In recent years, it seems like everyone in the world is having a war on sugar. Every health app, food blog, or nutritionist seems to be telling everyone to cut sugar out of their diet and stop eating any form of dessert. However, this can be extremely difficult for people because sugar and desserts are very yummy. Also, people often have dessert because they are celebrating a birthday, a special event, or just treating themselves. Therefore, a lot of guilt can arise when you feel like the whole world is telling you to stop eating sugar, but you do not seem to be able to.
The answer is not to cut out dessert and sugar. Yes, it might be best to not eat tons of sugar depending on how it affects you and makes you feel, but having dessert moderately is wonderful. Your mental health is arguably more important than your physical health. If dessert makes you really happy and improves your mental health, then having a little something sweet during your day is okay. The problem with the push to cut sugar out of diets is that it makes it seem forbidden. When you do give in and have sugar, you might feel like you have to eat it all in one sitting to suppress your guilt. Instead of telling people to cut certain foods entirely out of their diet, I think we should be telling people to listen to their bodies and how food makes them feel.
Intuitive eating is the only true “change” in a person’s diet that I think is beneficial. By listening to your body and not restricting yourself, you can get more in tune with what your body wants and needs. When I first started intuitively eating, I had immense fear that I would only eat ice cream for the rest of my life because that is what I would want. However, that did not turn out to be the case. When you listen to your body and pay attention to how food makes you feel, everything in your diet starts to balance out. Some days you might have more sugar and dessert, but then other days you will not even want dessert. The most amazing part of intuitive eating is that there will no longer be any guilt or shame associated with eating. You will learn how to trust and respect your body and what it needs and wants, even if that is dessert.