Labeling food as either "Healthy" or "Unhealthy" can be detrimental to your health journey. To have a well-rounded diet, food can't be thought of as good and bad. Unless there is an allergy or an intolerance, no food group should be eliminated from a person's diet. Labeling certain foods as "bad" leads to guilt when you do end up eating it, and guilt can lead people to feel the need to workout extra or eat fewer calories. Neither of these are ever necessary.
It is important to look at the effects that associating things with the negative can have on your mentality. Whether it is food or working out, when someone uses these things as punishment, it associates the ideas that way. This can harm one's mental health even more than a fitness journey. When a person works out as a punishment, they are less likely to choose to work out regularly because of the negative emotions associated with it. The same concept applies to punishing yourself for foods that you enjoy eating.
Although foods have different amounts of nutrients, limiting yourselves to those foods that are seen by society as unhealthy will not be sustainable in the long run.
Something that I have found helpful when it comes to consuming things that are already labeled as "unhealthy" is to allow yourself to eat a little bit every so often. For example, If you struggle with feelings around eating ice cream, start by eating ice cream once a month or week depending on what you feel comfortable doing. Allow yourself to enjoy the food. Make it a happy experience, and just enjoy it.
One of the most important things I want to convey is to learn to enjoy foods. Not because it is a "low point food" or it fits into your macros for the day, but because that food brings you joy.
If you often find yourself punishing yourself for eating foods that you consider bad, please consider reaching out to a therapist or a nutritionist. It is okay to ask for help.
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