Traditionally, people put food into two different categories – good and bad. This is both not useful and unhealthy. This generally contributes to all-or-nothing thinking. I have worked with people that eat something they consider ‘bad’, then get flooded with emotions like guilt and shame.
I try to encourage looking at food on a spectrum – from better to worse.
Better foods add to your health. You feel good after eating them. They are less processed with few ingredients. They’re nourishing. And easy to eat slowly.
Worse foods subtract from your health. You might feel bad physically after eating them. They are generally processed with many ingredients, many artificial. They’re lack nutritional value. And they are hard to stop eating when full.
Try this little exercise. Place the following foods on the spectrum and write in the comments which ones go from best to worst. It will be fun to see the similarities and differences in answers.
Basmati rice
Raisin Bran
Chicken
Apple
2% Milk
McDonald’s French fries
Homemade French fries
Steak
Protein powder
Cashews
Apple
Chicken
Steak
Cashews
Basmati Rice
Protein powder
2% milk
Raisin bran
Homemade french fries
McDonald’s french fries
Apple
Chicken
2% milk
Homemade French Fries
Basmati Rice
Cashews
Protein Powder
Raisin Bran
Steak
McDonald’s
10000m row
41:05
Just seeing what pace I could do it at
Apple
Cashews
Basmati rice
Chicken
Steak
Protein powder
Raisin Bran
2% Milk (I was surprised to see how much sugar was in Milk)
Homemade French fries
McDonald’s French fries
Chicken
Steak
Cashews
Apple
Protein powder
Basmati rice
2% milk
Homemade French fries
Mac Donald’s French fries
Oh I forgot the raisin bran lol … between rice and milk
Apple
Chicken
Protein powder
Steak
Cashews
2% Milk
Basmati rice
Raisin Bran
Homemade French fries
McDonald’s French fries
Very interesting to see results. Here’s my list (which is not right or wrong):
Chicken
Apple
Steak
Cashews
Protein powder
2% Milk
Basmati rice
Homemade French fries
Raisin Bran
McDonald’s French fries