Diet Food is Seen as Good vs. Bad

People Using Extreme Cuisine to Burn the Fat They Want to Lose

Sep 18, 2006

When people start using diet food and categorizing it as good vs. bad, they become fixated on losing weight by burning the fat they're eating.

Individuals who want to lose weight turn to categorizing diet food into good vs. bad. This extreme cuisine mindset can sometimes lead to eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.

Categorizing food into groups of "this will make me fat" and "this will help me to lose weight" might make things easier in your head, but the groupings are certainly not based on the truth.

Ideas change about food overnight, as health experts recommend certain foods one day and denounce them the next as harmful. Science is continually discovering new ways to look at an apple or a carrot- so how do we decide for ourselves what is right for our own bodies?

The method that seems to work no matter what food group is being hyped, is this: eat what makes your body feel good, which I find are usually things that are high in nutrients and keep us energized, and stay away from foods that are hard to digest and make you tired; listen to your body and eat when it grumbles and stop when it signals that it is satisfied. Oh, and and stay away from diet food.

That way, your body is constantly being fed what it wants and will respond by keeping you invigorated and ready for activity. Although it sounds simple, how many times have you eaten when you weren't hungry or couldn't stop when you were full, which can lead to a binge or a period of starvation?

It is important to realize that our culture places emotional baggage onto the food we eat. Advertisements promote certain desserts, for example, as sinful, or a brand of chocolate as a dark, handsome lover. All of a sudden you have a piece of cake in front of you weighed down by all of this burden- no wonder we feel so heavy afterwards!

Sometimes a piece of cake is just a piece of cake. All of these emotional ties to food make us feel a certain way when we eat them, so next time you see an ad for a diet food product, notice if it is infused with an emotional stimulus: the more conscious we become to these subtleties, the better equip we are to de-attach those positive or negative connotations and just eat the damn food!

Only then will food become just what it is: fuel to keep our bodies going. And wouldn't it be so much more liberating to live without "bad" foods weighing us down?

The copyright of the article Diet Food is Seen as Good vs. Bad in Eating Disorders is owned by Lori Henry. Permission to republish Diet Food is Seen as Good vs. Bad in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Sep 19, 2006 12:05 PM

Jennifer W. Miner :

Great article - sometimes I think we're turning into a country of borderline personality disorders. Very little is black and white, most issues and things have shades of grey; especially food.
Jen

Sep 19, 2006 8:06 PM

Christine Scivicque :

It's so true that foods hold emotional value. Breaking that link is one of the most important things for women to do for their health and self-esteem. I think that learning to love yourself and your body is really step. From there, the expectations that you use to place on food tend to fall away. If you know that you love yourself unconditionally, there's nothing food can do that will help or harm that idea. And if you love yourself, you then tend to treat yourself better by eating healthier foods, because in the end, you know they make you feel better (and that's what counts). Thanks for the beautiful article!!

Sep 19, 2006 8:20 PM

Lori Henry :

Thank you both very much for your posts. I feel so strongly about this topic, as I lived for so long stuck in "food jail." Now that I know what it's like to live without those restraints, it's hard to hear others who are chained to those same/similar strange rules.

In my heaven, everyone eats because they want to feel energized and loves their bodies because of what they do for us. Can you imagine how radiant people would be?

Sep 25, 2006 8:42 AM

sharon moleski :

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly!

Aug 28, 2008 8:31 PM

Guest :

this comment was really cool but i liked it

Nov 24, 2008 6:10 AM

Guest :

I are using a meter to check my blood sugar and all the white stuff: White bread, noodles, rice and such, causes my sugar to "hit the roof". You are saying I should go ahead and eat the white stuff anyway. I am pre diabetic and hope to keep my condition as normal as possible. So tell me what can I do?
Judy

Nov 24, 2008 9:20 AM

Lori Henry :

Hi Guest. This article is not meant as medical advice. If you are pre-diabetic, it's best to talk to your Doctor about what the best food choices are for you.