‘Food rules’ could be helping you more than you realise

Hot take:

It’s actually easier to be black and white about food than it is to ditch food rules.

Before I worked on my relationship with food (and learnt more about nutrition), healthy eating was boiled down to a very long list of what ‘not’ to eat, and a (much smaller) list of what you can eat.

Once I started learning more about nutrition, including the importance of getting a balance of macronutrients and adequate energy intake, I realised that it would be quite difficult to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet if I were to eat the way that I thought was supposed to be the healthiest for me, which was actually super restrictive (classic).

However, this realisation opened the floodgates for me. Suddenly, nutrition wasn’t necessarily about only eating the ‘right’ foods; it was more nuanced than that. It was about having an eating pattern that supported my activity levels, body functioning and overall longevity. The problem was that I no longer had an easy framework to help me implement it. 

See, it’s actually easy to allow a set of rules to guide your eating behaviours, like:

‘Stay clear of sugar’

‘Avoid the white carbs’

‘Artificial sweeteners are bad for you’

‘If you can’t pronounce all of the ingredients, toss it out’

‘Stop eating after 6 pm’

-because it narrows down the choices that we have to make on a day-to-day basis. In a world where the majority of us are already burnt out and stressed out and can barely even choose a good Netflix show to watch without the algorithm gods choosing for us, figuring out how to make decent eating choices feels 10x harder than it needs to be.

The most common resistance I hear is,

‘What’s wrong with food rules if they’re helping people eat better, even if they don’t stick to them perfectly?’

It’s because food rules do not offer flexibility or provide context.

For example, it might make sense for somebody who consumes 6 cans of Coke and a bag of jelly snakes every day to ‘cut down on the sugar’, because yes, the amount of sugar they’re consuming probably isn’t good for their health. But if you’re an active person who eats lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, etc, if you also happen to enjoy a little sweet treat most days, that’s not going to ‘cancel out’ the beneficial things you’re doing for your body.

And yes, there can be ‘hidden sugar’ in foods that probably don’t need it, like yoghurt pottles, muesli bars and even tomato sauce. But, if you are the parent of a neurodivergent child who is also a picky eater and struggling to keep weight on, these are the sorts of foods you might need your child to eat so that they can actually meet their energy and growth requirements.

Basically, it’s the fact that food rules usually provide no middle ground, no alternative, just - ‘if you do this/eat this, know that it’s BAD’. No wonder so many of us struggle with finding a balance. 

This Instagram video by Ben Carpenter that I saw the other day illustrates this point perfectly. 

When we say that you should abandon food rules, we’re not saying ‘only eat chips, chocolate and lollies’, we’re saying ‘know which types of foods to prioritise to support your health, but if that’s not always possible, it’s what you’re doing the majority of the time that’s more important anyway.’

Rather than trying and failing to adhere to strict food rules with no flexibility, what’s worked for me (and my clients) is to focus on food guidelines.

For example, 

• Aiming for a serve of protein at main meals. 

• Veggies with lunch and dinner (½-1 cup)

• At least 2 serves/pieces of fruit a day

• Eating mindfully, at least some of the time (depends on what’s realistic for you!)

The main difference between food guidelines and food rules is that they’re more about focusing on what to add in, rather than take out. From a psychological perspective, this means that there is an opportunity every time that you incorporate one of these actions to feel good about yourself, which creates positive reinforcement rather than instilling shame. 

Fear and anxiety around food is typically worse for us than any potential negative health effect of consuming the foods we’re made to believe are ‘bad’ for us. It can result in constantly thinking about food, feelings of stress (as if we need more of that), avoiding social occasions/going out to eat, and even lead us to overeat the very foods we’re avoiding as well. 

Even though food rules might feel like a safety net if we think they’re helping us to eat healthier, I’d encourage you to ask yourself whether they might actually be inhibiting you in any way from being able to truly find a balanced way of eating. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 -Lx