What happened to living a little and taking pleasure in what you eat? Food is nourishment to the body yes; but we should also go back to the time when we enjoyed food; savoring the taste, texture and smell without being so obsessed with how many calories or how much salt or fat it contains. Eat whole foods and if you desire to have the so called ‘junk/unhealthy/bad’ food then go ahead and so do. Enjoy every bite and do not feel guilty.
Coming from a health practitioner this might sound crazy but trust and believe that there is method in my madness. If you are on a weight loss track, denying yourself only leads to binging and other unhealthy eating habits. If you take away the guilt you may find that you lose the desire to over eat. Stop tasking the body with all of these crazy “this free” and “that free” diets. If you must then it should be something you can sustain for a lifetime. Short term frenzied diet habits will do your body no good. Any results you see will also be short term. Unfortunately we live in a time when so many “studies” are published and are easily accessible, some of which give contradictory results.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being health conscious or monitoring calories, sodium content or fat and all the other ‘long spelling can’t pronounce’ ingredients listed. The key message here is not to place so much emphasis on one item or trend. There is no one superfood or super diet good enough to make you healthier. There are no tricks. The focus should be on having a healthy balance versus vilifying one food in particular. You can eat just about anything, as long as you do so in moderation. Remember that there are many other things besides food such as smoking, alcohol, blood pressure, lack of exercise and so on impacting your health.
Do you feel in total control when following a strict diet or exercise regime? Do you ever feel guilty when you take a break from your regular routine or exercise regime? Orthorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder regarded as having an unhealthy eating obsession or an obsession to eat extremely healthy, (NEDA, https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa).
Obsessing over food or anything else is never healthy. Moderation seems to be a difficult concept for people to grasp. More or too little can be just as bad as each other. Neither is ever better.
Visit Nina’s Cookery Corner for some scrumptious and nutrient packed West African dishes. And if you are a foodie like my fellow dietitian and like to explore visit Delicious Dietitian Duo for a journey of multicultural foods, maximizing the use of natural ingredients and their nutritional benefits as well as enjoying a tasty meal.
