When healthy eating become unhealthy…

(The following definition and explanations are taken from a document

developed by the Centre for Clinical Interventions and Kate Fleming, Dietician.)

“Clean Eating” can be described as eating only select foods from the major food groups and eliminating foods high in sugar, trans-fats, preservatives and/or additives. It also involves choosing foods based on how they are processed or manufactured.  Clean Eating may appear to reflect traditional healthy guidelines, however it is common for those attempting to eat “cleanly” to progress from limiting their intake of certain food types to avoiding these foods altogether.  Restricting our food intake in this way can pose serious risks to both our physical and mental well-being.

I’m going to boil down lots
of type into a few bullet points
about the risks and then list
some questions that help
determine if someone is
eating to cleanly.

RISKS

• We may miss out on key nutrients by avoiding whole food groups.
• It may lead to Orthorexia Nervosa, the obsession with eating righteously, cleanly, or perfectly.
• We may have hormonal imbalances or heart problems.
• If it’s extreme our mental health could be adversely affected. The more we attempt to control our intake, the more we feel a sense of deprivation leading to preoccupation with eating habits.
• If we become preoccupied with our eating habits it can affect our ability to concentrate at work or school, give us a sense of superiority over others, and make it difficult to eat with others.
• Limiting intake, eliminating whole food groups, and preoccupation with eating habits can impact our mood by causing us to be irritable or depressed, or causing shame and guilt when we can’t live up to the standard we’ve set.

Is your eating too “clean” or inflexible; here are eight questions to ask yourself.
If you answer yes to a couple of these, you may need to seek help.

1. Have I cut out specific foods or entire food groups?
2. Do I find myself feeling guilty after eating “bad” foods or a sense of pride/achievement after eating good or “clean” foods?
3. Is it very difficult or impossible for me to eat a meal prepared by someone else?
4. Am I starting to limit socializing with others so that I am able to stick to my eating habits?
5. Do I judge other people’s eating habits or encourage them to eat in a similar way to me?
6. Do I spend a large amount of time planning my meals in advance?
7. Do I often spend time researching wellness blogs that stipulate nutritional components of foods and the need to follow specific ways of eating?
8. Am I finding it difficult to concentrate or perform at work or school because I can’t stop thinking about food, planning my meals, or perfecting how I am eating?

Finally, here are a few suggestions on how to overcome “clean eating.”

1. Follow a balanced flexible eating plan that is based on dietary recommendations
2. Include all food groups.
3. Allow yourself, without feeling guilty, to eat foods such as chocolate and cake in moderation.
4. Limit the amount of time you spend researching what you “should” eat and critically evaluate the information you do receive.
5. Get help from a professional – doctor, dietician, etc. – if needed.

This list picture shows the good and the bad of what’s been scientifically proven. I think it’s really well done.

Here are some notes I
took during this class.

• Balance – core food groups, Variety – balance within the core food groups, Moderation – portion sizes and hunger/fullness cues (Notice in the section above, they reference these three guidelines.)
• Fats shouldn’t be eliminated because they are needed to absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K. (Side note: fats are needed for brain development – it’s been proven that when the country as a whole went toward low fat diets, the rate of Alzheimer’s went up dramatically.)
• The digestion system doesn’t have a brain; it just does its job to turn food into energy.
• There is a state of the body called Rest and Digest which indicates the digestion system is doing its job. If the body is in Fight or Flight mode, it can’t also be in Rest and Digest; therefore, the body doesn’t absorb nutrients as well if there is anxiety over a meal.

Timberline was focused on treating the whole person, so we had classes that addressed physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational aspects of life.  While we were in residence the dieticians helped us figure out what was a balanced diet we could follow.  Because some were there for eating disorders this was important to their recovery.  When we went to PHP (the step-down program) we were on our own as far as what we ate, but we had nutrition classes to help us learn important concepts, such as portion size, how to listen to your body’s signals, etc.

One of the topics we talked through
was Eating Styles. The instructor
wanted us to consider WHY we ate –
what foods we chose, when we ate,
and so on.  This list is adapted from
Intuitive Eating by E. Tribole and
E. Resch, 1995.

A Summary of Eating Styles

1. Unconscious Eating
   1. Eating while doing something else at the same time.
   2. Often characterized by a view that sitting down and eating is a waste of time; it’s more productive to multi-task, but the person is unaware of what they are eating..
2. Chaotic Eating
   1. Usually someone with an overscheduled life.
   2. This is the “gulp and go” mentality of eating when food is available; often associated with stress and tension.
3. Refuse-Not Eating
   1. Eating whenever food is present whether hungry of not.
   2. This style is encouraged by candy jars on desks, buffets at social gatherings, or food left sitting on the kitchen counter.
4. Waste-Not Eating
   1. Eating is promoted by all you can eat buffets and cheap food.
   2. This style is often influenced by monetary value or cost of food.
5. Emotional Eating
   1. Eating is in response to emotion instead of hunger.
   2. This style is characterized by eating alone with triggered by stress or uncomfortable emotions.
6. Careful Eating
   1. Eating seems to be driven by health and fitness concerns.
   2. It may seem perfect to others, but there is anguishing over each food morsel.
7. Professional Dieting
   1. Eating is characterized by often trying the latest commercial diet or diet book.
   2. It’s most often due to a perpetual feeling of being fat.
8. Intuitive Eating
   1. This style is based on biological hunger.
   2. It includes making food choices without dilemma or guilt and honoring hunger, respecting fullness, and enjoying the pleasure of eating.

Once a week we went to a supermarket buffet and bought lunch to take back to the PHP building.  Our instructors checked to see that we chose from all food groups in the proper portion sizes.  Otherwise they didn’t restrict what we took.  Another day of the week we went to a restaurant for lunch.  We were not supervised as to what we ate during this outing.  This was more for those that struggled with eating disorders and alcoholism.  It’s part of desensitizing.  Could the participants go and not under- or overeat?  They were able to go with a group, feel safe in the environment, and make the next time easier.  One restaurant we went to had empty alcohol bottles on shelves around the restaurant.  This was to expose those with alcoholism to be in a safe group environment.  The instructors wanted them to feel that they could be outside the program building, taking part in a normal activity and resist their cravings.

I’m going to end here with a paragraph from How to Get Your Kids to Eat…But Not Too Much, by Ellyn Satter.

Normal eating is being able to eat when you are hungry and continue to eat until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and truly get enough of it – not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being able to incorporate balance, variety, and moderation, while not being restrictive and missing out on pleasurable foods. Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad, or bored, or just because it feels good. Normal eating is three meals a day with snacks, most of the time, but it can also be choosing to munch along. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful when they are fresh. Normal eating is overeating at times: feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. It is also under-eating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for the normal variations of eating. Normal eating takes up some of you time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life. In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your emotions, your schedule, your hunger, and your proximity to food.

Our watch words became Balance,
Variety, and Moderation.  As long as
those three are followed there should
be no reason to deny any foods.  I’ve
posted a List of 10 Principles of Intuitive
Eating taken from the same resource.

I’m still trying to decide how
I feel about this approach as
it’s not intuitive to me yet!