Keep it Neutral

Mom, If I drink this whole thing, I only get 5 calories”? My son questioned me incredulously as he twisted the pink can of Spindrift around in his hands.

*Pause here to check ingrained diet culture’s typically excited response when someone seems enthused over a low calorie item.*

”Yeah, if you drink that, it doesn’t give you a lot of energy,” I casually replied. 

“But I’ve had stuff that has like more than 300 calories in it!!” he proudly proclaimed.

”Oh, that must have given you a little more energy. Depending on what kind of food you eat and how much you eat, your body gets energy for shorter or longer periods of time.” 

After all that, I got, “Well I don’t even like how this tastes anyways. Bye.”

Cue child running off, and scene fading to black. 

If you talk about foods neutrally, you keep kids (and yourself) in control of being able to *actually* choose what they want based on their authentic likes and dislikes.

When you label things as bad or unhealthy, you and the kids in your life are inadvertently set up for intentional (and unintentional) restriction. The body feels even the slightest restriction, in case you were wondering. On top of that, the lines of communication between body and mind are severed slowly and sometimes permanently when you repeatedly ignore your innate cues. It gets harder and harder to make intuitive choices around food when you can’t hear or understand your own body. 

When it comes to food, flip the script this week: 

When you read a calorie label (can you please stop reading those anyways?), try chill vibe responses like hmmm, huh, interesting.

Choosing a neutral response to what you and your kids eat will help you feel juuuuust a little more relaxed around food.

Who doesn’t want to feel more relaxed?