Sugar Isn’t Poison
One of the most important behaviors of a healthy thin mentality is to stop demonizing foods. This gets tricky because some people think I am ignoring the value of good nutrition when I say this.
But a healthy thin mentality is 100% compatible with good nutrition. The difference is that instead of having an external cues to eat healthfully, the healthy thin mentality person relies on internal cues.
This is a huge difference.
In other words, a dieter plans out meals and eats in according to rules like, “eat four servings of raw vegetables a day.” This directive doesn’t take into account anything about the dieter- the dieter’s likes, the dieter’s hunger level, the dieter’s preferences.
And the dieter talks about sweets or processed flour like they are arsenic.
The healthy thin mentality person, by contrast, eats vegetables because they taste good and their body craves them. And the healthy thin mentality person also eats and truly enjoys foods that a “dieter” would think are “poison.” But they eat them in amounts that are harmless, and in response to a true craving for them.
The bottom line is that dieters tend to eat really carefully and then binge or “fall off the wagon.” Healthy thin mentality people eat reasonably all the time. There is no motive to binge or go off the wagon- there is no wagon. They have reconnected to normal, healthful reasons to eat.
When you get yourself back to this state of mind and of eating- where you eat because you are hungry, you eat exactly what you crave, and you trust that your body will steer you to the food you need, you enjoy a freedom that no dieter will ever experience.
Please remember that at first, you food choices will be tainted by your diet history. But over time, you will realize that if you truly crave a cupcake you can have one, the glamor of that cupcake subsides.
Don’t get me wrong, enjoying a dessert is a beautiful and wonderful part of living with your thin mentality. Dessert isn’t arsenic- it is a wonderful part of life. And believe it or not, you will come to enjoy your favorite vegetables too- because it will be your choice and in response to your body- not because some book told you to eat four servings a day!!