Your Food Personality Type

There are lots of indicators of personality type, from the clothes you wear to the color of your yoga mat, or the style of your car. Likewise the foods we like to eat may reflect more than our taste buds and dietary concerns, and may also have something to do with personality type. Often people have a dominant food habit that parallels various behaviors and character traits. These broadly categorized food types are meant to help you understand your own patterns, and can also be useful in helping you to recognize when you are dealing with someone who may not be expressing him or herself from a balanced center. Some people may embody elements of more than one type. And while these categories may seem facile, you’ll be surprised to find how often they are right on target.

Sugar

The taste of sweet comes in many forms, from the obvious cane sugar, natural sweeteners and fruits to alcoholic beverages. Essentially, someone who has a need for sugar that is extreme and out of balance is seeking a substance-induced high. It could simply be an exhausted parent or overworked employee reaching for an energy-spiking sugar hit, but it often includes those who seek to sweeten how they feel, and this would indicate an imbalance of self-honesty.

Fire

Fire personality types are intense, and their intensity drives them to move. Those movements create friction that exudes magnetic warmth and desirability. They’re brilliant at fabricating stories and illusions as a means of distraction, but they dread being caught. Essentially they are hungry with a far greater intensity than the emotional sugar type. They are typically passionate yet logical, but reactive and quick to anger. Fire personalities like control. Physical addictions are common with the fire personality as well, but instead of seeking sugar they seek fire—in the form of spicy foods, sex, coffee, cigarettes, fitness and image.

Stuffer

The stuffer’s shoulders seem to carry the weight of the world, yet for whatever reason, the stuffer does not communicate, process or demonstrate inner feelings. As a result this personality type stuffs emotions with food, sedatives (pain killers, marijuana, alcohol), suppressive avoidance (tension) and/or becoming the victim of controlling relationships.

Growing numb to how they feel, stuffers tend to have a difficult time understanding their emotions, which means they are uncomfortable expressing their feelings. Succumbing to numbing eating denies and ultimately weakens one’s personal power of self-control.

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Airy

The airy personality does not want to know and/or cannot handle reality. Airy types tend to lack down-to-earth common sense. They tend to be religious, superstitious and dependent. Airy personality types gravitate toward New Age communities and cults, or traditional religion. They want to believe there is a definitive, external reason for their life and that someone else has created and controls it. Since food is a grounding factor to emotions, the airy may likely avoid food or become very controlling (sometimes obsessive) about restricting specific foods (e.g. sugar, dairy, gluten, animal products). This behavior can easily be justified as perpetual purification. They fool themselves into believing their enigmatic ways are based on a true, unseen reality.

Avoider

The avoider personality type can be very frustrating in relationships—work and/or personal. Avoiders are not comfortable outside of superficial relationships where they can control how they are perceived and what expectations are placed upon them. Avoiders do not become involved with others without knowing first, that they are held in high esteem (due to their fear of rejection); and second, that no one needs anything from them (due to their fear of responsibility). If an issue arises that threatens their esteem or lack of responsibility, they will fly away, making conversation and/or resolution very difficult. By flying away, sticking their head in the sand or laughing off the situation as unimportant, the avoider deflects intimacy, accountability, emotions and fears. As far as food is concerned, we never really know what they eat!

Wall

Have you ever met a person and felt an immediate jolt of resistance? After making an introduction and attempting a truthful impression, you find that nothing you exhibited was accurately perceived? The wall personality projects perceptions rather than display who they are or their true intentions. The wall tends to be judgmental and preoccupied with mental perceptions, so much that they cannot perceive each moment organically as it happens.

Wall types are rigid and are driven by fear. They associate certain objects or situations with fear, and they learn to avoid the things they fear or to perform rituals that help minimize those fears. The wall personality rejects anything unknown and has poor negotiating skills—they really don’t want to hear from anyone else. This fierce belief of control creates a rigid and stubborn personality. Their food selections can be obsessive and repetitive, and they often eat the same foods every day.

Predator

Predators come in many forms and can be classified by their intention: benign or malignant. A benign predator has minimal desire or intent to cause harm to another person, but is fiercely programmed to win. These kinds of predators thrive in business and sales. They love closing deals, starting and acquiring companies or winning a new customer. They feel a sense of accomplishment when seizing control of other properties and entities.

A predator personality differs from a fire personality in that a fire thrives on being active and being seen as a winner, whereas a malignant predator seeks to seize and control other entities, always giving less than is received. Predators often eat large amounts of meat and animal products.

Like astrology readings, these quick summaries are meant only to provide a starting point for interactions. As with anything else, if you can’t use it, lose it.

Alanna Zabel is the founder of Aziam Yoga and a designer for Aziam Active Wear. Find out more about food personality types in her book, As I Am: Where Spirituality Meets Reality.