What’s Your Eating Archetype? How Eating Like a Disney Princess Can Unlock The Answers for Sustainable Habit Change

Have you ever wondered what Disney Princess you eat like? Today we’re going to find your eating archetype.

Anyone who has followed along with me for a while knows that I LOVE Disney.

So, I was so excited to chat with Toni Marinucci from Tips with Toni, the creator of a quiz that helps you figure out your eating archetype based on Disney Princesses. Using your eating archetype, Toni has tons of great advice for how you can custom-tune any diet to fit your life. 

Because remember, diets don’t last. Lifestyle changes do.

Listen to this podcast episode on The Realistic Nutrition Podcast when we interviewed Toni Marinucci from Tips with Toni. Please subscribe to the podcast and leave me a review. This helps me grow and book more awesome guests like Toni.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What is an eating archetype?

It might sound fancy, but your eating archetype is basically just your eating style.

Like we might have a business style, coaching style, or learning style—we also have an eating style. 

Eating archetypes are not meant to be restrictive.

Finding your eating archetype is not about fitting into a box. Instead, it can be used to bring to light how your eating behaviors relate to some of your personal characteristics and then turn those characteristics into a positive ones.

When harnessed correctly, your characteristics can be turned into your superpower instead of being your curse.

Eating like a Disney Princess

Many of us are guilty of jumping from diet to diet, hoping each one will be “the one”—much like dating! But this causes frustration and loss of hope when each new diet doesn’t work for you.

This type of dieting is like trying to be like Cinderella’s stepsisters jamming their feet into a shoe that doesn’t fit them. Diets requiring extreme restriction or cutting out entire food groups are uncomfortable and unsustainable.

Instead, healthy eating and lifestyle are more like being like Goldilocks.

Instead of settling for less-than-ideal circumstances, she tried different things until she found what worked well for her. Regarding healthy eating, you can take components of different diets that have helped you but throw out any concepts that won’t help until you create a sustainable plan that works well for you.

You can read more about how Toni relates healthy eating and dieting to Disney Princesses in her book, Once Upon a Diet. 

You can also take her 10-question quiz about What Disney Princess You Eat Like on her website.

Again, her quiz is not intended to put people into a box, but to help us better understand our eating habits while having a bit of fun.

You can be 1 of 4 Disney Princess based on common characteristics. These characteristics are not inherently good or bad. They just need to be harnessed correctly. The 4 princesses are:

• Cinderella
  • Known for being hopeful
  • Tend to stick with bad diets because you think that’s how it’s supposed to be, until one day the “Prince Charming” diet swoops in
  • Stay hopeful and believe there are better ways out there
• Snow White
  • Known for her kindness
  • Tend to fall into people-pleasing and eating things you don’t really want
  • Need to really learn what you love so you can set boundaries and stick to it
• Jasmine
  • Known for her independence
  • Tends to be an emotional eater who looks outside herself to fill the void
  • Seeks comfort through food
• Ariel 
  • Known for her curiosity
  • Tends to be a yo-yo dieter, always wanting to try the next thing
  • Has good variety and flexibility in diet but needs some sort of structure or consistency 

Toni also talks about how people can either be planters or bouncers:

• Planters
  • Tend to stick to things for a while
  • Try harder when things don’t work
  • Cinderella would be a planter

• Bouncers 
  • Tend to bounce around instead of sticking to it
  • Tend to move on to the next thing when things get hard or something shinier comes along
  • Ariel would be a bouncer

How do you gain the confidence to know what you need?

Once you become familiar with your eating archetype, getting to that place of pure confidence and clarity of what you need for you can be easier.

But stick with it because this is a process that takes time! You’ll definitely have to practice sticking to your needs and speaking up for yourself.

The more consistently you demonstrate how you like to eat, the less you’ll have to explain yourself to others.

This can be especially tough around the upcoming holiday season when you’ll be faced with a lot of seasonal treats and pressure from friends and family.

When offered food you don’t want to eat, you could say “no thank you,” but some people don’t take no for an answer. 

Instead, it is more helpful to say something like “not right now.” This creates space for you to decide if you really want it.

Even if you know you don’t want to eat it, this tends to make it easier for the person offering to accept “no.” Most of the time, they won’t really follow up. 

Remember, it is less about responding to the person offering and more about knowing what’s right for you. 

Do eating archetypes dictate when you should eat?

In all the archetypes, there are no specific times prescribed for when you should eat.

Healthy eating is all about balance and listening to your body’s hunger signals, so you should just eat whenever your body is hungry and needs energy. Your eating schedule needs to reflect your lifestyle.

We can put ourselves in “the danger zone” when we try to restrict eating during certain times throughout the day or ignore our body’s signals.

This tends to result in overeating and poor choices at the end of the day when we are both physically and psychologically exhausted.

Instead, eat or rest whenever you are tired and give your body real fuel when it needs it.

Pay close attention to how you feel.

Aim to eat 3 balanced meals consistently.

This can create a positive feedback loop where if you eat better, you can also move more, rest more, and feel better throughout the day. Then, your eating will fit your lifestyle.

It can take several months to unlearn old habits and relearn new habits, so be patient with yourself. Real behavior modification takes time.

The best time to get started on healthy habit changes is now! Invest in yourself and take simple steps to a better you.