Hi! I’m Heather, an anti-diet and weight neutral registered dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor with an office located in Pennsylvania. I am currently accepting clients who are ready to give up dieting forever, feel more comfortable in the body they are in now and want to repair their relationship with food. I am accepting new clients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and have both virtual and in-person options.
It’s that time of year… Halloween! It seems like an innocent enough holiday and yet it is the one that often causes the most angst for adults.
Whether you have children and are afraid that letting them have sugar is bad for their health, or you are an adult and feel as though you are addicted to sugar, Halloween can make it feel like the walls are closing in!
Everywhere you look there are bats, witches, spiders and for some, the most scary thing of all, CANDY!
But, sugar does not need to be a four letter word. Let’s look at some facts:
1.) Sugar is not addicting. In fact, saying sugar is addicting is like saying oxygen or petting a dog is addicting.
2.) By controlling sugar, you are creating a good food/ bad food situation for yourself and/or children and this is can lead to disordered eating, like binging.
3.) It might seem counterintuitive, but by legalizing sugar, you are actually supporting your health and your child’s relationship with food and their body.
I realize that some of you may be saying, “But, Heather, I am addicted to sugar. I can’t have it in the house or I will eat it all!” My response is simply, “I understand it might feel as if you are addicted to sugar but my guess is, because you have been restricting it for so long, that when you finally do have it, it can feel like you were trapped underwater and finally able to come up to the surface for air!”
Of course you are going to gobble up all the air!
There is absolutely zero scientific evidence that particular foods are addictive (including sugar)!
There is, however, ample neurobiological data that shows restriction amplifies the “yumminess” of food.That means the more you restrict it the tastier it will be when you do have it.
This is true for children too. The minute we say, “You can’t have that!” The more they want it! Children are actually pretty good intuitive eaters. Over time, as adults intervene and question a child’s body wisdom, they become less trusting of their bodies, and are less likely to follow internal hunger or satiety cues. If you have ever served a toddler lunch you will see they may eat the fruit, half a sandwich and take one or two bites from the cookie and then they are off to play.
When was the last time you took one or two bites of a cookie and left the rest to go be active?
Perhaps even more disheartening is when we label foods as good or bad it can lead children to feel as though they are bad for eating pleasurable foods. When it comes to food, there is no room for morality. Kids shouldn’t be made to feel bad because they want to eat some candy nor should they eat vegetables just to please the adults or to be seen as good.
I get it. It can be scary to be a parent these days, especially if your own relationship with food is on iffy ground. Between social media, diet culture, fat phobic physicians and the shear mass of available ultra processed foods, feeding your family can feel like a land mine where one wrong step can lead to a lifetime of diabetes!
But eating isn’t supposed to be stressful, our bodies (even yours) are capable of being trusted.
Sweets are part of a healthy relationship with food. This is not to say you should allow your child complete autonomy when it comes to regulating their candy intake, especially if your children are under the age of 8, or your family has had strict limits when it comes to sweets in the past.
What you want is to level the field. Keep a relaxed attitude around food. Serve 1 or 2 pieces of candy with lunch and/or dinner until the loot is gone. This works for adults too!
Let yourself enjoy some pleasurable treats every day and let your children see you being neutral around food.
Don’t let diet culture ruin a perfectly spooky holiday.
If you are ready to work on your relationship with food, we are here to support you in your journey! Book your discovery call today!