Food, Is It Good or Evil? Are You Focused On Emotions Or Actions?
Trick question, food is amoral, it isn’t good or evil.
Nothing that you consume is good or evil. You will not forfeit your soul if you eat X or if you eat Y (Vegans may disagree). You should not have a “morality” mindset with food or even fat-loss. When you think this way, you are letting your emotions drive you and emotions can be very fickle.
The proper mindset instead focuses on actions, not emotions. Actions are controlled by you, and you can perform actions, regardless of how you feel. Having an action mindset is looking at your food and/or food journal (Sidenote: there have been studies and those who simply logged their food, lost weight. But remember, it is one tool of many, it must fit you.) and thinking, “Some food got me closer to my goal, some food moved me farther away from my goal.” You won’t do yourself any favors by judging your food or yourself.
Be Responsible = Actions, not Emotions.
Being responsible is not reviewing your food and/or food journal and judging it (food) as good or bad. Being responsible is not ridiculing and judging yourself for your “poor” choices. Being responsible is looking without emotion at actions that work or don’t work for your goal.
It is also worth noting that people who don’t keep food journals, often don’t because they’re afraid of being judged. In fact, I read a study recently that showed when people posted everything they ate on Instagram, they lost weight. Why? For one, extra accountability, two, they documented/logged what they ate.
What Does That Look and Sound Like In Your Head? (Thanks to Josh Hillis)
Being irresponsible looks like this:
- Feeling bad you didn’t eat the right thing (emotion).
- Beating yourself up and judging yourself (emotion).
Being responsible looks like this:
- Going to the store, buying food that supports your goal, taking it home, and cooking it (action).
- Writing down everything you eat, and creating strategies for what you could do differently next week (action).
- Only eating three meals until satisfied and NOT snacking.
- This will be different for everyone, but I can help customize a fitness program for you.
In short, being responsible is taking the emotion and the guilt out of the equation, and just dealing with actions. Once you do that, once you ditch the idea of food being either good or bad, you will actually find it much easier to deal with food wither that means writing it down, shopping for it, etc.
Now, writing down and logging your food isn’t for everyone, but here are some great reasons why it will help you.
Like the study said, those who logged their food, lost weight. That one action, lead to weight-loss.
What’s even better, once your food is documented, written or logged, you can then review it (without emotion) and strategically see what is working and helping you toward your goal and what is not. You can then choose to change one thing for the upcoming week (action) and see if it works. So simple, you just need to start, which is the hardest part of developing a new habit.
Now go be awesome!
KELLEN LAKE – Food is Food
PS – Stop judging yourself and your food : – )
