mantra really sinks in. And that’s ok. 

And then, when you truly believe yourself that you CAN in fact have that food whenever you’d like it, (and there’s enough in your pantry for this to become a reality) guess what will happen? You’ll lose interest in it. 

You have to trust me on this one.

The only way to no longer feel out-of-control around that favorite food is to believe that the food is available in abundance and that you’re ALLOWED to eat it. 

Call it reverse psychology if you want, but it’s really mind-blowing just how effective this paradigm shift can be. I hear it over and over again from those who have tried to adopt the “I can eat it whenever I want it” mantra. It’s life changing. It’s life-giving. 

“Now I end up taking a handful or two of Cheezits and putting the box back…and don’t think much of it anymore. I used to not be able to stop,” I hear people say.

Discover the game-changing gift of giving yourself full permission to experience the foods you truly enjoy. And while you eat those food, close your eyes and savor. Taste the goodness that is a gift from God.

From our BodyBLoved family to yours, we are praying for your health during this difficult time, and as always, praying for your food and body peace.

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Do you want freedom from food struggles and body hate for yourself and your brothers and sisters in Christ? We can do better. We’ve created an online video bible study. That’s why we’ve created a solution. To get notified on the updates on our course make sure you sign up here.

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