Behind the Mirror: Let's Talk Healthy Eating

Hello Patch Readers! It's been a while! Let's get started.

Healthy Eating. Those are words that are thrown around quite frequently. Let's eat healthy. I'm only eating healthy foods. Blah, blah, blah.

Those of us who have experienced the heartache of living with someone who has Ed (a.k.a. ) in their life, those words really rub us the wrong way. In our world, food is food. It is not labeled as "good" or "bad." We don't punish ourselves if we have some ice cream or grab a double/double from .

Following the last meeting of our Eating Disorder Support Group, a member approached me with a question. She was leaving the following weekend for a girl's getaway with some friends. Emails were bouncing back and forth as they decided on menu items and who was to bring what. Salads, breads, pastas, cheesecake. All was going well until one of her friends sent the group an email stating: "Can we just eat more healthy?" She didn't know how to respond to the question and asked me for some guidance. I told her to pose the question back to her friend and ask her how she would define healthy eating.

Next time you are lunching with the gals, be observant of how much time is devoted to discussing calories, who will eat what and why, who is going to be "bad" and eat something they feel they are not entitled to eat or they cannot eat this or that because they had a piece of pie yesterday ... and on it goes.

Personally, I prefer the term "normal eating."

Ellyn Satter "who pioneered the concepts of the feeding relationship and eating competence, defines normal eating as going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to give some thought to your food selection but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is flexible. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life."

This is very well said. So, do you eat healthy or do you eat normal? 

Let me know your thoughts.