“Food is fuel?” What does THAT mean?

As a kid were you ever sent to bed without dinner for misbehaving? Or rewarded with your favorite treat for doing something right? Did your grandma love to cook for you, inspiring you to associate food with expressing love?

I view food differently than most people. Some have a hard time hearing this, because it flies in the face of what they grew up with.

But here it is: Food is fuel. Our bodies need fuel to be healthy and strong. We should be feeding our bodies nourishing, real food and giving them plenty of water so they can function at their best and stay strong for our entire lives.

Using food as a reward or punishment leads to eating disorders and weight gain. I can’t tell you how many of my clients used to overeat, gain weight, and get sick because they grew up associating food with love and comfort. “Have a bad day at school? Here’s a cookie to cheer you up. Got an A on your math test? Well done! Have some ice cream.”

Pretty soon we dive for the junk food any time there’s stress or we do something well and want to reward ourselves. And the pounds pack on.

I teach my Rebels my mantra of food is fuel. It’s partly so they understand their body needs the right fuel to function at its optimal level. But it’s also to help them break that cycle of numbing emotional pain with food or treating themselves to junk food as a reward.

The worst is when people gorge themselves on junk food, then feel guilty and ashamed. Food should NEVER be the cause of guilt and shame.

Start viewing food as fuel. Respect your body enough to feed it real, nutritious food, not junk food with chemicals and no nutrition. You deserve to love yourself and your body, and feeding it the right foods is a big part of that.