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There Are No Bad Foods

by Alli on October 21, 2012

“What?” I hear you saying. “A dietitian is telling me there are NO bad foods? I don’t believe it.”

Believe it. Our problems with food don’t stem from the quality of the food: they stem from our relationship with food. That may seem complicated, but it’s actually good news. Think about it. If you’re struggling with “bad” foods, you’re helpless–you can’t change the nutritional profile of that cake that keeps beckoning you from the break room. If you’re focusing on your relationship with food, all you have to change is yourself. And that, as hard as it can seem, is something you can do.

Changing your relationship with food is about matching individuals with the right tools to help them succeed. It shouldn’t be about a big program or other “external” process, as I like to call it. Instead, we need to look within and make the process very “internal” in order to see real, deliberate and confident lasting change that becomes a new way of living.

Making a real change means progressive success. I’m not going to ask you to go cold turkey and switch to strict diet  way of eating that eliminates your favorite foods. Drastic changes are hard to maintain, which leaves you feeling unsuccessful, or worse, like a failure. At the end of the day, I promise you, you just need a new approach. We ALL have the ability to take one step forward when we are using the right tools.

Think about your diet as a house: a house without a strong foundation is in serious trouble. When you start by trying to understand the role food plays in your life, you’re building a foundation that will help you design a house that won’t come crashing down under the first strong wind (AKA food craving). Building this understanding means being more deliberate about our food choices. Ask yourself:

  • When do I eat?
  • How do I eat?
  • Why do I eat?
  • What do I eat?
  • Where do I eat

When we raise our consciousness and our mindfulness of how we approach food, we put our feet on the path to successfully changing our relationship with food.

So say goodbye to “good foods vs. bad foods.” No food is “in or out.” You don’t need to wrestle with being “on a diet” or “off it.” Make your focus internal to start understanding what motivates your relationship with food, and I promise you, you’ll be better prepared to take the small steps towards a lasting change for the better with your nutrition goals.

From: Nutrition