You’ll be happy to know this is a project-related rant that’s about to go down here.
I’ll start with some background on the project. Basically, it’s a two part menu planning assignment.
First we had to keep track of our eats for 3 days, calculate the cost of them, and input them into a food processor. It analyzed our intake and spit out our results vs. recommendations in terms of all the nutrients you could possibly care or not care about and then we compared our own records to Canada’s Food Guide and to a budget figure set out by the Montreal Diet Dispensary. FYI my daily recommendation for spending on food was a mere $8.30 (or the cost of about 3 starbucks venti coffees, for comparison’s sake). I think the biggest thing that stuck out to me wasn’t that I wasn’t eating enough grains or that I was eating too many servings from the meat and alternatives group (big surprise, right?) but was the amount of money that I spend on my food. And I remember mentioning and posing a question about how valid an external food guide can be for you when it comes to eating healthy, so I guess this project opened up my mind and at least ignited some critical thinking.
The second part is a little bit more work but this time we are to plan a 3 day menu and then cost it, trying to fit within that spending allowance and trying best to manage to the food guide recommendations for our age/sex. We also have to comment on how we will use the leftovers we make, the food that we don’t include in the meal plan, etc. It’s a bit tedious–calculating the market order costing, thinking about how to match the food guide, etc. It dawned on me that it’s all kind of ridiculous. I get it–there are people who need meal plans, but are there?
What if we didn’t? Aren’t we born knowing how to eat? Aren’t we hardwired to like the foods that are good for us? Somewhere along the way I think I lost sight of this and started to look for the answer outside of me. A diet book. A dietitian. A magazine. A friend. Whatever, whoever, wherever. And it took what felt like an eternity for me to find out how to start to feed myself for me, but I think I’m there. Yes, I’ll read your article about going vegan and I might be swayed a bit. I’ll read a Paleo book and start to embrace some of their philosophies. But if someone tells me that there’s a plan out there, a guide out there, an expert or a whatever out there that knows better than I do what I need to eat? I think that’s silly. PLEASE NOTE that I don’t think a year ago I could have been here — I was using food for reasons besides fuel/nourishment. When I was emotionally attached to things and still active with my eating disorder, food took on a whole new power — it carried with it fear and so much more than the nutrition I know it provides me with today. There was good food and there was bad food and I was good or bad based on what I ate. Then I got to the point where I thought that there was no bad food. But what I’m realizing more and more now is that there is such a thing as stupid food. Bad might be the wrong word for it — and eating something that’s junk doesn’t make you junk, but now that I’m out of the depths of things I feel alright saying this: there is such a thing as crappy food. And if you eat TOO MUCH of it, you will feel like crap.
Sorry if you have your hand in a bag of chips or something right now and that came off a little blunt.
Common sense says this: eat real food. ED says: don’t eat food, don’t eat fake food, eat fake food to prove you can, eat only this kind of real food, avoid that food, blah blah blah. But remember something: ED IS STUPID. We are smart. If you’re eating something, ask if it’s food. Does it have an ingredient label you can hardly make your way through without getting confused or flashing back to organic chemistry? Will it last forever (food is supposed to go bad)? Did it come from the ground or have a mother? Is it recognizable? Could you buy it at the market?
Let’s just get real and honest and to the point: we should eat real food. Saying that doesn’t mean froyo and candy bars are gone forever, but it does mean that you have to get real with yourself if you want to get healthy. That goes for you whether you’re overweight, recovering, or whatever. I spent a lot of time learning by making mistakes. I guess what I’m trying to do here is to share with you what I’ve taken my sweet arse time to learn in the hopes that you can learn it a bit faster yourself. I’m grateful that I learned this “the hard way” through all the struggles and experimenting, but that doesn’t mean I can’t shout what I’ve learned from the rooftops or tell you that if you feel like you’re constantly trying new things out and not getting any answers that you’re probably en route to an epiphany and that you should keep going!
…or so you can argue with me and tell me to shut up and eat a granola bar. I have a good friend who sent me a private message a few months ago that came entirely from her heart. At the time, it caught me off guard because she called me out on some of the things she saw me eating on a regular basis on my blog that were, looking back, that stupid food that I mentioned earlier in this post. But now I get it: she was trying to reach out and help me. Not saying that I think everyone needs to get real with themselves and ask themselves if they are really eating right because I’m scared of offending someone might rob me of the chance to get through to someone who’s on the same wavelength as me: if that’s you, EAT REAL FOOD. Don’t be scared. Scared is for wussies. Get real!
I’ve held back on posting this for fear of coming off as mean or as high and mighty. I don’t think I’m better than you. I don’t think eating a candy bar makes you a bad person. If you think it does, that’s an issue. If that’s how this sounds, I apologize for not getting my point across but I have never really held back before so it doesn’t make sense to do it now.
So I guess I’ll say it one more time:
- We don’t need fancy meal plans.
- We need to eat real food.
- We don’t need a diet label — paleo? great. vegan? awesome. vegetarian? cool. lacto-ovo-pesca-vegetarian? you go girl! Regardless of your label, you better be eating mostly whole foods if you want to be healthy.
- The food guide is generic and right now I think it’s crap.
Now that I’m not scared of gaining weight, I can eat real food. Now that I don’t care if I have a six pack or not, I can eat real food that makes me feel good. Now that I don’t think froyo has some magical powers, I can go get it and leave it at that. I can make mistakes. I can eat too much and end up with a stomachache and not do it again–or accidentally do it again. It’s all good. It’s just food.
Where I’m drawing inspiration these days:
- GoKaleo–follow her on Facebook cuz she posts awesome status updates!
- Paleoista–the blog, the book, anything this gal does is legit (and I like how she emphasizes whole foods, not JUST paleo)
- Michael Pollan–love this man longtime!
- 100 days of real food–check it!
- Eat By Design
- The Whole 9
Phew.
You know those rapid fire posts where you literally can’t type fast enough? That just happened. If you could follow along, congratulations. If you need a recap, it’s this: this project is stupid. 
Have a good night!
What do you think about this real food approach?
Have you ever gotten to the point where you’ve had to tell yourself to get real in some aspect of your life?
So well put. I especially love your bit on not needing a diet label. As a vegetarian, I can’t tell you how many people either ridicule me or apologize to me in reference to their eating behavior – either way, I don’t feel it’s my business or my place to judge. It’s different for everyone, and you’re right: as long as you’re eating (mostly) whole, real, nutritious foods, you’re going to be just fine. Thank you for your honesty in expressing all of this!
Amen to that! People judge because they’re insecure–that’s my honest take. When you’re confident in YOUR choices, you don’t worry about other people’s! It sounds like you’ve got your head in the right place and that’s what matters
this is a great post. I love looking at this side of food, so beyond the obsessive ed mindset. I can’t wait to hear more about it.
Thanks! It’s a fine balance but I think it’s worth struggling to find
I do agree with what you’ve said here, but I also think that your project is awesome in that it helps you to reduce wastage and identify areas of unnecessary spending. For a lot of people (especially with families) it is very hard to afford entirely “real food” diets and so teaching how to maximize nutrient intake for $$ spent is pretty important IMO. Maybe not at this stage in life, but I bet the skills to make a good meal plan will come in handy when you have a family or a client with budgetary restraints!!:)
You’re so right — it’s been totally eye opening in that way and it made me realize how privileged I am to have more money to spend on food. And with that money I can choose to buy cheap food and waste it on convenience, or I can put it to good use to buy foods that really are worth it!
I also like the idea of menu planning to plan out your leftovers–throwing food away feels so bad!
Totally agree with the food wastage guilt!! It’s crazy how much we waste. Congrats on your graduation by the way!! Looks like you had a fantastic (and well deserved) celebration!!
Aaah so many things I want to say!!!!!! I must make a numbered list haha.
1. “Aren’t we born knowing how to eat? Aren’t we hardwired to like the foods that are good for us?” <—- I’m going to add a bit to the discussion here that comes from my own background (evolutionary biology): to answer this question, yes and no. We are evolutionarily hardwired to seek out foods that give us the most nutritional bang for our buck – the most calories, fat, protein per unit food. Obviously this is because food was not always guaranteed, so if you could find something that kept you satisfied for awhile (like, a few days), that was gold. Think nuts, seeds, berries, sometimes meat. I’m sure you know all that, but anyways, we still carry this evolutionary tendency with us today. Except the catch is that food is NOT scarce, in fact it is overabundant, and the quickest, most easily accessible most calorie/fat laden items are….mcdonald’s. dunkin donuts etc. People crave these things in part because we’re evolutionarily hardwired to want fat and sugar.
In addition to this, you and I are educated, well-off, know a lot about what makes good food etc. So our evolutionary tendencies lead us to the bulk bins at whole foods to get some nuts and seeds and grains and whatnot. It’s really hard to remember (because we live in an academic bubble and we’re coming from a place of ED, where food was a focus and an obsession and not just a way to get energy) that for most of the country, people don’t know jackshit about nutrition, they’re not educated, they don’t have a lot of money….and so they order off the dollar menu.
2. I think government food guides and programs ARE inherently flawed because of (at least in the US), govt subsiization of the meat and dairy industries. I’ve talked about that before. BUT I do think that dietitians are necessary – you and I might not need others to help us eat, but so sooooo many people are entirely uneducated and they need HELP. They’re the people who need the simplicity that a food guide offers, you know what I mean? And for people in recovery from ED – I don’t think many ED-sufferers can get to that happy place where they eat real food that makes them feel good without help from friends, books, counselors, and RD’s. I know for me, making the changes I need to make is scary and counterintuitive, and it helps SO much to have guidance from Jackie – I trust her, and the point of working with her is hopefully that I will eventually see results and be able to trust myself.
3. I do agree with what you’re saying though so I hope I didn’t come off sounding like a bitch either! For those of us who have the knowledge of what “good food” IS, then yes, we don’t really need people to tell us what to eat, or eat something because we think we “should”, because Women’s Health Magazine says we should, etc. But the sad truth is that the great majority of people in north america, the US especially, really don’t have a clue….and that’s why I think RD’s and the food guide still do have a place.
Kate! I still love your comments even when they’re the opposite of what I wrote
because you make really good points. I think I’m just frustrated with ME and my own past and with this class mostly! And if I didn’t have an RD who acted pretty much as a coach to remind me that food isn’t bad and that we need energy to survive and just to check in with me every week, I would have been with ED a lot longer. So amen to that! 
And I can think of some pretty awesome RDs, but I think it’s important regardless of what your designation might be to just speak what YOU believe, not what you’re supposed to believe based on what you went to school for. I don’t knowwwwwww, I’m so confused, and urgghhh! Thanks for your comment — 
<3
Oh I agree with you on that!! I don’t think anyone, regardless of what capital letters they’ve got behind their name, should just be spouting off what the government tells them too (lol V for Vendetta much?). Part of being a health professional (or just a capable human being in general lol) is being able to think critically: Study the food guide. Study and keep up with the recent literature. Analyze the shit out of all of it. Then formulate your own opinions and counsel your clients based on those informed opinions. Regardless of what degree you have! right on!
I agree and disagree with you here!
Eat real food –> YES! It amazes me that like 75% of the grocery store is processed crap which we don’t even really need. We could easily survive on the other 25% of fruits/vegetables, meats, grains, and real dairy products. I feel like we’re starting to see a movement back to these types of foods, but there’s still a long way to go. I’d love to see a day where there’s only 1 aisle of processed foods in the grocery store with the rest being fresh!
But as for the food guide and naturally knowing what to eat, I slightly disagree. We know all about nutrition – we’ve spent years obsessing over it! But most of western society isn’t so knowledgeable and furthermore, they don’t care! Those are the people who need the food guide, who need people to help them eat better. And about meal planning – I think that’s important too. We’re lucky enough to be able to afford our healthy diets, but a lot of people aren’t as lucky. They spend what little food money they have on processed foods because they don’t know how to how to eat healthy on their budget. But if they could learn how to meal plan, it would be entirely possible!
Just my two cents!
I love you and I love your two cents! I think it’s the application part that people need and you’re right — I kind of forgot that we are lucky to be able to spend more money on food. I thikn it’s key that we use our extra money to buy good food and not waste it on convenience. We have the freedom to use it for food that really is better for us. And for froyo! And I think you’re also right (and Kate raised a similar point too) that my heightened awareness is something I’m kind of taking for granted here…people do need lights in the confusing tunnel of the snack food aisle, I suppose.
We can do that for people via blogging, our jobs, etc. and THAT is pretty freaking cool, right?