Do you feel guilty every time you eat a food that you think is 'forbidden'? Or do you agonise about eating take-aways? Have you been on a guilt trip lately because you think you have eaten a few extra kilojoules? Or are you totally guilt-ridden whenever you eat, no matter what you eat?
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All these manifestations of 'food guilt' are common and if you only once in a while have pangs of doubt about what you have eaten, or occasionally feel worried that you have 'sinned', then this will probably not cause any harm.
However, if you are constantly obsessing about what you eat and how much you eat and divide foods and beverages into categories of 'bad' and 'good', then you may well be suffering from a food-related obsession.
If food selection governs your every move and waking thought, you need professional help as soon as possible.
The balanced approach
The best approach to food and eating is a balanced one. If you can realise that most foods are perfectly acceptable and that there are really no 'bad' foods, just poor eating habits, you probably have a balanced and healthy outlook on food and eating.
Ideally, humans (as omnivores) should follow a balanced diet that provides plenty of variety. This entails eating different foods from all the so-called food groups: milk and dairy, fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and eggs, legumes and nuts, grains and cereals, fats and oils.
A person with a healthy outlook on food intake will eat the odd take-away, or have a chocolate, or enjoy a dinner in a good restaurant, without going on a guilt trip.
The unbalanced approach
Even individuals who are on weight reduction diets do best when they eat a varied diet. People who cut out whole food groups or restrict their food intake to only one or two food groups tend to develop deficiencies, get bored, and sabotage their weight loss programmes.
For example, if you decide to cut out all fats, you run the risk of developing a deficiency of the so-called 'essential fatty acids', of which omega-6 and omega-3 are good examples. Even a low-fat slimming diet should still contain at least 65 g of fats and oils. Selecting sources of fat such as olive oil, that is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids that protect the heart, or fatty fish, which is high in omega-3 fatty acids, when trying to lose weight is an excellent idea.
Then there are the 'one-or-two-foods-only' diets. Such diets restrict the user to one or two foods such as brown rice and vegetables, or 'cabbage soup' to encourage weight loss.
Now there is nothing wrong with eating brown rice, and vegetables are among the healthiest foods available, but you cannot use such diets for weeks and months on end without developing deficiencies.
Rice and vegetables are poor sources of high quality protein, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and omega-3. Cabbage soup is also deficient in all these nutrients. If you stay on such starvation diets for more than a week, you may become anaemic (iron and B12 deficiency), develop brittle bones (lack of calcium) and deplete your immunity (insufficient omega-3).
Try to be sensible even if you desperately need to lose weight. Rather use a balanced diet that contains all the food groups at all times.
Ravaged by guilt
If you don't have a balanced approach to food intake and are ravaged by guilt whenever you eat, get help from a dietician or a clinical psychologist. People with psychological problems often express their underlying guilt in terms of food.
You need expert help to find out what underlying problems in your psychological makeup are making you turn to 'food guilt' and how to cope with them. If you don't go for assistance, you may develop eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia or orthorexia.
Incorrect information
Many aspects of 'food guilt' are fuelled by incorrect information.
Some people are under totally wrong impressions about certain foods and start viewing them as the 'enemy'. If you are worried about eating certain foods and this worry is turning into a guilty phobia, then start out by getting accurate information from a reliable source, such as a dietician.
Don't rely on your family and friends, who may well also be under the wrong impression.
For example, readers tell me that they 'have heard that food X is toxic and causes every disease under the sun' because they have read this information in an e-mail that has supposedly originated from an impeccable source.
Stop right there and keep in mind that more myths are propagated about food via the internet than ever before in the history of mankind. Go and ask a dietician if this is true or not, and if the answer is "No", stop agonising about eating that specific food.
Then there is the 'one food cures all' approach. Recently, I received an e-mail from a friend about bananas. My friend wanted to know if the amazing statements made about bananas in this e-mail were correct.
My answer was that while many of the statements were correct (e.g. bananas are rich in potassium, are a good source of energy etc.), they also applied to most other fruits and that bananas were not exclusive when it comes to being healthy.
This type of misinformation can be just as harmful as misinformation about supposedly harmful or toxic foods.
Always keep in mind that we need to eat moderately from a wide variety of foods and that 'all foods fit', as the Association for Dietetics in SA maintains.
If your food obsessions rule your life, go for help and free yourself from the shackles of guilt. Eating should contribute to health, but also be enjoyable, guilt-free and fun! – (Dr Ingrid van Heerden, DietDoc)
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