Posted at 11:00 a.m.
“Who told you that you couldn’t eat all that anymore?” Where do these injunctions come from in relation to your diet? asks Bernard Lavallée, author of Don’t swallow everything you’re told. According to the nutritionist, people are bombarded with too much information about food. “There is the media, science, governments, our friends, our parents and our grandmother who give us advice. There is a term coined by French sociologist Claude Fischler that describes this phenomenon: nutritional cacophony. »
Recommendations come from all over. They are sometimes contradictory and can change (and harden), such as those recently issued by the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), which notably advises not to drink more than two glasses of alcohol per week. These new rules came as a shock to many people.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The more science advances, the more nutrition discovers new molecules in food and the more new injunctions we will have. The nutritional cacophony has a detrimental impact on our mental health and is a source of guilt.
Bernard Lavallée, nutritionist and author
Listen to your internal compass
Psychologist Stéphanie Léonard believes that if the demands are too high, they become unattainable, which creates frustration, or even a feeling of helplessness. “The most valuable tool we have is our internal compass. We know what makes us feel good, but we destroy this compass by being under the pressure of external rules that make us feel guilty,” she says.
“It’s like weight loss diets. It works at the beginning, there is a honeymoon, but afterwards, everything goes off the rails, because the restrictions, it does not work, ”says the psychologist, specialist in the treatment of eating disorders. She understands that Public Health is issuing strict instructions, but we have to be realistic.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Children who live in families where biscuits, chocolate and crisps are forbidden, as soon as they are with friends or have pocket money, they rush on it! And not necessarily for fun, but just because it’s forbidden!
Stéphanie Léonard, psychologist specializing in the treatment of eating disorders
“The prohibitions are attractive and it is very strong from a psychological point of view”, she underlines.
And the pleasure in all this? “Obviously, food is much more than health or our impact on the environment. Pleasure is what is most important to me, believes Bernard Lavallée. We do not eat only with our head, but with our emotions. As soon as we impose dietary rules on ourselves, if we are not in the slightest in pleasure, it will not work in the long term, because we are not made to restrict ourselves all the time. »
Oust! the guilt!
According to Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agrifood Analytical Sciences Laboratory at Dalhousie University, our food should not make us feel guilty. “We are playing a dangerous game, because food is based on culture, traditions, our heritage and pleasure. We idealize food, but we forget that it is a personal choice. The state has a role to play, that of education and raising awareness, and not that of making us feel guilty, but I fear that we are going in that direction. »
All the experts interviewed believe that we must get rid of this guilt, which is counterproductive. Nutritionist Bernard Lavallée reminds us that we have the right to eat what we want. “Public Health gives recommendations and not imposed rules, we choose to follow them or not. The ideal is to find sources of pleasure in a “healthy” diet. »
I don’t have the solution, but going to extremes and scaring people doesn’t work. I see it every day in my office.
Stéphanie Léonard, psychologist specializing in the treatment of eating disorders
“People feel helpless,” she continues. They get up in the morning and are stressed, they tell themselves that they eat fruits and vegetables, they are careful not to eat too much meat, and then they say to themselves: “Oh, I had two glasses of wine yesterday , so it’s over for the rest of the week…” Really? »
In this regard, Bernard Lavallée admits that from a scientific point of view, the consumption of alcohol is not a recommended habit. “But does that mean you shouldn’t drink it?” No, alcohol plays other roles in our lives, it brings pleasure and has a socializing role. But we have no choice from a public health point of view to say that alcohol can cause health problems. »
The food guide, a reference
As far as food is concerned, the reference remains the Canada’s food guide. “The recommendations are consistent, eat as many plants, as few processed foods, cook as much as possible, make water your main drink, these are tips that are conducive to good health,” says Bernard Lavallée.
Stéphanie Léonard thinks you have to learn how to cook the basic ingredients with pleasure. “That’s what we want, to take pleasure in healthy eating, because eating well doesn’t mean that it will be bland, flat or dry. »
She also describes another phenomenon that is gaining momentum: the judgment of others, because healthy eating is glorified in our society. “It’s a sign of self-control, self-mastery. We are proud to make perfect plates, to have perfect habits. There is a value that goes beyond food, it becomes a social success. We are proud to eat organic, local, only fresh products, never processed. In our society, we have come to this, wrongly, ”concludes the psychologist.