For nearly ten years, I’ve been developing this concept.

As a registered dietitian with a background in yoga and culinary arts, I’ve seen countless  individuals trying to improve their relationship with food. And one thing has become clear:

It’s not just about the food.

What we eat is influenced by a complex web of factors — including our personality, habits, beliefs, cultural conditioning, and emotional regulation patterns. When we ignore that complexity and try to rely on one-size-fits-all solutions, we set ourselves up to fail.

Why Most Diets Don’t Work (and It’s Not What You Think)

We know from the research that most people who lose weight on a diet regain it within 1–5 years. But this isn’t because people are lazy or lack willpower.

It’s because traditional diets tend to overlook key drivers of food behavior, including:

• Cognitive overload and decision fatigue
  
• Emotional eating triggers
  
• Social and environmental cues
  
• Individual psychological tendencies
  
• Self-regulation and coping strategies
  
• Personal food history

Most importantly, they ignore this truth: Not all eaters are the same.

Enter: Eating Archetypes — A New Lens on Food Behavior

Through years of practice, observation, and continued study of behavior change models, food psychology, and mindful eating frameworks, I began to see patterns.

Some clients or students were highly rigid and controlled. Others were reactive or all-or-nothing. Some avoided food decisions altogether due to overwhelm or anxiety. These weren’t just “bad habits” — they were personality-informed food patterns.

This led me to develop Eating Archetypes — a personality-based framework that helps people better understand their unique tendencies around food and gives them targeted strategies to support change.

It's informed by:

• Motivational interviewing and self-determination theory (what drives behavior)
  
• Mindful eating research (attunement to internal cues)
  
• Cognitive-behavioral frameworks (identifying thought patterns)
  
• Culinary nutrition (making nutritious food taste amazing) 
• Food prep and strategy (applying simple frameworks to make eating whole foods easier)

Self-Awareness as the Foundation for Sustainable Change

Instead of offering more rigid rules or trendy food lists, the Eating Archetypes approach invites people to ask:

“Why do I eat the way I eat?”

Because research in behavior change shows that insight and self-awareness are crucial first steps in lasting transformation. When you understand your tendencies — your internal motivators, obstacles, and emotional patterns — you’re far more likely to build habits that stick. You're also more likely to work with yourself rather than against yourself - it's more likely to be aligned and harmonious rather than feeling like you're paddling against the current. 

This isn’t about labeling yourself or putting yourself in a box.

It’s about having a language to describe your experience — and a set of strategies that align with you.

What Eating Archetypes Help You Do

Your Eating Archetype can help you:

• Understand why certain habits feel effortless — and others feel impossible
  
• Break patterns that no longer serve you
  
• Choose the right tools for your type — whether it’s mindfulness, simple prep hacks, mindset work, or more structure
  
• Stop feeling broken when another diet doesn’t work
  
  

The truth is what’s missing from most food advice isn’t just science — it’s personalization.

The Eating Archetypes approach integrates:

• Food psychology
• Mindfulness practices
• Culinary strategies to make whole foods easy and satisfying
• Lifestyle alignment
• Emotional attunement
  
  

Zooming Out: Why Alignment Beats Discipline

The more I’ve learned — from developing corporate wellness strategies, to coaching, to teaching culinary nutrition classes — the more I’ve realized that behavior change is about working with yourself, not against it.

That means zooming out to see the full picture of what’s shaping your food choices:

• Are you eating because you’re hungry, or because you’re emotionally depleted?
  
• Are you defaulting to convenience because of a bandwidth issue, not a willpower problem?
  
• Are you sticking to a routine because it brings you comfort, even if it limits variety?
  
  

These are the kinds of questions that diets don’t address — but archetype-based awareness does.

The Future of Food Advice is Personal

Eating Archetypes offer a roadmap for sustainable change that honors the complexity of being human. And the goal isn’t perfection — it’s alignment.

When your food choices reflect your real life, real needs, and real self, you stop chasing the next “fix.” You start building trust with your body and your behaviors. And from there, lasting change becomes not just possible — but inevitable.

Ready to Get Started?

The more you understand yourself, the sooner you can build a food relationship and diet that nourishes in every sense of the word.  

Discover your Eating Archetype by taking the free quiz!

Already know your type? Keep an eye out for new insights, strategies, and personalized resources tailored to help you build a nourishing, sustainable relationship with food.