I have an assignment for you, and it’s not going to be an easy one. But I promise, with a little effort, you can do it – and it will be very worth it.
The assignment is to stop thinking about food as “good” or “bad.”
It’s a tough one, right? I try to be very conscientious about not applying morality to food, and yet I still fall into the trap. Think about the times you’ve been faced with a big piece of chocolate cake and thought, “It’s so bad for me, I can’t!” Or when you’ve snacked on a handful of baby carrots and been proud of the good choice you’ve made.
Now, I’m certainly not saying that there aren’t some foods that are more nutritious than others. Of course there are. But what good is it doing you to think of foods in terms of good and bad? All that’s doing is making you feel guilty and ashamed for eating certain things – certain things that you probably really love! For a lot of people, those guilty feelings are so overwhelming, that they often binge on those “bad” foods, and then punish themselves by not eating them again for a very long time. Then, when they do “slip” and eat that chocolate cake or pepperoni pizza, they binge again because they’ve missed the taste so much… and then they punish themselves even more for being so weak and bad. It’s a viscous cycle.
Here’s an idea to put an end to that cycle: Enjoy the foods you love in moderation. Love sour cream and onion potato chips? Have a handful. And then stop, knowing that you can have another handful tomorrow if you want. No, really! You can. You don’t need to binge, because you can have those chips again when you’re ready. The chips aren’t bad, and you aren’t a bad person for wanting them and eating them. Same goes for peanut butter cups and ice cream and fried chicken and whatever other foods you really love.
Now, there are some people – and you might be one of them – who can’t eat just one handful of chips, or one brownie, or one candy bar. You start, and you can’t stop. I’m not minimizing this issue at all, because I know it’s a real and problematic one for some people. But, if you can, try looking at that bag of chips or bucket of chicken in a different light. Try to see those foods not as bad or embarrassing, but just something that you enjoy. Try saying to yourself, “I am only going to eat one, because I can have another tomorrow if I want.” When you stop making certain foods off-limits, you will probably find that you are better able to eat a smaller amount. You don’t have to binge on bad foods in secret, because there are no bad foods anymore.
This idea is part of the movement known as intuitive eating. Intuitive eating encourages you to learn your body’s hunger and satiety signals, to trust yourself, to repair your relationship with food. It’s not an easy thing to learn or apply, but wouldn’t it be worth the effort to learn, if it meant that you could stop feeling guilty about what you put in your mouth, and started enjoying all kinds of foods?
I think intuitive eating, paired with the concepts of Health at Every Size, is a great way to start making some positive changes in your life. To learn more about intuitive eating, click here.
You can learn to have a healthy relationship with food. And doesn’t that sound delicious?
