What Does Healthy Eating Look Like?

Every day I work with people who feel like they need to lose weight.  Really, most of us are trying to find some sort of balance between what we are eating and how much we are moving.  I think a large part of the frustration is that so many of us are so confused about what healthy eating actually looks like.  We have been dieting for so long we don’t know how to be with food anymore.

Imagine you’re driving down the road and you get a flat tire, does it make sense to pull over and slash the other three tires?  That’s how most of us deal with food.  We count calories and carbs, we weigh and measure, we deny ourselves our favorite, forbidden foods.  Once we slip up though its all over, we go off track with our eating just a little bit and we lose our way completely – giving up and going completely out of control.  We are so stuck in the all-or-nothing mentality when it comes to food.

The answer for me is 80/20, most of the time I eat well, then some days we have pizza and wings for dinner.  The thing is though, when I eat something less than healthy or a little decadent, I get over it.  I don’t spend the rest of the day beating myself up over a cookie at lunch.  More importantly, I don’t let one bad meal turn into a bad day of eating which turns into a week of bad decisions because diets can only start on Monday.  Food is good and I’m human.  Life is too short to be spent counting calories.  At the same time I want to live a healthy life, I want to teach my kids that eating well is not a chore.  It’s all about balance.  Let go of all the fads and trends.  If a certain plan works for you, use it for the accountability, but leave a little space in your life for splurges and treats, and know that having them is building a healthy relationship with food.

The number one thing I want people to learn is that healthy eating is not about always having healthy food on your plate. Healthy eating is about having a healthy relationship with the food in front of you.