You aren’t what you eat Ellie Krieger
Experts say how we refer to our diets has a lasting effect on our relationship with food
The words we use matter. That’s why so many food and nutrition professionals cringe at much of the conversation around food and health today. Seemingly innocuous words and phrases that are regularly tossed around set us up for unhealthy approaches to food. I emailed several registered dietitian colleagues to identify the most common offenders.
‘Good/bad food’
Not surprisingly, almost every dietitian I surveyed ranked the categorization of food as “good” or “bad” high on their cringe list. Pinning a black or white value to food shifts focus from the big picture: the overall eating patterns that really define a person’s well-being. Sure, some foods have a better nutritional profile than others, but context matters immensely. Broccoli may easily win a “good” label, but if all you have eaten all day is broccoli, another serving of it may be the last thing you need.
On the flip side, even foods with a less-than-ideal nutritional breakdown can have unquantifiable health benefits. Take pizza for example. “Pizza is often demonized as ‘bad’ because it is high in fat, high in refined carbohydrates and easy to overindulge,” wrote Chris Mohr, co-founder of the nutrition consultation company Mohr Results. “But if that pizza isn’t an everyday occurrence and it brought friends together, encouraged conversation, laughing and connection, the otherwise ‘bad’ food becomes nurturing for your soul.”
Besides setting you up to overeat broccoli and miss out on pizza parties, the good/bad paradigm can lead to extreme, moralistically judgmental attitudes about food. As Deanna Wolfe, co-founder of HealthyBody Nutrition put it, “People use ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to describe food as if you are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for eating them. This only leads to guilt and stress overeating. You are not good for eating kale and bad for eating ice cream.”
Also, labelling foods “bad” can make them even more desirable, as Rahaf Al Bochi, owner of Olive Tree Nutrition and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has found. When her clients declare certain foods “forbidden,” they are more likely to be preoccupied with thoughts of those foods and crave them more intensely.
‘Clean eating’
The notion of clean eating is an offshoot of the good/bad food concept that marketers seem to adore, to the dismay of many dietitians. “The original philosophy appears to be one I think we could all get on board with: eating food as close to its original state as possible, in the most nutritious form possible (a.k.a. minimally processed). But what was once a sense of awareness about food seems to have spiralled into a diet-culture-driven system. On social media, it’s become yet another form of body and food-shaming,” explained Jaclyn London, author of Dressing on the Side and nutrition director of Good Housekeeping. “No matter what, the alternative to ‘clean’ sounds fearmongering.”
Elizabeth Ward recoils at the term, too, which she wrote about it in her food and nutrition blog Better Is the New Perfect: “I can’t get past the notion that if you’re not eating ‘clean,’ then you’re eating ‘dirty.’”
Declaring foods clean or dirty is not merely a simplistic misrepresentation, as with calling foods good or bad, it could be downright unhealthy, fostering overly restrictive eating (and the bingeing that often follows) and unwarranted self-judgment around food.
‘Guilty pleasure’
All of the above is a tee up for a drive directly into the sand trap of guilt. I bet you have been there: You declare you are going to “be good” or “eat clean” and you beat yourself up at the slightest deviation from what you’ve decided (or a book told you) is the perfect diet.
“Eating is not cheating, and guilt should have no role in food choice,” explained Ward. “Your diet does not need to be perfect. Guilt robs you of the pleasure of eating and makes you feel bad afterward, which can start a downward spiral of shame that prevents you from learning to make better eating choices while allowing for treats.”
I experienced this in my younger years, and what pulled me out of that negative thought trap is to mindfully, non-judgmentally extract pleasure from whatever I choose to eat, whether it is a carrot or a piece of chocolate cake.
‘Low-ca rb/ cutting carbs’
We dietitians get it: People are generally better off eating fewer foods made of refined flour and sugar. If I may speak for the group, we applaud and support efforts in that direction. But somewhere along the way, “carb” has become synonymous with unhealthy. That is a big problem, because many of the most healthful foods in the world are rich in carbohydrates.
“I’m asked if fruit is bad because it’s a carb at least once per week,” said Marjorie Nolan Cohn, owner of MNC Nutrition and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokeswoman. “The fact that people, who are trying to do right by their heath, actually question if fruit is bad for them is a window into how distorted our society’s view of food is.”
Wendy Lopez, co-founder of the online platform Food Heaven Made Easy, cringes when she hears people say carbs are bad for you. “People think they’re eating healthier by cutting down on carbohydrates,” she said. “Aside from bread, pasta and grains, carbs can also be found in nuts, fruits, vegetables, legumes and more. Carbohydrates provide our bodies with fuel, nutrition and satisfaction.”
Eating carbohydrates shouldn’t be an all-or-nothing proposition. Enjoy them in balance, focusing on the healthiest, more minimally processed choices.
The fact that people, who are trying to do right by their heath, actually question if fruit is bad for them is a window into how distorted our society’s view of food is.