childhood Health Lie

As a child I was quite skinny and that has continued into adulthood. 

But in my formative years one thing a lot of adults told me was that "I was skinny so I could eat whatever I wanted".

This was incredibly harmful. Number 1 because indirectly what I was being taught was that the only thing that mattered was not being overweight. And number 2, it made me focus on how I looked and completely ignored the importance of feeling well.

Knowing what I know now, I would encourage people to focus on how they feel within themselves rather than just focusing on "looking good" and encourage them to eat as healthily as possible, because what you eat can have significant positive or negative effects on your physical, mental and emotional health.

I'd also emphasise the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. The lie that I was told as a child about being able to eat whatever I wanted suggests that being skinny is a good thing. Having worked in hospital I can tell you that significant health issues can arise from being both under and over weight.

I think overall I'd give the same advice as a lot of successful people say these days and that is to focus on the process not the end goal.

If your end goal is to lose or gain weight you can achieve either of these goals by both eating unhealthy and healthy foods. However, if you try to lose or gain weight by eating an unhealthy diet and either restricting or increasing your calorie intake, the likelihood is that you will not maintain the diet and even if you do achieve your desired weight goals, your success is likely to be short lived.

This is because unhealthy foods that are high in refined sugar and carbohydrates do not satisfy our appetites the same way that healthy food sources do. This is why when you eat something like a bar of chocolate or a tin of Pringles it's very difficult to limit yourself. However, when you eat a piece of fruit like a banana or an apple it is a lot less likely that you'll reach for another one once you have finished, meaning that it is a lot harder to overeat when eating healthy.

Focusing on eating healthily can result in maintaining a healthier weight or allow you to gradually increase or decrease your weight depending on health goals. Eating healthily can also reduce the risk of disease, increase energy levels, improve sleep and improve cognitive function.