Weighing into Healthy Choices with Food Positivity!

I have deliberately made a choice to avoid kilojoule counters on my recipes on this site and in my books. I don't believe they actually reflect anything that will be of value in a healthy lifestyle. In fact when you look at our image above, (Courtesy of instagram.com/thefitnesschef_/ ) you will see that the so called 'superfoods' or 'healthy choices' are much more kilojoule laden than the foods that we tell ourselves to avoid. So how do we put ourselves through this maze of confusion and social food shaming to end up with better health?

'Superfood' is the buzzword for people like me, (we are called influencers these day), a title I am not all that comfortable with given that I have seen so many conflicting posts regarding popular health notions.

Today's clean eaters are avoiding the dirty burger (going for the vego burgers instead) and shunning the fries unless they are loaded sweet potato fries and Instagram worthy and going instead for things that are proclaimed 'plant based', 'superfoods,' 'clean foods'. No more bacon and eggs, smashed avo on sourdough with a runny (punctured) egg yolk is de rigueur. I am a bit guilty of some yolk porn myself, and I love a bright orange runny yolked poached egg as much as the next influencer, but did you know there are more kilojoules in that option than the good old bacon and egg muffin from the food chain we love to hate.

So you see my dilemma?

Don't count calories, make them count!

Back in the day, a healthy diet was considered to be no more than maths. Counting calories, input and output was all that mattered. So sure, run on a treadmill for 6 hours knowing that you ate the mars bar, and have now burned off the calories. YIKES, that is no life is it?

I am saying, re-direct your 'diet', 'lifestyle', 'program', 'protocol' to the nourishment that you will get from the food. I hate the sound of that sentence. Protocol? Really? But yes, apparently we are now turning how we eat into punishment as often as possible by calling it anything but enjoying a meal.

I am all for a slice of cheesecake, and have many recipes on this site for perfect cheesecakes. I also love the occasional raw dessert. Some of my recipes for those things are amazing if I say so myself. I think both of these types of desserts have a place in a balanced diet, but if I were to calorie count and compare the two options, I know which would lose the calorie count. And it isn't the regular cheesecake!

The mistake you can easily make in choosing the nutrition dense option is that because it is healthy you can eat more of it. I say no. My foodi-osophy is that you only eat a small piece of either choice and enjoy it enormously. Food positivity is about that. Enjoyment, pleasure in eating, no guilt, healthier brain messages being sent to your body which in turn appreciates the message you send and uses the food wisely. (Hahaha, this is my theory and I am sticking to it!)

You still need to consume mindfully. No matter the source of your food. Stop and enjoy it. Be mindful of the portion size, the nutritional density and above all the flavour and mouth feel as you eat it. Food is about love, and enjoyment and sharing and joy, and amazing choices. We are so lucky in this country to have such a wider choice. Don't waste the beautiful opportunity you have to enjoy good food.