My last post 'A perspective on eating what you want' sparked some excellent comments and I just wanted to expand a little further on this and to comment on the comments.
What I believe needs clarifying - which maybe my original post didn't do - is that with 'eating what you want', there are two issues at play:
The first issue is that anyone who has ever dieted is likely to have messed up their own cues about eating what their body truly desires, both psychologically and physiologically. Therefore, it can take some time for your body to learn again what it truly desires. This means that individuals will need to legalise ALL foods in order to let go of dieting and taste the freedom that normal eating brings.
The second issue, though, is that regardless of whether you've ever been on a diet or not, health problems will be apparent for some people eating some foods or for those with an overall nutritionally poor diet, such as in Amanda Greary's case. And for these people, eating 'what they want' could be harmful, physically or mentally. But some people might not realise that their diet is the culprit behind their health issues - particularly if the diet causes food cravings for the things that exacerbate the problem.
Lisa Jane comments that there are 'nutritionally dense and nutritionally void foods' but none are good or bad. I think this is a wonderful way of describing food, because it stops us from thinking of it as forbidden or allowed. However, I still think that some of the nutritionally void foods that exist are actually harmful to our bodies, even if they are not necessarily fat- or calorie-dense (and something I might have avoided on a diet).
Additives and chemicals in food did not exist in the diets of our ancient predecessors, and their choices of available foodstuffs were limited to what they were supposed to be eating. Their cues to their environment and diet (in the original sense of the word) weren't messed up by crap in the food or by psychological or emotional attachments to it created by a diet industry. These are the people who truly ate in tune to their bodies. The rest of us have a harder time with it, even the slim ones who've never dieted.
Hearing Jomay and Tree Lover say in their comments say how they started out intuitive eating by eating junk and then began craving fresh vegetables is great - not because I think broccoli is king (though I do) - but because it shows how successful trusting your body can be when it comes to finding what is nutritionally right for it.
Like Lisa Jane, I don't believe there is one diet or way of eating that exists that is right for everybody and I absolutely believe that there are no absolutes.
But - I still go with the idea that some foods are harmful rather than simply nutritionally void - things like hydrogenated fats, for example. And these types of foods that naturally would never have found a way into our bodies can mess up our own delicate systems of balance.
So what my main point really is, I suppose, is that if we're trying to learn normal eating over dieting AND we have a health-problem related to food AND/OR our 'body balance' is out of sync because of harmful additives, then this might confuse matters for us, our bodies and our journey towards normal eating.
I here you on the hydrogented fat thing. I got into the habit of reading food labels because I don't eat meat and there are hidden animal ingredients. Anyway, when I see hydrogented or trans fats in the ingredient list, I won't buy it. I won't buy food with high fructose corn syrup, either. Maybe that is one of the reasons my body was able to learn to crave healthy food. Who knows!
Posted by: Tree Lover | May 31, 2007 at 11:15 PM
Tree Lover thanks for your comment. I do feel that while we being bombarded with pollution, environmental hazards and eating foods that aren't really natural food stuffs (like diet coke!), our bodies may be quite confused about what they want, because our systems are out of balance. These chemicals can have so much impact on our delicate hormonal communication!
However, in Western society (and even the most remote societies are unfortunately not free from the environmental mess the rest of the world has made), it is very difficult to escape that - so for me, it's about just doing the best I can (like not eating trans fats!).
Posted by: Andrea Wren | June 01, 2007 at 11:15 AM