#177: Stop Labeling your Food as 'GOOD' or 'BAD' and Eat without Guilt!

 In this video, we challenge the toxic mindset of labeling food as "good" or "bad." For years, many of us have been taught that certain foods are inherently virtuous while others are sinful indulgences, leading to feelings of guilt and failure.

But what if we shifted our perspective? Embrace a healthier relationship with food by focusing on balance, enjoyment, and how food truly makes us feel. 

Discover how ditching the labels can free you from food guilt and help you make sustainable, mindful choices for your long-term health. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:16 Why labeling food as "good" or "bad" is harmful and creates unnecessary guilt
• 2:32 My personal experience working out with Macros
• 3:16 The power of understanding your body's needs
• 3:46 Weekend overeating: how one indulgent meal can spiral into a week of guilt and how to stop it
• 5:20 Bring balance and allow you to enjoy food without feeling guilty
• 11:01 Mindset shift: Why food is just fuel, and learning to balance is key to long-term success
• 13:32 Final

Transcript

#177: Stop Labeling your Food as 'GOOD' or 'BAD' and Eat without Guilt!

Hey, hey, so I want to talk about this good or bad thinking with our food. Now, we probably have spent years being taught certain things about food. We have taught that we should eat a certain amount, , and that this food is classed as good and this other food is classed as bad and we shouldn't eat it.

And then if we do eat this food that is bad, then we're not a good person or we then feel guilty for it. So I really want you to try to take the labels away from any of the food that food is just food. There is food that is going to give us more nutrients, but then there's also this whole lot of kind of soul foods that maybe sometimes they're actually really good for us, and maybe that's exactly what we needed.

And what I find is people that are giving this label to food is when we then tend to, beat ourselves up about what we've eaten and we turn that one thing into a , thinking that we've failed and we turn it into something else. So what I would like you to start to do is to start to recognize what are you doing?

 Are you labeling food as good or as bad? Are we feeling like we have to be good and we have to eat these certain things? Or is there food that you've been taught for, been told for a long time is not good for you,

and then you feel guilty or not good about eating it where, understanding your macros, maybe that food is something that you can put into your plan. , and it's just, it's, it's really getting rid of that good or bad thinking. Food is just food. It's there to fuel our bodies. And we need to try to stop feeling guilty and blaming ourselves for things.

 I really like to get people to think about why, , they feel a certain way about food. So, there's food that we really like. There's like a nostalgia, maybe there's certain foods that bring you back to your childhood, bring you back to a memory. Then that's, that's great, , and enjoy that and, and focus on that.

Again, you might have been told or heard that that you shouldn't eat that food and then if you're, if you're trying to eat it, then you think that you've stuffed up your plan, and that you have to work it off. Well, we want to look at changing that thinking. So is there a type of food that you really, really love?

 Like I said, when I first started working out my macros, I said to myself that I wasn't going to eat any chocolate at all. But chocolate is a part of my life. It is something that I enjoy. I am not going to get rid of it. I tried and all I did is actually I found I craved it more. All I did was, was think about the chocolate that I couldn't, that I couldn't have.

And I think I lasted two days and I went, this is ridiculous. I'm not doing this. So , I worked my plan out around it, I've spoken about this before you will catch yourself going back to that old thinking of this is not good. I shouldn't be having this it's really remembering that sometimes whatever it is you're doing or having, maybe that's exactly what you needed.

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I find people be really good during the week and then they come to the weekend and they find that the weekend, explodes a little bit that, that maybe the weekend they're not to plan and that the weekend's a bit of a blowout and then they feel guilty for that. They feel guilty and then they turn that one weekend or that one night into two days, three days a week feeling bad about yourself, beating yourself up, whatever else.

 So let's talk about going out for a night. So maybe if you went out for a night and you had way more than what you knew you should have, you had three courses, you had a couple of bottles of wine and whatever else, But then the next day you felt like you had to run to work it off or you felt like you have to Not eat anything to compensate for what you ate yesterday it's just you're then still you're still turning it all into a diet But maybe you could look at it for that That one meal out, you got to relax, socialize with friends.

You had a real laugh. You got to really, really enjoy yourself. And maybe that's exactly what your body needed. So don't turn that one night or that one event into two days, three days a week and so forth be like, this is what I needed. Maybe, maybe, that you did over, maybe you did overeat and maybe the next day you felt really bloated for it and that, that you felt really sluggish or whatever else.

Well, that's a great lesson because the next time you go, you remember how you felt and maybe you won't eat those three courses. Maybe you'll, have less or, or maybe you will again, but it's just, it's maybe that's the lesson that you didn't need to learn. So let's try to get rid of this good or bad thinking and to stop beating ourselves up over it because food is food and it is food and we need a balance of everything.

And that's why. I really love, when we can understand our macros, we can get that balance. And I really try to follow the 80 20 rule. And , there is these type of soul foods that we actually need and that are really, really good for us. And that's, maybe that, that night out is so much more than that night out.

And what I hear so many people saying is, Oh, I've been really bad, , and then I've got to be good and winded in. We've also got to remember the whole thing of longevity, because I don't want you just to stick to this for 28 days. I want you to start learning more about your food and your habits so you can stick to it forever.

And then you can learn how to balance out, not feel guilty. Because when you're in it for the long haul, we're in this for the long haul, that, , sometimes the situation that you're in, so let's say if you're in it for the long haul, you're not going to stay in every weekend. You're not going to not go out unless that's what you want to do.

So that's one thing, but if we can learn to balance your food out, enjoy yourself out, you can make different choices on the menu, or you can sit there and, like I said, I've said before, I had, somebody that really, they really enjoy going out for meals. That is their thing. So they, really, so when she first tried to look at her food, she tried to cut out going out for meals.

But that's something that I didn't know at the time, but that's something that they do two or three times a week. So when she was trying to cut it out, it just wasn't working. And then she kept feeling like she was failing. So then that would then put her on that cycle of, Feeling like she wasn't good enough and that she was failing and that she had to Make up for it.

Well, The thing was if she more just accepted that when when she did learn actually to accept that going out is part of Is part of my life and instead of I think she stopped going they she changed When she went out more for lunch instead of dinner, maybe change the, like when you look at it and you still make it work in your lifestyle, you're going to stick to it longer.

And that's what we've got to think. We don't anything. Think of the things you've done before in the past, anything that you haven't, , that you've maybe yo yoed in and out of, , we, we don't want to keep doing that. So it has to be for longevity. The same as I get people coming up to me all the time and saying, That they're going to cut our alcohol.

Now that's fine. If that's what you want to do, but are you never going to drink alcohol again? Because if you are never going to drink alcohol again, then say yes, you're going to cut it. But if you are going to drink alcohol, why don't you learn how to balance that out? Maybe you don't need as much as what you think you do.

Maybe you can see that you can have one glass and really enjoy that glass instead of having 10 glasses. You could see one or two glasses you might really enjoy. You could see that. You could see, , that maybe by looking at swapping your drinks, as in, instead of having you could have a spirit and soda and you could see how that feels.

When you learn to balance it out that way, you are going to be able to see. Stick to it longer and that is that is the whole term and we've got to get and we want to work on getting rid of this good or bad thing so that we're not, we're thinking that we're not good enough. We're thinking that we've got to, , we've got to over exercise.

to, to work it off. The other thing is, when they feel guilty about, they feel guilty if they feel bad about something and it's what else they then turn it into. So they then turn it into beating themselves up, and it's, it's important for you to recognize what, what is your brain doing, because our brain is wired to keep us safe.

And what is safe to us is what is familiar. It doesn't necessarily mean that the safe thing for us is the best thing for us. It's just what's familiar. So that beating yourself up might be familiar, but the first, the feeling guilty, the thinking you're not good enough, telling yourself, see, I knew you couldn't stick to this, this is something else you fail at.

That's, maybe that's all the way that we used to think. That is that, that's all of that old thinking. But what we first want to do is recognize that that doesn't have to be the case. and that we recognize that we're thinking that way and we look to move forward. So we look to move forward, in going, thank you for those thoughts, but that's not me anymore.

I don't need to feel bad for food, I, I've come across lots of people that have been told about food. and things about food from when they were children. They were told that food was good or bad. And it really irritates me when my kids come home because, the teachers at school have told them that good, that this food's good and this is healthy, because it just, we just shouldn't give it labels.

It's just food is food. I talk to my kids about sometimes food and how about how food that's going to fuel our bodies. That's it. I talk about, but nothing's off the table. It's just, we, we talk about balance and I also use it all the time to talk about how the food makes them feel. And my kids, have recently been saying, Oh mom, I'm listening to my body and I'm stopping eating at this.

, I'm like, that's great that you're recognizing that you're full and you're not forcing it down. There's some of this stuff that we carry with us. It's not your fault, but we carry it with us and we're still feeling guilty for it. So what I want you to think about this week is to recognize, are you doing that at all?

Are you doing that? And you've got this good or bad thinking, are you thinking that you have to be good and that if you're not good, then you failed, or are you saying, well, do what it is? What it is? We, I went out with friends and, we had a meal out and, and that was it.

 I used to think again, and it's how it changes. I used to think that I was always worried about, I don't know why I went this way, but I was always worried about making sure that I was full enough. And I was like, I can't have a salad because that won't fill me up, I have to have a burger.

And like, and I didn't at all, but it was, it was my headset thinking that. And it's just start to recognize, even write any of those thoughts down of what you're thinking around your food. What are you thinking about? What are you thinking? Are we good or bad? Are we, when we're going out, are we making, are we making choices on, you , like I said, I used to always think I could never choose a salad because that was, sometimes anyway, the salad is actually, with the dressing and everything, the salad can have more calories than the burger.

 But are we turning everything into a diet? Are we turning it into, have we always been told about, we even, you may not have even realized that that's what you're doing all the time, but this good or bad thinking, I really, really want us to, to, to start recognizing if we're doing it and let's start to work on getting rid of it.

So the steps to get rid of it is, is number one, just keep reminding yourself, food is food. Okay. Food is food. it's just, there's stuff that's going to fuel our bodies better than other stuff. I want you to take note of how food makes your body feel. How does it make you feel? And then, then reckon, then think about is that aligning with your goals of what your long term.

So if you're having takeaway every night, is that making you feel, is that fueling your body correctly? I know whenever my kids have McDonald's, they're hungry, like 10 minutes later. And I said to them, do you see that? Do you see you've had, you just want this takeaway, you've had this takeaway, but you're hungry 10 minutes later because it doesn't fill you up, 

so it's just starting to recognize that or, are you, are you getting takeaway all the time? And, and are you feeling just how is it making your body feel? And so we want to rec and recognize the thoughts. So we want to think about the thoughts and the thought patterns and just start looking to reframing how we're thinking because the good or bad thinking is making a diet.

The good or bad thing is saying that we have to be a good girl. We have to be perfect. in order for this to work, but life is not perfect. It is imperfect and we are going to be imperfect. We are going to, , not be according, go according to plan. We are going to have nights out and enjoy it. And that this is the way that you will be able to stick to this forever.

So when you were trying to be perfect and you were trying to, only eat good things, then you're actually doing yourself more of a disservice. Please reach out if you need any help. I would really, really want to hear how everyone's going and I'm really excited to hear from you all. So I'm going to love you and leave you and, please make sure you let me know how you go.