Nurturing and fostering healthy, loving relationships with family, friends, and lovers, should be carried over to food too. A good relationship with food means giving yourself unconditional permission to eat the foods that make you feel good, physically and mentally, says Gqeberha clinical dietitian Roslyn van Schoor.
Van Schoor joins registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Association of Dietetics in South Africa, Retha Harmse on this episode of Sisters Without Shame to unpack what it means to have a healthy relationship with food.
‘Happy, healthy, thriving’
Nurturing your relationship with foods means that no foods are off-limits, and you feel no guilt when you eat foods that are labelled good or bad, explains van Schoor.
“In terms of what a healthy relationship with food means, it means you can eat foods that you enjoy and that make you feel good mentally and physically. [It means] not labelling foods as good and bad to make eating a very positive experience.”
While Harmse adds that building a thriving relationship with food is not something that happens in the blink of an eye, it is something that you will have to work on your entire life, says Harmse.
“[A healthy food relationship] has no moral high ground, no label on food and therefore it will help you to not obsess over what you eat.”
What’s organic got to do with it?
Once found only in health food stores, organic food is now a common feature at most grocery stores. And that’s caused a bit of a problem in the produce aisle, says Harmse.
“Organic foods have this ‘health halo’ but it is not that much better than normal produce,” she says.
Van Schoor adds that organic foods are not significantly more nutritious at that non-organic foods are not necessarily unhealthy.
“I think we should focus more on eating a variety of foods that includes all your fruits and vegetables. It doesn’t matter if it is organic or not. I think we should put more focus on including foods into our diet that contribute to our health rather than what we should restrict.”
On this episode van Schoor and Harmse also expands on:
- The costs involved in building a healthy food relationship.
- Breaking the cycle of festive indulgence.
Listen to the full interview on Sisters Without Shame
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