“Bring me back my 2012!” or idiotic food trends from 2010s we can’t leave behind

Image: DESIGNECOLOGIST

If I had to pick one decade that is responsible for the most of eating disorders it would certainly be the last one.

How often did you get to hear that “The key to happiness is mindful eating?” But wtf is mindful eating? Harvard school of public health describe it as “using all of your physical and emotional senses to experience and enjoy the food choices you make”. Easier said than done (at least for me). And it is not even about distractions. The truth is that each of us develops unique response system which reacts to things around us in its unique way.

Here’s another example. We’ve been taught that we shouldn’t scroll through the phone while eating. Otherwise you will develop obesity and even brain damage. Yup, sounds about right. But what if I told you that sometimes watching whatever you’re watching on your phone might help with staying more calm, and focussed? Probably in a perfect world we could’ve just focused on our loved ones or some fancy view outside. But most of us live in a different world. Very often the smartphone is the only escape we’ve got…

How about this one: “when you think you feel hungry, you're actually thirsty so just drink water and you’ll be fine”. Or this: “replace two of your meals a day with a bowl of cereal”. “1000 kcal diets” were “the best”: apple + yogurt + 1 toast, 4 almonds as a snack and chicken salad without dressing for dinner. Remember, how we were afraid to eat bananas and grapes because of its high sugar content? That’s funny now, but I actually believed this shit 10 years ago. Another concept which completely screwed up our generation is the story about “good foods” and “bad foods”. It implies that we can be poisoned by cookies, pasta or cheese and there’s no better antidote than starving yourself mixed with good old guilt.

All of this madness happened because we were told that weight was somehow connected to morality and self worth. How come that having a body that doesn’t fit into the standards of majority means that you are not good enough, because you don’t look “normal”. But wtf is “normal”? Honestly, nobody knows, because it is different for everyone.

Scientifically speaking, weight loss diets don’t work.

Using food as comfort can be a form of self-care. We can seek certain foods for a dopamine boost. Tricky part is that we crave something specific and we won’t feel satisfied until we get that food. If I want crepes with Camembert and apricot jam, I won’t be happy if I’ll get crepes with Nutella instead. And that’s perfectly fine - eat whatever you like, raise the dopamine and improve your mood.