The Connection Between Money & Food
Have you ever felt guilty about spending money on something you love, like a latte or Broadway tickets, and then promised yourself you’d “be better” next time?
👉 That’s budget culture.
And if you’ve ever felt guilty about eating dessert or skipping a workout, you already know its sibling:
👉 diet culture.
As an Intuitive Eating Counselor, I've spent years talking about food and body image. But today, I'm diving into money because how we're taught to approach budgeting is eerily similar to how we're conditioned to think about food.
In both my Intuitive Eating coaching and YNAB budget coaching, I consistently hear people describe their relationship with money using the same language they use for food:
“I feel so out of control.”
“I know what I should be doing, but I just can’t seem to stick to it.”
“I feel guilty every time I spend/eat something I enjoy.”
“I try to follow the rules but always fall off track.”
This isn’t a coincidence.
The messaging around budget culture and diet culture shares deeply ingrained patterns of restriction, control, and shame.
But just like with food, there's a more compassionate, self-trusting approach to managing money.
Unpacking Budget Culture
Writer and personal finance expert Dana Miranda coined the term budget culture to describe how mainstream financial advice mirrors diet culture, both promising that if you “follow the rules,” you’ll achieve success.
Budget culture indoctrinates us with toxic beliefs:
Saving money and achieving wealth is entirely your personal responsibility
Restriction and control are the primary paths to financial success
Financial struggles stem from a lack of discipline
At their core, diet culture and budget culture are built on the same destructive foundation: the belief that if you just had more discipline and willpower, you'd finally "get it together."
We're conditioned to:
Track every bite, control every craving, and ignore hunger in the name of health
Track every penny, control every desire, and suppress wants in the name of financial success
Just as diet culture convinces us that being thinner equals being better, budget culture suggests that wealth equals ultimate success. And in both cases, when we inevitably "fail" to meet these unrealistic standards, we blame ourselves, not the rigid, unsustainable system.
The Cycle of Restriction and Guilt
Both diet culture and budget culture thrive on a fundamental message: you are not enough—not disciplined enough, not successful enough, not doing enough.
Diet culture says: "You should eat less, weigh less, and resist cravings to prove your worth."
Budget culture says: "You should spend less, save more, and deprive yourself to be responsible."
This scarcity mindset leads directly to obsession and guilt.
Strict food rules can trigger binge eating, just as strict budgeting rules can lead to emotional spending
The fear of "not enough" can drive you to hoard money (never allowing yourself to enjoy it) similarly to how it can cause food hoarding (eating beyond fullness out of fear of future scarcity)
But what if managing money didn't feel like perpetual deprivation?
What if you could trust yourself instead of constantly fighting for control?
A Different Approach: Trust Over Control
I propose: Intuitive Eating to heal your relationship with food, and You Need a Budget (YNAB) to heal your relationship with your finances.
At their core, both intuitive eating and flexible budgeting (YNAB) are about trusting yourself.
With food, this means listening to your body's signals about hunger, fullness, and satisfaction
With money, this means making intentional choices aligned with your values, free from fear and shame
The key is listening to your needs and making conscious, flexible choices—instead of following restrictive external rules.
Feeling deprived of a food you love increases the likelihood you’ll crave and overeat it later.
Cutting out all "fun spending" might trigger impulsive purchases that don't align with your true goals
Both systems work because they’re built on flexibility, not rigid rules. You can adjust, pivot, and make choices that work for you—without judgment.
How YNAB Changed My Relationship With Money
I discovered You Need a Budget (YNAB) in 2017 through a friend who's also an eating disorder therapist. My immediate concern?
"Doesn't tracking your finances feel uncomfortably similar to tracking calories?"
She assured me it felt nothing like a diet, which got my attention.
At the time, I didn’t have the greatest relationship with money. I wasn’t making much of it, had no system for spending it intentionally (because I thought that would feel restrictive), and often felt guilty about where my money went. I was stuck in a cycle of living paycheck to paycheck with no clear plan.
After some research, I decided to give YNAB a try. I was hooked from day one.
Everything about YNAB—the philosophy, the language, the method—clicked with me. My relationship with money started shifting immediately, and I finally found a way to manage my finances without guilt or restriction.
YNAB wasn’t about deprivation or sticking to a rigid plan—it was about awareness, flexibility, and aligning spending with personal values.
The same way Intuitive Eating changed my relationship with food, YNAB changed my relationship with money.
*referral link gets us both a free month (in addition to your free trial everyone gets!)
YNAB and Intuitive Eating: A Harmonious Pair
As I mentioned, YNAB doesn’t feel like a restrictive diet. There are no “shoulds,” no shame, and no rigid rules.
In fact, YNAB and Intuitive Eating share many philosophical similarities.
Embracing Flexibility Over Rigid Rules
Rather than a fixed, joyless budget that sucks the fun out of life, YNAB encourages a fluid, adaptable approach. You can reallocate funds without self-judgment if you allocate too much or too little in a category.
Intuitive Eating: Eliminates "good food" and "bad food" labels. All foods can fit.
YNAB: Rejects the concept of a single "right" way to budget. You decide based on what matters to you right now, and you can adjust as your priorities shift.
Neither method says, "Do this and only this." They say, “Listen, adapt, and care for yourself.”
Freedom from Guilt
YNAB's philosophy, reinforced by its team, teachers, and coaches, deliberately uses language to counter guilt and shame.
Instead, YNAB empowers you to make financial decisions confidently and encourages you to respond to your choices with compassion and understanding, especially when doing so is the opposite of what you would normally do.
There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to spend money, and YNAB doesn’t assume everyone should save as much or spend as little as possible.
You are allowed (and encouraged) to enjoy life, invest in things that bring you happiness, and embrace the pleasure and joy of mindful spending.
Instead of framing spending or eating as morally right or wrong, what if we asked:
Does this purchase align with my values?
Does this purchase satisfy and nourish me?
What can I learn from this experience instead of punishing myself?
Honoring your individuality
YNAB and Intuitive Eating celebrate your uniqueness and resist external pressures to spend money or look a certain way.
Your budget should reflect what’s important to YOU. Not what society values, what your mom values, or what you’ve internalized as what you “should” value.
With YNAB, you can create budget categories that resonate with your unique priorities (emojis included 🥳) and decide how to allocate your money. Your spending becomes a true reflection of who you are, and that’s a beautiful thing!
Love buying fancy dresses? Cool. Saved up your life’s savings for an espresso machine? Cool. Want a category solely for Broadway shows (me 🙋♀️)? COOL. You. Do. You.
We all have different priorities and values, so expecting your spending habits to mirror someone else’s is unrealistic. Let’s stop the comparison game and embrace our unique financial journeys.
Cultivating Mindfulness & Intention
With YNAB, whenever you receive money, you give those dollars a job. This means you decide in advance the purpose for every dollar (with the flexibility to adjust as needed.)
For instance, if you receive $1,000, you might allocate $500 for rent, $200 for groceries, $200 for Broadway, and $100 for your baby’s diaper fund. Each dollar is purposefully assigned a job.
By giving every dollar a job, you shift from reactively responding to your financial situation to proactively managing it. This mindful approach helps you be intentional about how and where you spend your money, allowing you to align your spending with your values and priorities.
Meal Planning is to Food as YNAB is to Budgeting
Beyond their philosophical similarities, I view YNAB as a way of organizing your financial resources similar to how meal plans and grocery lists organize your food resources.
Meal planning can be a powerful complement to Intuitive Eating. "But wait… isn't planning meals kind of... diet-y?”
Meal planning isn't essential for Intuitive Eating, just like organizing your money isn't mandatory for financial health. Some people thrive on spontaneity, listening to their body's cues in the moment and choosing meals that way. (And honestly? Good for you!)
But for others (especially my fellow ADHDers, busy parents, or anyone dealing with decision fatigue), having some structure feels liberating. It's the same with budgeting—some people feel restricted by assigning dollars, while others find incredible freedom in having a clear plan.
A flexible meal plan relieves you from:
The stress of last-minute meal decisions when you’re exhausted at the end of a long day
The mental load of constantly thinking about what to eat next
Rushed grocery trips when you're already hungry
Similarly, when you have a plan for your money with YNAB, you free yourself from:
Constant worry about whether you can afford something
The stress of unexpected expenses
That pit in your stomach when checking your account balance
Life Happens (And That's OK!)
The beauty of both flexible meal planning and YNAB is that they're designed for real life. You can adapt, shift, and recalibrate as needed.
Neither system is about perfection—they exist to simplify your life.
You might:
Get an unexpected dinner invitation
Have leftovers you need to eat
Face a surprise expense
Find a great opportunity you want to say yes to
Both meal plans and YNAB accommodate life's unpredictability with ease.
Just like you can swap Tuesday's planned dinner for Thursday's because that's what sounds good, you can move money between YNAB categories as your priorities shift.
No guilt, no shame—just adjusting to support your evolving needs.
How YNAB & Meal Planning Support Executive Functioning
As someone with ADHD, I've found both systems incredibly helpful for managing executive function challenges. Both systems make life less chaotic by reducing decision fatigue and increasing clarity.
They both:
✨ Eliminate Decision Fatigue
No more staring blankly into the fridge at 6 PM
No more second-guessing every purchase
✨ Make Things Visible
Your grocery list shows exactly what you need
YNAB shows exactly how much money you have for each category
✨ Support Memory
No more trying to remember if you have eggs
No more trying to remember if you paid that bill
Tools for Joy, Not Restriction
Just as meal planning doesn't need to reinforce diet culture, YNAB doesn't need to perpetuate budget culture.
Could these tools be misused restrictively? Sure. But that's not their intended design and that's definitely not how I teach them.
Both YNAB and flexible meal planning build upon:
Self-trust
Permission for adaptation
Finding joy in the process
Freedom from self-judgment
They're not about following rules perfectly—they're about creating systems that support the life you want to live.
Whether you're planning meals or planning your money, remember: you're not creating rigid rules to follow. You're creating gentle structures that simplify daily decisions, so you can focus on what really matters to you.
The Bottom Line
At the heart of both Intuitive Eating and YNAB is a simple but powerful shift: moving from rigid control to mindful, values-based decision-making. Both approaches encourage flexibility, self-trust, and intuition instead of rules that lead to guilt and shame.
You don’t need to punish yourself for spending or eating in a way that brings you joy. You don’t need to track every penny or every bite to be responsible. What if, instead, you embraced a way of managing food and money that actually supports your well-being?
When you release the pressure to "get it perfect" and instead focus on what truly works for you, you open the door to freedom, confidence, and a life that feels aligned with your needs and values.
Ready to explore a guilt-free way to approach budgeting?
*referral link gets us both a free month (in addition to your free trial everyone gets!)