08/31/2026
Stop demonizing your food!
I think one of the biggest problems we have in modern-day society is that we always feel like we have to associate everything with being “good” or “bad.” And I see this play out especially when it comes to health and nutrition.
People think they’re “good” when they eat a salad.
They’re “bad” when they have a cookie.
They’re “good” when they resist temptation.
And they’re “bad” when they overeat.
But here’s the first thing I want to emphasize: food is not good or bad.
Those are associations that WE place on food. When we decide that a particular food is negative, we start giving it a negative meaning. The same thing happens when we place positive associations on certain foods.
And this is a stigma I want to drop: everything does not have to be described in polarities.
Rather, we need to start looking at food with neutrality.
Instead of asking, “Was this a good food or a bad food?”, start asking:
“How did this food make me feel?”
Did it leave you feeling energized? Sluggish? Satisfied? Still hungry?
Those are much more useful identifiers than judgment.
Because one cookie isn’t going to ruin your health journey, just like one salad isn’t going to make you healthy. It’s the patterns we create over time that matter.
That is how we’re going to stop demonizing food—not by giving food power over us, but by understanding how our choices make us feel and being intentional about the patterns we create.