Dinner is Not a Moral Issue

Sometimes, I get a little frustrated at the attitudes that crop up in dieting circles. Time and time again, I’ve seen people characterize themselves as bad, weak, stupid, failures, and in general consider themselves screw-ups based on what they eat, even one particular eating incident. Especially one specific eating incident.

One…

It bothers me. A lot. Downing a piece of cake is not the same as murdering somebody, for gosh sakes! It’s not the same as beating your kids or shoplifting diamonds or kicking your dog. It’s making a questionable food choice.

And it occurs to me: the folks that are living with that mentality are going to have tons of trouble sticking with it, which is what you’ve got to do in order to be successful. It’s sad because it’s so utterly pointless.

That which is born out of self-loathing is not going to succeed. Period.

Sure, I may poke fun at my “fat pix” or note with some chagrin how thoroughly I managed to delude myself into thinking I was merely “plump” all those years. But at the heart of it, I love myself. I’m doing the work I’m doing to improve myself because of this.

I don’t know how that stuff gets into your brain. I know most overweight people probably have dealt with some level of those kinds of feelings. Maybe it’s somebody in their family, maybe it’s somebody they know, maybe it’s just society in general and the constant negative judgment that overweight people face. I don’t know.

But I do know that having a positive attitude is vital to success! Because if you don’t have that attitude, every time you eat a single cracker too many, you’re going to be on an “I suck” rampage and be ready to throw in the towel. Your perfection is ruined, so at least the day is shot and you probably end up doing 10 times as much damage as the one deviation you’ve already made from your plan.

 It’s challenging enough making healthy food choices consistently without added the extra burden of one slip translating into viewing yourself as a worthless human being. Say your prayers and make ammends if you must, and then move on. But make sure you move on!

What you eat on a regular basis is just a set of choices. Nothing more. If you make a choice that you consider “bad,” that doesn’t equate to being a bad person. That means you need to adjust your choices to support your well-being and long-term goals. That’s all!

If a “normal” person eats too much cake or whatever, do they run around with much wailing and anguish and proclaim what a bad person they are?

Uh, no…they cut down at the next meal, and maybe exercise a few minutes more to compensate. Or maybe they just don’t worry about it and don’t give it a second thought. But I doubt you’ll see any of ‘em running off to confession to purge themselves of their sins.

The other thing with this mindset: You’re perpetuating the same problem you’ve had forever in a different context. Your life, your sense of self, your sense of peace and contentment and security is still totally revolving around food. Food is still controlling your life. Who needs that?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Dinner is not a moral issue!