Right vs. wrong

Good vs. bad

Angel vs. devil

As children we are taught right from wrong.  If you grew up in any sort of religion you also knew all about sin— mortal and venial varieties.

Killing: wrong.  Not killing someone: good.  These are pretty obvious examples, but people are always putting value on things.

“The weather is good today.”

“His voice is bad.”

“I ate bad today.”

“I am so bad, I ate dessert.”

“I was good on my diet today.”

“Sugar <insert any food> is bad.”

In reality, none of the items above have a moral value.  We have just been conditioned (or taught) to place a moral value on things, especially food.  For those in the back—- ESPECIALLY FOOD.

If you haven’t been on a diet that eliminated one food group b/c it was labeled as bad, you might not relate to this, but if you have you know.  You have memorized how many carbs are in EVERYTHING, particularly net carbs.  You have eliminated sugar, gluten (not talking to those with celiac), carbs, processed foods, fats, fruit, and probably a variety of a million other items from your diet b/c someone told you they were bad. And, if you eliminated those BAD foods you would lose weight.

The idea of letting go of the moral value of food was a super hard concept for me to get—therapy helped (are you sensing a trend here?!?!?).  I had been assigning good or bad with food for decades.  I was also (and sometimes still do—I *am* a work in progress after all) equating thin bodies as good bodies and big(ger) bodies as bad—-particularly my own.

When I started to look at all food (yep, even corn nuts from the gas station) as nourishment and not as either good or bad, my whole world shifted.  It means that when I need to eat, I can eat whatever works for me in that moment.  Sometimes it is a piece of fruit. Sometimes it is a spoonful of peanut butter. Sometimes it is a bagel with cream cheese. Sometimes it is warm brie on a cracker.

I am not being BAD because of the food I choose.  Neither are you. Try it. See how it goes for you.  It is the basis that intuitive eating is built on.

 

 

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