Cutting out foods is only making you more obsessed with them
When I first found an interest in nutrition, it was all about figuring out who the ‘bad guy’ was
Playing mafia - eyeing out the different players in the room, looking for clues
‘You’re the culprit, I know it’
It shifted over time
My first understanding was that the culprit was just ‘carbs’
Seeing Regina George blew up in size eating all those Swedish nutrition bars
But then I read a book that explained how dairy was bad because it increased growth hormone
And then another book that explained how poisonous sugar was
And then I learnt about how sugar wasn’t really a problem if you keep your fat intake low
And then people started talking about how really, as long as your calories are under control it doesn’t matter that much what you eat
But then we realised that what you eat does matter, we mainly just want to avoid overly processed foods
And then we started questioning whether maybe, we can include processed foods in our diet but we should try to eat intuitively
And then we all ended up getting confused again about, well, what is good to eat then, and what’s bad?
And apparently banning red food dye in the USA was the best place to start
Or maybe after all that it turns out that gluten is indeed the devil
We’re just pointing the finger at something else now
Does this game even have a mafia?
A group of evil food scientists sneaking mysterious compounds into our food that makes it addictive and detrimental to our health?
It would be naive of me to say that you shouldn’t try and challenge the advice given to us by people claiming to be experts on a subject
We do need to be sceptical about what we hear when it comes to health and nutrition
But to try and pinpoint whether or not there’s a ‘bad guy’ isn’t what the science of nutrition was ever about
My years of searching to try and understand which foods I needed to run and hide from lead me to completing a science degree in nutrition
We learnt about ‘diets that were high in…’ and ‘diets that were low in …’ having corresponding benefits or risk factors
But not once was there a clear cut -
‘Sugar is the cause of…
‘Dairy consumption leads to…
‘Gluten damages…’
Etc
Really, it’s not about specific components and ingredients of the food we eat
Heck, it’s not even about individual foods being good or bad for you
I’m not encouraging you to eat solely beige foods mindlessly while you’re staring into the pantry at 10pm
But rather, to adopt a less perfectionist approach
Because what I see all too often is the mentality that, unless we can stick to something to the tee - it’s pointless and we may as well not try again until we find the wave of motivation to have another crack at it
It’s intimidating
It makes healthy eating seem inaccessible
It’s not
The approach I tend to suggest is more about adding in things, rather than trying to avoid everything else
Add in extra protein, add in extra fruit and veggies, add in home-cooked meals
Add in joy to your life
I know that it can seem helpful to have a culprit to blame, the mafia behind all of this, the Count Orlok, so to speak (I just saw Nosferatu)
But creating fear is what leads to obsession, often leading to an even more intense desire for this forbidden thing
We should strive to eat a balanced diet where we ~mostly~ consume foods that are good for our health, but we can also include other foods purely because they taste good and it doesn’t have to be a big deal
Getting to that place with your eating habits can take more intentional effort than we might expect, but it’s so worth it
I’d encourage you to ask yourself
What can I add in this week?
Whether that’s to your life, your diet, your routine…
Let yourself embrace imperfection and life’s messiness without it swallowing you up, finding ways to create pockets of structure that help you feel a bit better
And as always,
If you need help for ideas or you don’t know where to start,
I am here to chat
Whether for tips, to bounce ideas off, to share your response to this email, or to learn more about what I do,
I love hearing from you.
Lx
