What Does ‘Non-Diet’ Really Mean? – Part 3
Pleasure is an important part of eating and one emphasized here, in this 3rd principle of the non-diet approach.
Non-diet principle #3: Food choices are not a moral issue
It’s hard to listen to your body and develop a more peaceful relationship with food when you’re constantly judging yourself based on your food choices.
If you avoid certain foods because you view them as “bad” (and therefore bad for eating them), you are more likely to lose control when in their
presence. Cutting out “bad” foods or severely limiting your intake of them is a form of physical and psychological deprivation that results in
obsessive thinking about food, feeling a loss of control around food, and eventually overindulging. Dieting often means vacillating between these
two extremes. Taking the morality out of food means moving away from this black and white mentality and into the grey; all foods fit and no one
food, meal or day of eating has the ability to make or break your health. Learning to view food in a more neutral way frees you up to make food
decisions for both nourishment AND enjoyment, which is by far the healthiest way to eat.
If you avoid certain foods because you view them as “bad” (and therefore bad for eating them), you are more likely to lose control when in their
presence. Cutting out “bad” foods or severely limiting your intake of them is a form of physical and psychological deprivation that results in
obsessive thinking about food, feeling a loss of control around food, and eventually overindulging. Dieting often means vacillating between these
two extremes. Taking the morality out of food means moving away from this black and white mentality and into the grey; all foods fit and no one
food, meal or day of eating has the ability to make or break your health. Learning to view food in a more neutral way frees you up to make food
decisions for both nourishment AND enjoyment, which is by far the healthiest way to eat.
