By Alissa Vieth, RD
As humans we must eat and consume a variety of foods to help us live and thrive. Yet in our food culture you may have been conditioned to label the foods you eat as: good or bad, right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy, low or high calorie, clean or dirty, etc. The way we talk about food impacts how we behave around food and our overall relationship with food and our bodies.
Food labels like good or bad, healthy or unhealthy can lead us to an all or nothing mentality with food. You are either good or bad, healthy or unhealthy and so on when we use these simplistic terms and categorize foods this way. Health and nutrition are much more nuanced and dynamic than those labels appear to be.
Every time we eat food- meals, or snacks – it is a chance to provide our body with the macronutrients and micronutrients that it needs to function. Every food is made up of a combination of fats, protein and carbohydrates that get broken down to molecules that our body puts to use. Yet what we eat serves much more of a role than providing nutrients to our body. It is also a social and cultural activity and can be a source of comfort and pleasure in our life; we must not bypass these parts of the eating experience.
One of the best ways to challenge the all or nothing mentality with food is to use neutral descriptors. Neutral is described in Webster dictionary as “not engaged on either side, specifically: not aligned with political or ideological groupings”. When applying this to food, this means not categorizing foods in good or bad or even healthy or unhealthy categories.
When one works to apply the neutral mindset to food you can drop the judgement and be more mindful by observing and describing the characteristics of the food. Instead of judging which food is better for you by choosing ”healthy” or “good” foods, you can make observations and then make decisions that are aligned with your changing needs and preferences.
Here are some suggested ways to get rid of the all or nothing mindset around food.
Start to notice the labels you are using to describe food to both yourself and others. By bringing attention to this you can then move on to actively dropping these terms that suggest value or being morally better. What we are working towards is seeing the food as food so a banana as a banana, a piece of cake as a piece of cake, etc.
Once you notice and remove the value judgments from food, you can further neutralize food through using neutral words that describe the food based on the unique sensory characteristics. Try getting curious and use your senses to provide more info about the food. Check out the list below for some helpful neutral descriptive words you can start to use:
Neutral and descriptive words to explain your food:
- Acidic
- Airy
- Bitter
- Bittersweet
- Bland
- Briny
- Buttery
- Caramelized
- Chewy
- Creamy
- Crisp
- Crumbly
- Crunchy
- Chunky
- Colourful
- Decadent
- Delicate
- Doughy
- Dry
- Exotic
- Enjoyable
- Fermented
- Fizzy
- Flaky
- Fluffy
- Fresh
- Fruity
- Gingery
- Gooey
- Herbaceous
- Hot
- Intense
- Juicy
- Meaty
- Mild
- Moist
- Mouthwatering
- Mushy
- Nutty
- Pickled
- Refreshing
- Rich
- Roasted
- Salty
- Savory
- Silky
- Smoky
- Smooth
- Soggy
- Sour
- Spicy
- Slurpy
- Sticky
- Sugary
- Sweet
- Tangy
- Tart
- Tasty
- Tender
- Toasty
- Yeasty
- Energizing
- Nourishing
- Satisfying
Sometimes we eat food for fuel and other times food may serve a hedonic, emotional or behavioural purpose. You are allowed to choose to eat different foods at different times for different reasons. The choice is yours so tune into the language you are using and practice shifting towards a neutral mentality with food. You may find this shift difficult so practice and be patient with yourself as you make this change.
Image
Lisa. (2018). Close-Up Photo of Stacked Chocolate Bars Beside Raspberries. Pexels. https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-stacked-chocolates-bars-beside-raspberries-918327/