You’ve heard people say things like, “I was so bad last weekend, all I ate was junk” or “This week I was so good, I didn’t eat any ice cream!”
If you’ve had these thoughts before, it’s not your fault. Diet culture is everywhere, including food packaging and Pinterest sites. Packages scream messages like “guilt-free,” “sin-free” or “superfood”? Pinterest sites have names like “clean eats” and “guilty pleasures”.
The problem with these phrases and marketing strategies is that they imply that food has a moral value. Your value in this world is not tied to what you eat.
Labeling food as “good” or “bad” results in negative and positive associations with food, and in turn makes you believe that you are a “good” or a “bad” person depending on the food you eat.
This can lead to a lot of guilt and feelings of worthlessness when you eat food that you like but do not deem as “good” for you. Food companies know this which is why they often opt to market not on how their food tastes but on how their food will make you feel about yourself.
But here’s the thing,
ALL food offers us nutritional value and there is no such thing as an “unhealthy” food. Whether a food is “good for you” depends on the context of your current nutritional, psychological, and social needs.
Yes, it’s important to go beyond just physical health and consider psychological and social needs as well. Food is wonderful not just because of the nutrients that fuel our body. It can give comfort, pleasure, and help us connect with the people around us. And that is NOT something to dismiss.
It’s ok to eat food for reasons other than the nutritional value it gives us. You do NOT need to nutritionally “optimize” every meal or snack you eat. It’s ok for food to benefit our mental well-being as well as our physical wellbeing.
With all that in mind, consider this: which food is better for you, an orange or potato chips?
Well, it depends! Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
- Which food is available to you right now?
- Which is affordable to you right now?
- Are you in the mood for something sweet and juicy or something salty and crunchy?
- How hungry are you?
- How does this food make your body feel?
- How does this food make your soul feel?
Maybe your body could really use the energy (calories) and satiating fat from potato chips, and the comfort of the fat and salt flavors together in your palate. On the other hand, oranges are refreshing, quench your thirst and provide fiber and vitamin C.
So potato chips or oranges? Or both? Or neither? Let’s say that you want both – a salty, crunchy snack and a refreshing light fruit to cleanse your palate. Put those two foods on a plate together and enjoy a snack that satisfies your senses. Or the answer could be neither because what you really need in the moment is a hearty meal.
There’s no right or wrong answer. The answer is – whatever your body, mind, and soul needs in that moment.
When we examine food in this way without placing one as morally or nutritionally superior to the another, we are practicing food neutrality. Food neutrality encourages us to examine our food choices and portion choices from a place of curiosity rather than judgment.
This allows us to consider a lot of other really important factors involved in our food choices like accessibility, hunger, food intolerances, affordability, culture, personal preferences, social life, health conditions, and mood. Notice how none of these factors say anything about our goodness or worth.
You might be asking, “Then why learn about nutrition in the first place?” Knowing that different foods provide different nutrients can be helpful, it’s just not meant to put you in food jail. Celebrate the variety of food out there – with all the varied tastes, textures, colors and nutrients. Don’t allow nutrition facts to guide your morality as a human being. You always deserve to eat without guilt or shame.