Eating certain foods doesn’t make you a ‘bad’ or a ‘good’ person…

Eating certain foods doesn’t make you a ‘bad’ or a ‘good’ person… 🍷

I lose count of the number of times I hear clients tell me they’re ‘bad’ because they’ve eaten something they feel they shouldn’t have. How often do you eat something and label it as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and by extension consider that you’ve been ‘good’ or ‘bad’?

If you succumb to a bar of chocolate and a glass of wine after a long day you tell yourself you’ve been ‘bad’ and that you’re a ‘bad’ person. Yet if you have a yoghurt, apple and a protein shake (in this example a standard protein powder mixed with 300ml semi skimmed milk as per the instructions) you’d be feeling very virtuous and like you’re a ‘good’ person.

It’s really time we stop labelling foods and good or bad. There are no good or bad foods. There are simply foods which contain a greater or fewer number of nutrients. The foods themselves aren’t bad – the quantities may be though. You are also not a bad person for eating those foods. It’s time we stop attributing some form of morality to snacks etc. What you eat or don’t eat has absolutely no bearing on your worth as a person. You’re not a bad person for snacking on a doughnut. You’re also not a good person for choosing an apple and almonds.

Yes the apple, yoghurt and protein shake will have more fibre, more micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and more protein. The wine and chocolate undoubtedly have fewer vitamins and minerals, but it will provide you with energy and joy! If you were trying to hit a certain number of calories then the wine and chocolate may even be a better choice as they’re fewer calories (and if you swapped to a small glass of wine it would be even fewer!) but neither is inherently good or bad. They both have a place in a balanced diet. The only reason to describe either as good or bad is in terms of how you think they actually taste!

Enjoy!

🤗

Xx