Rethinking The Calorie: MY Two Cents
January 31, 2016 // Nutrition
The idea of looking at a plate of food and assigning a numeric value seems grossly unnatural, and now is suspected of being grossly inaccurate.
I rarely bring up the word “calories” in my coaching and training services because I want my clients (and audience) to develop a positive relationship with the foods of their choosing. The choices they make should represent their values of self and align with the life they desire to live.
Rarely do I meet a client that wants to live a life of feeling miserable and lethargic; most people want to make better decisions when choosing foods, but often times are paralyzed due to all the conflicting information being perpetrated by the experts.
Food is a relationship that is person-specific, and is expressed in many different ways. This relationship and expression is usually a shared experience in a group or general social setting. It’s important to consider that each person handles this relationship differently.
It’s becoming common practice to blindly scrutinize food experiences with blanketed statements such as “This is BAD for you” or “This will make you fat.”
Nothing is innately bad; No one particular food is harmful for you (unless it’s poisonous).
Food is not objective, it’s subjective.
I recommend that people begin to treat food like a reflection of themselves. Focus on the enjoyment and pleasure of taste, experience, and feeling. Using words like “reward” or “cheat” suggests your current food practices may be misaligned with your values and perception of self.
I suggest dropping the numbers game and instead focus on building small, positive, sustainable improvements in your decision-making that helps you feel better with your food experiences.