Good Food/Bad Food

If there is one thing I would suggest to improve your relationship with food, it would be to stop labeling foods as good or bad.

Our natural tendency towards binary thinking coupled with repeated exposure to diet culture leads us to believe there must only be two options for food- good, healthy, clean OR bad, unhealthy, and junk.

When we use extreme language around food, it:

• Increases shame around food: Using good or bad labels assigns moral meaning to food and to the behavior of eating them. This can lead to individuals feeling they are bad for eating foods that have negative labels assigned to them.

• Evokes unhelpful emotional responses: When foods are named "bad," people avoid them due to fear. We know from psychology that the longer one avoids out of fear, the more anxiety increases. Conversely, when people eat "good" foods, they can experience feelings such as pride and superiority. This can lead people to a limited place where they only feel proud or good about themselves if they follow strict eating rules.

• Evokes unhelpful behavioral responses: Labeling foods as good and bad can trigger unhealthy behaviors, including binging, restriction, and compensatory actions.

• Flattens the complexity of food: Foods can be different in various ways, including nutrient and energy density, affordability, availability, shelf life, emotional and cultural connection, satisfaction, and satiety. When we label foods as good or bad, we miss out on all the nuances associated with food and food choices.

To improve your relationship with food, try the following:

• Increasing awareness. Notice and pay attention to binary thoughts about food in your thoughts, the language of those around you, marketing and advertisements, and the media.

• Reframing: Once you notice unhelpful binary food thoughts, try generating a new, more useful thought. Here's an example:

  • Binary thought: I am not allowed to eat cake; cake is bad.

  • Dialectical reframe: I am allowed to have cake. It's yummy, gives me energy, and all foods fit.

• Tuning into your body: When making decisions around food, tune into things such as hunger, cravings, values, energy needs, and other important information that will come from within.

Suzie can be reached at suzie@amandaatkinschicago.com

*Food may be labeled bad if there is an allergy, the food has gone bad, or there are cultural or religious reasons to refrain from a food.