What is Healthy Eating, Anyway?
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What do you think of when you hear the words “healthy eating?” Do certain foods come to mind that you associate with being, or define as, healthy? Do you find yourself categorizing foods into 2 groups – those that are healthy and those that are not? Does it spark any particular feelings or emotions? Do you associate these words with pressure to act in a certain way? Or perhaps, guilt if you don’t?
There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to evaluating our perceptions of “healthy eating.”
Here’s my take.
There is no such thing as a “healthy” food.
“Healthy” is not an accurate descriptor for a food. There really is no such thing as a “healthy” food. Single food items or ingredients cannot be universally healthy or unhealthy because, no single food can meet all of our body’s nutrient or fuel needs on its own and our needs can change depending on a variety of circumstances. For example, candy is not a food we generally label as “healthy” but, for a person experiencing a hypoglycemic episode, it is going to be far more supportive than say, a bowl of strawberries, which is more likely to receive that label. And, no matter how much of a “superfood” wellness culture might make out a particular food to be (looking at you acai berries and kale), it doesn’t have everything that our bodies need to function and thrive.
Additionally, what’s supportive for one body might not be supportive for another. For example, “eat more fruits and vegetables” is a line we’ve all heard when it comes to eating for health. But, for many of my clients recovering from eating disorders, dramatically cutting down on produce is often a very important step in helping their bodies heal. “Got milk” campaigns praised the nutritional content of dairy. No doubt, dairy is part of a health supportive diet for many, unless you have a dairy allergy or intolerance, that is.
“There really is no such thing as a “healthy” food.”
A focus on “healthy” eating may actually be harmful to health and well-being
Labeling food in such a dichotomous way can actually be harmful to our mental, emotional, and even physical wellbeing. Vigilance around “healthy” eating is something that is often praised, even envied, in our culture. But, in my experience, vigilance around “heathy” eating is often a sign of disordered eating. This may present as:
People expending far too much of their mental energy on thinking about, worrying about, and planning their meals to prioritize nutrient density, possibly interfering with other areas of life such as work, school, and social experiences;
Experiencing significant distress when foods perceived as acceptable cannot be accessed, which may be worsened by extraordinary worry, guilt, or shame for eating something deemed “unhealthy” or managed by either not eating or inadequate eating; and/or
Sticking to a very limited variety with the types of foods eaten, which has the potential to lead to nutritional deficiencies or gastrointestinal symptoms associated with excessive intake of specific types of foods such as high-fiber fruits and vegetables.
The word “healthy” in and of itself has become quite a loaded word. In our diet culture turned wellness culture “healthy” has essentially become synonymous with virtuous, worthy, and morally righteous. As such, pursuing health has become a moral obligation. So, when applied to food, “healthy eating,” whatever wellness culture tells us that is, becomes a direct reflection of your goodness, your worth, your value. And, when we violate the rules of wellness culture, we feel guilty, shameful, and like a failure.
All to say, our fixation on “healthy” eating as characterized by our current culture is not super supportive of health or wellbeing.
It’s for this reason that you won’t see me use the phrase “healthy eating” to describe eating in a way that supports health. It’s too tainted with diet and wellness culture. There’s just too much judgment attached. Rather, you’ll see and hear me use the phrase “health supportive eating.” It’s a subtle difference, but for me, and for so many of the clients I work with, moving away from “healthy” eating and toward “health supportive” eating also creates space to move away from judgment associated with food and eating and toward a place of neutrality.
What is health supportive eating?
Sure, there are approaches to eating that may be more or less supportive of health and wellbeing. But it’s just not as simple as evaluating the nutrient density of a person’s dietary intake.
Health supportive eating is more complex because health is complex.
I describe health supportive eating as an approach to food that considers our unique, individual, present moment needs. One that honors and nourishes all areas of health and wellbeing – physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual. And one that is both internally directed and free from judgment and moral virtue.
That doesn’t mean that assessing the nutrient density of food never has a place when making decisions about food. It just means that its but one of many factors we are considering and may not be the most important one all of the time.
So, how do I respond when people ask for guidance on how to eat to support their health? Recognizing that some structure and gentle guidance can be helpful as we rediscover our relationship with food, I frame it in the following principles.
“I describe health supportive eating as an approach to food that considers our unique, individual, present moment needs. One that honors and nourishes all areas of health and wellbeing – physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual. And one that is both internally directed and free from judgment and moral virtue.”
5 Principles of Health Supportive Eating
The following 5 principles are my conception of health supportive eating. And I’m well aware that it can be hard to take in this information and not immediately want to turn it into a set of rules. If rules have guided our decisions around food for a long-time, that’s only natural. So, before I introduce these principles please know that these are not rules. Rather, think of these as a set of ideas to consider when making decisions around food, but please know that there is no wrong decision that can be made. I encourage my clients to view each eating experience as an opportunity to get curious and experiment, to gather valuable information about how different foods, meal compositions, and quantities make them feel.
I remind them that not all eating experiences will go as planned, will be as satisfying and enjoyable as they want them to be, or will feel as good as they hoped they would. And that doesn’t constitute a failure. That constitutes really important and helpful information for getting to know and understand your unique needs and preferences and helps to pave the way toward making more autonomous and internally directed decisions about food in the future. To figure out what works, we also need to learn what doesn’t. Judgment and self-criticism will only interfere with that process.
With that, I describe health supportive eating as…
Adequate
This means that you are meeting your body’s basic fuel needs. You are consuming enough energy to keep all systems running and your body is not needing to compensate for lack of fuel by slowing down its pace. Eating meals and snacks at regular intervals throughout the day (e.g., at least every 3-4 hours) is helpful for ensuring adequacy with intake and making sure your body has consistent access to the fuel in needs.
Balanced
This means representing several food groups as most meals on most days. When I’m counseling people on the components of a balanced meal, I’ll often recommend that they start by considering including the following at most meals:
Starchy vegetable and/or grain: Examples include potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, corn, peas, plantains, beans, bread, pasta, rice, cereal, barley, farro, quinoa, couscous, oats, and more. These foods provide the body with a rich source of carbohydrate. I know diet culture loves to vilify these foods, but as your body’s primary and preferred fuel source, and an absolutely essential fuel source for your brain, carbohydrate is quite literally life giving.
Protein food: These are foods like meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, yogurt, milk, nuts, nut butters, seeds, and beans. From building and maintaining muscle mass to hormone, enzyme, and antibody production, protein has many very important structural and functional roles in the body. It also plays an important role in regulating appetite through hormone and blood sugar regulation. If you feel yourself getting hungry shortly after a meal, experimenting with the amount of protein represented can be a good place to start.
I should mention, though, that protein has not necessarily earned the halo status it has received from diet culture. While protein is important, it’s not superior to, or more important than, the other nutrients. All of the different nutrients work together to help our bodies function and they are all far better at doing their jobs when the others are present. In other words, it’s not necessarily “better” or “healthier” to replace all carbohydrate-rich foods with protein rich foods. They are both important, they both have different roles, and they both perform their jobs better when the other is around.
Fruit/non-starchy vegetable: Fresh, frozen, canned, and dried all count here. This group provides the body with ample dietary fiber, which helps with digestion and promoting feelings of fullness, essential vitamins and minerals, which are important for keeping all of our body systems operating normally, and other phytonutrients, which may have unique health-promoting properties. Consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables, prepared in a variety of ways will optimize the availability and utilization of these important nutrients.
Again, while fruits and vegetables are great – they are not superior to the other food groups. Overemphasizing this group (as diet culture loves to tell us to do) at the expense of others can leave us feeling unsatisfied (because we aren’t getting everything we need), perpetually hungry (because fruits and vegetables are generally quite low in energy), and maybe even digestively distressed (because lots of fiber can also equal lots of gas sometimes).
Fat source: This includes condiments like butter, mayonnaise, dressing, sauces, and vinaigrettes. It’s also found in many protein sources, and in avocados. Fat has many important roles in the body including facilitating absorption of several nutrients, but plays a very important role in improving the satisfaction value of food through flavor enhancement of meals.
Other food: Also sometimes described as a “fun” food or “play” food, these are foods that are consider less nutrient dense (which doesn’t mean empty of nutrients), but taste very good and enhance the pleasure value of the meal. Dessert items and packaged snack foods, like potato chips, are good examples of these foods. I encourage people to try to represent these foods most days, which I know can feel scary because these may be the foods that feel the most challenging, but allowing these foods consistent representation in your diet will help to normalize and neutralize them. Eventually they won’t feel so challenging or charged.
But, again, it’s OK if you can’t or don’t want to include all of these components all of the time. All of your eating experiences are great learning opportunities – what do you notice about their satisfaction, how long a meal holds you, etc. if one or more component is missing. Experiment with distribution – having more or less of these different groups as meals to notice how it makes you feel. This is offered as a starting place, not a set of rules to follow.
Varied
This mean including a variety of foods from within each food group. In addition to ensuring our body has access to a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, variety can all help aid in satisfaction by preventing boredom with food choices.
Now this doesn’t mean that you need to aim for tremendous variety within each day or even within each week, but thinking about switching up meals and meal components from week to week can be a great way to increase variety. That might mean putting different fruit in your oatmeal, mixing a different grain into your salad, and choosing different vegetables to have alongside your protein at dinner. It doesn’t mean that you need to re-invent the wheel completely every day or week or month in terms of what you are eating (unless, of course, you want to!), but finding ways within those staple meals that work for you to mix things up a bit.
Flexible
This is to accept that not every eating experience is going to go as planned, that you may not always have access to the foods that would be most satisfying, that circumstances may prevent you from having the meal you desire, and that’s OK. Feeding ourselves well is not about perfection. There is no such thing as perfect eating. Life is going to happen, and it’s OK.
Part of health supportive eating is learning how to be comfortable going with the flow. It doesn’t mean you can’t learn from your experiences and adapt in the future, but that getting ourselves really worked up over imperfect eating experiences, or choosing not to eat at all if our options feel less than ideal, isn’t really health supportive either. Regardless of whether or not we are thrilled with the options to which we have access, we still need to nourish ourselves.
Enjoyable
This is eating food that tastes good. Food that you like. Food that you look forward to. Without judgment. Without guilt. Without shame. And regardless of nutritional value. Not allowing room for pleasure with eating actually sets us up to eat in way often counter to our intentions. Lack of pleasure with eating activates our deprivation response and can be a primary driver of then “giving in” and eating with abandon. Or, choosing the “healthier” option but then findings ourselves eating beyond comfortable fullness because we never actually feel satisfied from the meal.
Many people often find themselves feeling like they have two options – to eat what they like or to eat what is “healthy.” But, when we make peace with food, what we discover is that true health-supportive eating means eating in a way that both tastes good and feels good. It’s eating in a way that nourishes our physical well-being, but also all other areas of health, too.
So, there you have it. My case for why I don’t think “healthy” food is a thing, why focusing on “healthy” eating can be harmful to our wellbeing, and some basic principles to help you on your way to building a more supportive and health promoting relationship with food.
Interested in finding food freedom and body trust for yourself? Contact us to schedule a FREE discovery call and see if working together is a good fit for you! We see clients in Vermont, Florida, and several other states. And, be sure to join our email list for more tips and support on your diet-free journey.