Yep. Skittles. My 13-year old son was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. This was shocking and devastating news for us. He now injects himself with insulin 5 times a day and therefore is always at risk for experiencing low blood sugars.

Enter the Skittles. He keeps a dose of 15 Skittles with him at all times. That dose has just enough sugar to bring his blood sugars back up into a healthy range. Without a sugar dose during a low blood sugar incident, he could die.

Sorry if I sound overly dramatic, but it’s true. And it’s got me thinking about #dietculture and the messages that surround us about “good” and “bad” food. I’m not claiming that Skittles are nourishing or nutrient-dense. I’m just saying that it’s hard to call a food “bad” that is life-saving. 

Would a piece of fruit provide the sugar that my son needs? Yes, but we need food that can sit for days in his pocket, get smooshed to smithereens and still do what it needs to do in an emergency. For these occasions, Skittles make more sense.* 

Now, there are certainly foods that are more nutrient dense and foods that are, well, not so much. But what are the drawbacks of labeling food as “good” or “bad” and “healthy” or “unhealthy”? Here are a few I’ve come up with:

1.     Foods labeled as “bad” become more appealing. The second you label a food as “bad” or “forbidden”, your desire for the food will intensify. Guaranteed. Why? Because you believe that you are not allowed to eat it, and therefore, you don’t know when you will be allowed to eat it again, so you better just eat a huge giant amount and “live it up”. Been there? We all know how that story ends. 

On the other hand, when we tell ourselves we can honor our cravings and enjoy foods that bring us joy, that frees us up to listen to our bodies and eat the amount that feels right. 

If it’s a craving, we’ll probably find that craving is satisfied by just a few of that delicious food. If a few doesn’t satisfy, then one of two things could be going on: 1) You feel the need to eat more because you believe the food is “bad” and you shouldn’t be eating it…and therefore won’t be eating it in the near future or 2) You’re experiencing a negative emotion and you’re turning to the food to cope with that emotion.

Food sure is complicated, isn’t it?! It doesn’t need to be. Enjoy the amount that satisfies your taste buds, but also doesn’t make your body feel bad (bloated, lethargic, etc.). Typically a few potato chips, cookies, chocolate or whatever it is will satisfy those taste buds. And you can move on with your day trusting that those foods are there for you to enjoy again the next time a craving hits.

 2.     Labeling foods as “bad” leads to feelings of guilt and shame. If you eat a food that you’ve decided is “unhealthy” then you will likely experience guilt afterwards. And the problem with guilt is that it often leads to shame. 

Guilt is “I did something bad” and shame is “I am bad”. It’s easy to start believing the lie that you are a bad person because you ate a certain food. 

Here’s the reason that’s a problem – not only is that negative self-talk influencing your self-esteem…it’s linked to overeating! Shame doesn’t motivate, it disintegrates. It brings us down, down, down, into a heaping pile of self-loathing. The truth is that guilt and shame isn’t good for our health and well-being.

 3.     Labeling food as “bad” leads to an exhausting head-game. “This week I’m going to be really good and not eat _____.” Hello food police. Who died and made you king? You know how this story ends. It ends with a party you’ve been invited to and wouldn’t you know it – there’s that delicious food you’ve been missing. 

“Oh well, it wouldn’t hurt to have one…or 10.” Here comes the diet rebel! The diet rebel voice rears its ugly head when we’re feeling deprived and restricted. Six brownies later and we’re feeling bloated, lethargic, and ready for a nap.

And this line of thinking typically results in feelings of guilt and shame and thoughts like, “Starting tomorrow I’m going to be really good again.” Back to the food police voice. The food police believes strict order and confinement is necessary because we can’t be trusted when left to our own devices.

Notice the swinging back and forth? Between “food police” and “diet rebel” and then back to “food police”? It’s exhausting.

The only way to break free from the swinging is to fire the food police. Let those delicious foods in, and discover ways to sprinkle them into your diet, and savor them, so that you don’t feel deprived. Eat them in amounts that feel good during and after.

The key here is to create nourishing and pleasurable meals that satisfy your cells with the nutrients they need while also satisfying your taste buds with flavors and textures that make you smile. God gave us these little tiny taste buds on our tongue and desires us to discover the joy of eating. It was His design. Food is not to be feared, but to be embraced and celebrated as a good and precious gift from our loving Father. All food is GOOD. Because He is GOOD.

*You might be thinking that eating too much candy led to the type 1 diabetes. That’s not how type 1 works. It’s purely genetic. It has nothing to do with what he ate growing up. Type 1 is an auto-immune disease and lifestyle patterns are not to blame.