How do we define “healthy eating”? With the amazing variety in the bodies of human beings—size, shape, composition, metabolism rate, cardiovascular health, and so forth—what does “healthy” mean?
A guide to healthy eating is different for everyone if you want to describe eating in terms of calories or food group servings or carbohydrates or some other category. What an overwhelming task! We can define healthy eating more easily from a mental standpoint: It must be based on freedom and flexibility.
Healthy Eating Means No Black and White Thinking
Artificial boundaries create problems if you have an eating disorder. You want to know what’s “right” and what’s “wrong.” There are many diets, drugs, supplements, and exercise plans that try to tell you where the line is--good and bad, okay and not okay. These lures tell you that you can be in control. But hearing so many different messages every day just fuels more stress. Sadly, stress leads to a desire for relief, and disordered eating often provides more relief than dieting.
Healthy Eating is About Freedom
The real question is whether you feel free to choose what you are going to eat, how much, and when. It’s that simple.
If you know that you have eaten two cookies, and you make a free and conscious choice to eat a third for any reason—how good they taste, how rarely you have them, or whatever—that’s normal. It’s also normal to make a free and conscious choice to stop at two cookies for any reason. Perhaps you choose to save the other cookie for the next day. Or maybe you realize that they're just not that good.
Your Body Knows What it Needs
Your body will tell you what you need to know if you pay attention to it. It can be difficult to trust what your body is saying, but you and your body can make a fine team.
But following your body's lead means knowing the messages it sends. Most of us have learned not to listen. Instead, we take our cues from the amount of food placed on our plates, or from what others say they like or don't like. Healthy eating can take hold powerfully when a person's own body is allowed to speak.
If you have difficulty trusting your body, consider seeing a good dietitian or counselor. To start working on your own, the best book I've seen is a fantastic and kind work called Intuitive Eating. Throwing off the burden of dieting stress is possible. Freedom awaits!
