when food is an enemy

A naughty child will be banned from their favourite sweets, while a nice one will get something delicious as a prize. It’s even the case of awarding children with harmful products. What’s actually important is that food starts to play a role that is totally redundant.

Many people start to treat food as their worst enemy when they’re teenagers and they’re endlessly on a diet. The minerals aren’t imporant – all they care about are calories, the less the better. Table turns into a battle field. An extreme form of such behaviour is anorexia, along with bulimia – such people also have no control whatsoever over your nutrition. They have a love-hate relationship with food. Contrary to people who are overeating. They eat even when they’re no actually hungry. Also, among healthy people it’s easy find those who treat food as a fetish. Their everyday life is subordinated to food, planning super healthy and balanced meal, counting calories and minerals. This is called orthorexia – a brand new disorder that destroys your psyche just like every other.

Anorexia, bulimia, compulsive eating, orthorexia are diseases that need professional treatment. I’m not a psychologist, but I know that the reasons for those diseases are complex and need therapy that can take years. I just want to address those who are still on the edge, especially my youngest readers. Try to treat food as fuel that is essential to function well daily. Treat it in the easiest and most natural way. We breathe, we eat, we exercise because we need those actions to live. Let’s not treat diet as a punishment and reward system.

‘I ate a donut so I need to do a hundred sit-ups as a punishment’ – no!

‘I succeeded in a test so I can eat a tone of cookies’ – no!

‘I’m sad so I’ll eat a litre of ice cream’ – no!

I know, sweets boost your mood, because they raise insulin level. But it’s momentary. It’s a similar mechanism to alcohol. But this path leads nowhere.

Obviously when you start to eat healthily, you need figure out which products are actually good for you, some need to fight sugar and fast-food additctions too. But the moment in which you feel your body and you get the diet that is good for you comes real quick. And then it’s essential to focus on other parts of life than food.

Let’s look for pleasures in hobbies, achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, reading, sports and helping others. There are so many possibilities! Cooking can also be a hobby, but under a condition that we do not treat kitchen as a battle field.

picture by Marta Wojtal
Jedzenie niech zostanie po prostu paliwem, smacznym i kolorowym, ale tylko paliwem.