6 Reasons Not To Label Foods ‘Healthy’ or ‘Unhealthy’

‘Mom, are donuts healthy or unhealthy? My teacher said apples are healthy and cookies are unhealthy.’

 

You’re trying to raise an intuitive eater. You’ve done your research, you’ve done your own work to unpack your chaotic relationship with food, and then BOOM! Your child walks in the door from school with a nice dose of diet culture. Is this a conversation you are ready for? 

 

When my preschooler came home telling me she learned about ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ foods, I wanted to melt into the floor and leave like Alex Mac. I was angry that I now had to help her unlearn a concept that is inappropriate for her to learn in the first place. It’s not an age-appropriate or accurate way to teach nutrition, doesn’t get kids to eat healthier or have a more positive attitude towards food, and can actually cause disordered eating and eating disorders.

 

I know ‘healthy’ is a common term for describing foods, recipes, and patterns of eating. From TV shows to kid’s songs to school lessons, everyone seems to have their own diet-culture-influenced definition of ‘healthy’. As parents, educators, doctors, nurses, etc, we often feel like teaching young children about healthy vs. unhealthy choices is educating them about nutrition. But think about that for a second. They’re not really making these choices. The child isn’t the one grocery shopping, choosing what foods to keep in the house, or making meals. That’s our job as parents. So these expectations are unrealistic.

 

 If you’re someone who uses the term ‘healthy’, it’s okay. I still use it sometimes in certain situations. A lot of the recipes I share often include ‘healthy’ in the title to describe the recipe. But here are some of the reasons why I don’t like using it very often when I speak about food and eating with my children and in general. 

When you tell your child, ‘Eat your broccoli, it’s healthy.’

 

1. Honestly, that’s not going to be a huge selling point for your kid. Food needs to taste good and your child needs to enjoy it to want to eat it. In reality, the fact that it’s healthy is not going to be a big driver. 

 

2. Children are concrete thinkers. If they don’t like broccoli, they could think, ‘I don’t like healthy food’. You might actually be turning them off to many other foods that you label ‘healthy’. 

 

3. If they do decide to eat it, they could be eating to please the parent rather than listening to their body. As parents we want to foster interoceptive awareness for our children, not only for eating habits but also emotional regulation. Otherwise, they could lose their ability to notice their body’s subtle cues and honor them.

 

4. Does not eating broccoli really make you unhealthy? No. Eating one particular food doesn’t automatically make you healthy or unhealthy. What matters is what you eat over time. Eating too much of anything could have a negative effect, including fruits and vegetables. 

We never want a child to think they are unhealthy or letting down their parents because they were in the mood for a candy bar or chips (which are often labeled ‘unhealthy’).  Getting satisfaction from eating is not wrong and should not create shame. We don’t want them to feel bad if they didn’t make a ‘healthy’ choice. That mental/emotional stress is ultimately more impactful than the food itself. There is so much nuance when it comes to nutrition, which is why giving food black and white labels is not helpful. What is healthy to one person may not be healthy for the next. And kids think in black and white terms. If you tell a child that a food is unhealthy, they may stop eating that food. Or worse, they may question their caretaker. ‘If cake is bad or unhealthy, why is my parent giving this to me?’  

 

We can always find something positive to say about any food, whether it’s an apple, cookies, carrots, or soda. An apple is crunchy, sweet, and gives us energy. A cookie is sweet, gives us a quick burst of energy, and brings us pleasure. Vegetables and ice cream can both be delicious and bring us pleasure. One is not superior over the other. Sometimes we’re in the mood for a crunchy salad, and other times a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream is what satisfies. 

 

5. It can cause disordered eating and eating disorders. Someone once told me in health class that donuts were empty calories, so I literally stopped eating donuts. That was so unnecessary! Scaring kids about food is dangerous. Demonizing certain foods and glorifying others can result in a child not eating enough, being very anxious around food, or unable to be flexible with food.  The anxiety I got when I had to be flexible and eat at a fast food restaurant used to be so overwhelming. And I definitely didn’t eat enough when I ate out because I was afraid of being unhealthy.

 

6. Studies show that labeling foods as ‘forbidden’ elevates the power they have over us. When the time comes to allow the food, it’s eaten in an anxious, rushed state. This creates the opposite result from what was intended. 

Pro tip- Talk about all foods with the same tone. ‘Here’s your fruit’ and ‘Here’s your ice cream’ should sound the same. Serving these foods in the same tone and manner helps to not attach an emotional charge to them.

How to Undo Healthy vs. Unhealthy Labels

 When in doubt, ask questions rather than assume what your child is thinking.

• What does the word ‘healthy’ mean to you?
• Where did you hear that from?
• What do you think about that?

 

When your kids come to you with concepts they’ve learned, don’t be afraid to address it. Say they come home and share how they learned ‘low calorie’ means healthy. You can and should re-frame that idea. Calories are just energy that our bodies use to move and do all the fun things you do in a day. We all need plenty of energy from food to experience what we want to experience. You can trust that your body knows how much energy you need. So no, ‘low calorie’ doesn’t mean it’s ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’.

 

If they say, ‘Well I learned in school that cookies are unhealthy.’  You can say, ‘Labeling foods this way is incorrect because eating cookies doesn’t automatically make you unhealthy. Some foods we eat more for nutrition so our bodies can do all the amazing things it does for us, and some foods we eat more for fun (but even cookies give us nutrition like energy!). So in our house, we don’t call foods ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’. Food is food and it’s great to enjoy all kinds of different foods. Is there a food you would like to try?’

 

You could also say something like, ‘To me, eating healthy means eating foods that feel good in my body and that taste good to me. I enjoy eating cookies, so I make sure I keep them in the house for when I’m in the mood. Sometimes I eat a lot of them, sometimes I don’t finish them, but it’s fine to enjoy cookies. I also enjoy carrots and whole wheat crackers dipped in hummus among lots of other foods that make my body feel well. All the foods that we enjoy and make us feel good can fit into our life.’ 

 

Age Appropriate Food & Nutrition Education 

 

Before age 11-12, the focus should be pressure-free experiences with food. Think naming, seeing, touching, sorting, smelling, preparing, tasting, and eating. How to approach trying new foods, good handwashing, table manners, courtesy, and cultural respect should also be included in this phase.

 

After about age 13, lessons can become more abstract, but they don’t need to learn ‘eat this, not that’ to be adequately nourished.

 

Ideas for Nutrition Education: 

 

• Where foods grow and come from 
• How food is made or prepared
• How to read a recipe
• Recognizing hunger and fullness cues
• Connecting with the experience they are having in their body
• Noticing how different foods feel in their body
• Distinguishing between a snack of peanut butter crackers vs. a pack of fruit snacks and which provides more sustainable energy
• Foods that are in season or grow regionally 

 

In the end, labeling foods as anything other than what they are can disconnect children from their internal cues and intuitive regulation. You don’t have to call a food anything other than what it is. An apple is an apple. Cake is cake. Problematic thoughts around food and eating can have a snowball effect that we want to avoid at all costs. If you could use some help teaching age appropriate food and nutrition education to your kids, I’ll invite you to fill out an application for 1:1 Nutrition Coaching. Together we’ll unlearn the labeling that’s impacting your family’s relationship to food.