This post is part of my series “I know better, I do better”, in which I re -examine an old position on the blog that makes me hit because my thinking has virtually evolved since I wrote it. The text of the original suspension is sideways side in simple text.
Note: I wrote the original post in April 2012, When I was at school to study the nutrition sciences and become a dietitian. At this point, I had been exposed to the book “Intuitive food“And the concept of health in every size and moved in this direction, but I was clearly still crossing the line between the weight cycle and weight without exclusion. I can see that I was starting to overflow with the idea that weight = health, but it wasn’t there yet. Also, I had a clearly hygiene (health pursuit is our obligation) worldview, and the one that was a bit elitist in that I thought if I could do it, everyone else could also.
What is this “utopia” of which I speak?
In my utopian dietary universe, each of us would enjoy healthy, delicious, calorie meals as a normal part of our daily lives, with occasional beaches in delicious but less rich foods. Our overall diet model would be healthy and we would feel nutritious, activated and never deprived.
Who am I … the supreme ruler of the universe? I have informed my utopia to include a world in which…
- No one had stripped their inner intuitive eating from hunger or food insecurity, club Clean Plate, rigid school lunch, restrictive childhood rules for snacks between stuffed, diet gurus and wellness,
- Anyone can rely on their inner parts of the body to decide when and how much to eat and on their aesthetic preferences to choose which foods will satisfy them and …
- Everyone has the access and the necessary means to supply their selected food.
Unfortunately, few people eat in this way effortlessly.
True. And some people who eat in this way spend such a huge effort that is being done a second job and prevents social interactions.
Wow, I really had a limited understanding of other people’s experiences
We do not eat for natural food most of the time and celebration or leniency a fraction of the season. This is due to the fact that we eat for so many reasons that they should not even be related to food: stress, emotions, boredom … you know the drill.
While I do not disagree 100% with what I wrote, looking at it now, I shake the lack of shades. This was a coated approval of 80-20 or even 90-10 by eating “rules”, but I remove the veil towards the end of the position.
And while I agree that anxiety, feelings and boredom should not be about food (again, in utopia), that’s just because I wish we all grow up to be more tuned and accept the full range of emotions And that we have supported the development of a powerful set of tools to deal with stress, boredom and emotions that feel “too big” to let them fly on their own. But given the reality in which we live, I know that sometimes food is the best or only tool of treatment that one has at their disposal when they need a lot of a treatment tool. I would never want to make someone’s security blanket away from them unless we had worked with alternative treatment tools that also served them or better.
Or, we do not have the time or skills to prepare a meal (though we sometimes believe we do not have these things), so we begin to rely on less rich fast food and other prepared food food.
I agree that some people have more time or skill than they think, often because they have a perfectionist view of what “cooking” or “preparing a meal”. However, I now fully understand that some people find meal being prepared hard because they really have almost no time once you remove work and movement and sleep and basic hygiene and other basic duties of daily life. Or struggle with depression or extreme fatigue. Or they have mobility challenges that do anything in the kitchen hard. Or they are neurotransmitting in a way that makes the meal preparation quite stressful and exhaustive.
With guilt and confidence
Above all, we often know that we do not eat in a way that supports our health, so we begin to feel guilty when eating chips instead of an apple or burger instead of salmon and vegetables. If we know that we could benefit from weight loss, bad emotions often intensify when we eat bad food.
Apart from “if we know that we could benefit from weight loss …” (which means diet works?) This is still valid. There is a lot of guilt about perceptions that we do not eat the way we should eat.
“Wait,” you say. “I thought there were no ‘good food’ and ‘bad food’.
This was something I touched a few weeks ago in my column at Seattle Times. My feeling is that the idea started because people were hitting themselves for their food choices. No one should beat himself over the food. If you know you could make better choices, then put your mental energy to calculate what to do to make healthier choices. Don’t miss this mental energy for self -confidence. You are a human being and human beings are not perfect creatures … nor should they be defined by what they eat.
*I should really make a new version of this theme for my column based on my updated understanding and perspective. I can just see the emails now: “Well, based on my experience as an engineer, I think you are wrong …” (I literally receive emails that start that way.
I agree with the call of a détente for self-literacy, and I put this concept in practice at the moment, it does not hit myself above my attitude “just do it”. Now that I have consulted a variety of real people for more than a decade, I know that sometimes there is no extra mental energy … or exists, but it puts people back because they know how they feed themselves do not feel good physically and know they have to change, but they can’t understand where to start. And of course I still agree that people are not perfect and that we should not determine what we eat!
And now, let me really go to that
Ideally, no food should make you feel good about yourself or bad for yourself, in a mental/emotional/psychological sense. But this does not mean that we cannot characterize food as “good” or “bad” in terms of whether they are “good for your health” or “bad for your health”. Let’s admit it … A leafy green salad makes more for your body than an ice cream bowl. But even this concept has a qualifying: amounts. The “bad” foods are not really bad for your health unless you eat too much of them. Returns to our overall diet standard. If you eat healthy foods most of the time and have occasional dough or cupcake, you still have a healthy, balanced diet. If you eat a lot of leafy green, you can have a casual series of fried potatoes and feel free to really enjoy them, instead of thinking “I shouldn’t eat this” with every bite.
Ewww. I tried to get away from the idea of ”good food/bad food”, but in the process it went back. I was clearly in the phase of my life “non -convenient diet”. AKA, “All food is okay … but just don’t eat too much of these foods!” This is the guy that doesn’t really work when it is based on rules. I compare this to when, maybe five years after this writing, I decided that while the fried chicken is delicious, I never feel good after eating. I was tuned to what my body was telling me. So I thought about how to have both ways. I decided that I would completely enjoy the best fried chicken in Seattle (which would be Ezell’s) twice a year. This worked beautifully for a few years, then I forgot completely for the fried chicken at all. Obviously I didn’t want it anymore.
You may have encountered references to the “90-10” or “80-20” rule. The idea is that if 80-90 percent of your diet consists of healthy foods that are rich in nutrients without being too high in calories, you can do whatever you want with the other 10-20 percent. If you are already in good health and you are not trying to lose weight then 80-20 is probably good. If you are trying to improve your health through diet or try to put on overweight, then 90-10 can help you achieve your goals. To mention [redacted] “You can have it all. Just not all at the same time.”
WHOMP! There it is. Ladies and gentlemen, the non -diet. Supposedly. And there is this strange “I was crossing the fence” gentle approval of the deliberate weight loss that was okay and not harmful which we need to do. I restore the person who is responsible for this excerpt because I will say Voldemort’s name before I say hers. Oh, look, I just did it!
Do you need more help to make changes that support health and prosperity, coordinating your body wisdom instead of relying on external rules? Click here To schedule a free 20 minute discovery call To talk about your concerns and if you will benefit from nutrition therapy.
More “You know better, make better” posts:
This post contains Amazon subsidiaries. As a Amazon partner I earn from the qualifying markets.
Disclaimer: All information provided here is general and provided only for educational purposes. This information should not be taken as medical or other health tips related to a person’s specific health or medical condition. You agree that the use of this information is at your own risk.
Hi, I am Carrie dennett; Mph, rdn, a weight-inclusive Registered Dietitian, Nutrition Therapist and body image consultant. I help adults of all ages, shapes, sizes and sexes who want to escape from eating disorders, disturbed food or chronic diet. If you need to learn how to Manage IBS symptoms with food, or Improve your eating and lifestyle habits to help manage A current health concern Or you just support your overall health and prosperity, I help people with it.
Do you need 1-in-1 help for nutrition, consumption or body image? Programming a Free 20 minute discovery call To talk about how I can help you and explore if we are suitable! I am on the network with Regency BCBS, the FirstChoice Health and Providence Health Plan, and can be Bill Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield fuses in many states. If I don’t get your safety, I can help you look for a refund on your own. To find out more, explore the page of my insurance and services sectors.
Want exclusive content About nutrition, health, nutrition and much more, as well as criticism of nutrition and health journalism? Sign up on my food noise newsletter! 📣
Print this post
