The Guilt of Food Talk

Do you have a set of unreasonable rules that dieting has created? Is your head constantly filled with chanting words that promote or demote you from eating food that you love? This is the food police voice that is constantly telling you what you should and shouldn’t eat. It’s sort of like the angel and the devil sitting on your shoulders, one telling you it’s okay to eat the chocolate cake, but the other yelling “NO” don’t do it.

You decide to have that chocolate cake, while the devil sitting on your shoulder is beaming with pride because you followed his advice. As soon as you eat that cake you feel guilty about the amount of calories and fat that you just consumed. Even though you enjoyed the chocolate cake, you still feel guilty. Most chronic dieters have this sense of guilt each and every time they eat something that the food police is saying they shouldn’t.

The media and various companies place thoughts in your head related to nutrition and ways to “cheat” and make yourself feel guiltless because of the way these food items are advertised. The slogans and jingles are created to convince you that this cookie will prevent you from being “bad” on your diet, and will keep you on track. These are the advertisements that cause you to have negative food thoughts and judgments towards food.

You are not born with these food judgments, you develop them over the years of dieting and being influenced by the media penetrating these images of good versus. bad in your head.

The next time you pick up a food item that you enjoy and you contemplate “should I or shouldn’t I”, take a moment to listen to your body and the food talk going on in your head. Push away the negative thoughts and change the tape that plays in your head. If this is a food that you truly desire, go ahead and enjoy it without guilt in a very mindful way. Realize that this one food eaten in this one moment will not make you gain weight or have a nutritional deficiency. You may actually find that you don’t love the chocolate cake as much as you thought you did.

Your turn to take action: How will you replace the negative self-talk that plays in your head? Post your comments below!