episode 144: are “healthified” foods actually healthier for you?
On episode 144 of The Diet Diaries I'm talking about the long time trend of "healthifying" foods.
You know, taking “junk” food and “bad” food and making it healthy. Trying to make everything high protein.
AKA zoodles, cauliflower pizza, black bean brownies, paleo granola, protein pancakes, cookies made with coconut sugar.
Are these foods actually healthier? Do they help you lose weight without counting calories? Should you use them?
The answer isn’t as black and white as it seems and as always it comes back to your values and WHY you’re making the choices you’re making around food.
Here’s some of what you’ll hear today:
Why we need to stop calling food healthy and what language we should use instead
How to get clarity on the roles of different types of foods
When and how I make choices to use “healthified” foods
What health actually means and why it’s about so much more than what you eat
How “healthified” foods can back fire on your goals and impact binge eating recovery
How to know when choosing a healthier version of food is the right option for you
For more resources for how to lose weight without counting calories, listen to episode 138 of The Diet Diaries and this blog which covers my top 5 tips to lose weight without dieting.
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Welcome to the Diet Diaries, a podcast where we have candid, heartfelt conversations that will help you figure out what, why and how to eat so you can feel amazing in your body, because it's time to break the all or nothing mindset of yo-yo dieting, food obsession and feeling ruled by the scale. I'm your host, body image and nutrition coach, jordana Edelstein. I'm so happy you're here. Hey everyone, I think it's episode 144 of the Diet Diaries. I forgot to check before I hopped on, and quick announcement this is going to come out on Monday, september 11th. That is a day that I always think is important and worthy to pause upon and just reflect and remember, so I hope that you will take a moment just to do that. I don't know, it's a day that I always, that always, sits really heavy with me, and I didn't have any, didn't know anyone was not personally impacted by what happened that day, but it has always, always profoundly impacted me, and so I really just could not let this podcast coming out today go by without kind of acknowledging that. So Bye-bye what I'm gonna talk about today. Actually, before I do that, just wanna mention Project Plate Plan. The three Ps is coming as of today, when I'm recording this, which is Wednesday, september 6th. I'm still finalizing the dates. I'm pretty sure it's gonna go on sale the end of September and we're gonna launch and get started together early October.
01:40
This is a self-guided 10-day course. It's gonna be $29. It's super affordable because I want it to be like a no-brainer for you. This is gonna come in the form of an email straight to your inbox every morning. There's gonna be a specific skill to practice, kind of like a lesson, and then a skill to practice. The days are going to build on each other and this is all about how to lose fat without counting calories, macros or points, without just eating bars and shakes all day, without cutting out entire food groups. Right, this is about learning the skills around prioritizing efficient sources of protein, learning how to use your plate to identify portions and adding more volume to your meals for fiber and fullness. So I'm super excited about this. It is very focused, it's very streamlined and it's gonna be super easy to follow. Are you gonna lose fat in the 10 days? No, like that's not realistic. This is about giving you time to learn and practice these skills with structure in place, knowing you're gonna get one of these emails every day and you're gonna have a very kind of specific assignment to do that will fit within whatever is happening, whatever you have going on that day, and then so that you have a foundation to continue practicing these skills beyond our 10 days together. So just wanna kind of keep you guys aware of what's happening with that that's coming soon.
03:03
And then today I wanna talk about something I've kind of had this as a topic bookmarked for a while. I wanna talk about this idea of healthifying foods. So this is not a new trend. This has been going on for a long time. I think probably one of the first sort of more like modern examples of this would be like Zoodles, zucchini noodles, right, trading pasta for noodles. Air quote noodles made out of zucchini. Cauliflower crust pizza is like another big one. Black bean brownies are another really popular one.
03:36
And so this idea of healthifying foods is taking foods that we have been taught and believed to be, quote bad, like junk food, bad food, a lot of carby food, and making it quote healthier. Now, right off the bat, you guys know that I feel very strongly about how we use the word health to describe food. A food is not inherently healthy or unhealthy. A food is inherently nutritious or non-nutritious, but anything can be healthy or unhealthy depending on how you use it. The same is true for kind of this group of foods. You can make black bean brownies and get more nutrition in there, but if you sit there and eat the whole pan because you think they're quote healthier, that's not healthier. Or if you think they're more nutritious, that's not healthier. Right, there's still an overeating kind of binge situation happening there that needs to be addressed. You know there's a whole clinically classified group of eating disorders called orthorexia, which is like an obsession with eating quote, like healthy foods right to the point where it's not healthy for you. There's like a mental illness. So I think it's really important to kind of start off with that, that no food is inherently healthy or unhealthy. And then I think the other big point here before I kind of dive into some a little bit more nuanced part of the conversation, is that different foods have different jobs. You guys have heard me talk about this before. I talked about this quite a bit, actually, on the podcast I did around how to not pass on your disorder to eating to your kids. I will link it in the show notes, because this idea of different foods having different jobs makes a lot of sense to kids and also really works for adults.
05:13
The job of an apple, let's say, is not really going to be to satisfy like a craving for cake. If you want something sweet, if you want a dessert, a cookie, a cupcake, ice cream, telling yourself to have a quote healthier dessert usually doesn't cut it right. It typically leads to a stronger, more intensified craving, just like if we are hungry. If, let's say, we're hungry between meals, we're looking for a snack and you grab some chips out of the cabinet, the chips are not going to fill you up. They're not designed to fill you up. If you're truly hungry, you need a snack or a meal that has an efficient source of protein, some volume, some carbs and some fat. Right, the chips aren't bad. They're just not designed to do the job you're trying to make them do.
05:58
And so I think that's a really important part of this conversation that not all foods are. They don't all do the same job as each other, and a big part of this work is knowing what foods do what jobs and then consistently assigning them to the right job as you go through your day. You know so if we think about something like zoodles, right? So let's say that you are trying to lose weight and you're like, great, I'm going to eat less carbs, I'm going to swap pasta for zoodles. Well, if you've ever had zoodles, you know that, like they're not a replacement for pasta, they don't taste the same, their texture is not the same, they don't kind of offer the same type of satisfaction and enjoyment, and so what sometimes happens with these foods is they end up we go in well intentioned but then they end up leaving us wanting more. Right, and that's kind of, I think, sometimes the issue with these foods. Now you might be thinking, oh yeah, of course Jordana's against this, and I'm actually not. I actually think this all comes down to why are you doing this? Right, anti diet culture would say that healthifying any foods is inherently like bad as part of diet culture, that if you want the cupcake, eat the cupcake. Yeah, if you want the cupcake, eat the cupcake. Now, if you're trying to make a healthier version of a cupcake, why are you doing that? A, what is like kind of your objective? And B, are you enjoying it as much as you would? The quote regular cupcake. Here's an example of this.
07:27
Back in my dieting days, I would make mug cakes. If you guys aren't familiar with this, they're kind of like single serve cakes. You make them in the microwave. You kind of put like small amounts of ingredients in the mug, stir it up, stick in the microwave and it bakes it. It's like kind of a cool idea. I was trying to do them as like a way to avoid eating like quote a real piece of cake. I remember at one point I had bought this bag of this artificial sweetener called swerve, which had a pretty strong aftertaste.
07:54
I am a fan of using what are called non-nutritive sweeteners or artificial sweeteners. They're a very easy way, depending on like, the flavor and the taste profile, to take out calories and still kind of get the enjoyment. Depending on personal taste, some people can really taste them and some people don't. So this isn't really about that, but maybe I'll do a podcast episode about that. So, and I would use almond flour and, like honey, I would use all these quote, like you know healthier ingredients and I would eat this cake and then I would want more and I'd make another one, or I would end up sending Danny out to go like buy me the piece of cake from the diner that I originally wanted right.
08:34
And that's where things like this become a problem, because if you don't enjoy it as much, you're going to end up either eating more of that thing to try and get that satisfaction, or you're going to end up eating the thing you originally wanted anyway, and so then you end up eating more food and more calories anyway, and very often we try to make these swaps because we're trying to lose weight. So then it's like this ends up having the total opposite effect that we want it to, whereas if we were practicing skills to learn how to have the actual food that we want and eat it with awareness and attention and care, you'd be able to learn how to have a portion of a piece of cake that actually lined up with your goals and you enjoyed it just as much, versus trying to kind of like avoid it or take the shortcut which is there's never a shortcut and end up eating like two or three mug cakes or then going out to get into cake or the ice cream or the cookies or whatever the thing that you wanted to begin with. So it really comes down to why are you doing this? Back in the day, it was because I was terrified of having a real piece of cake. I'm like I'm going to eat the whole thing. I'm going to want more. I'm never going to be able to stop. Cake is bad. Cake is going to make me gain weight. I had all of these stories when really, the truth was, I didn't have the skills to be able to eat a piece of cake in a way that lined up with how I wanted to feel mentally and how I wanted to feel physically, and whatever my goals were at the time. The cake itself inherently isn't bad, isn't unhealthy. It might not have any nutrition. That's fine. That's not its job. So, that being said, if you like, here's a, here's a great, for instance.
10:13
So recently I tried Bonsa Pasta. It's made of chickpeas. It has a ton of protein. Relatively speaking, it's not an efficient source of protein because it's still primarily carbs, but for a pasta it has like eight or nine grams of protein per serving, which is a lot. It's made of chickpeas, so it is a carb, but because it's made of chickpeas and inherently has a lot of fiber, so there's more nutrition in this. I've been curious about it. So I bought it over the summer and Danny made like shrimp and we had this, this jarred pesto, lemon pesto from Trader Joe's.
10:43
This pasta was so good. It tasted just like regular pasta and it was more filling. Honestly, I still ended up hungry a couple of hours later. Pasta is just not a filling food for me. I have to eat so much of it, which then has, you know, other issues. It just doesn't line up with the energy, caloric needs of my body or how I want to feel. This was better than regular pasta, but not as filling as, let's say, if I'd eaten like a giant plate of vegetables or and usually I find potatoes more filling and some of this is personal, anyway, a bit of a sidebar, but I it tasted so good, you guys, I could not tell the difference. It was so good. So to me that's like a no brainer swath. If I want pasta and I'm at home, I'm going to have that because one it tastes the same. So my satisfaction is like on par with regular kind of conventional pasta and I'm getting some extra nutrition from it, which is like a bonus and I know it's going to keep me full a little bit longer. Bonus, right, I'm not sacrificing anything there.
11:43
If you tried Bonser like oh my God, this is disgusting, I hate the taste. Eat the regular pasta Right. There's no benefit to you. This is true. I discovered right rice recently, which is it looks like I can't. I actually think it has more of a texture of pasta, but it looks like rice but it's made, I think, from lentils, so again, has protein, has fiber added in. So, yes, it's still a car, but it has some extra nutrition. I thought it tasted so good. I like rice and I add some butter to my rice. This, to me, tasted just as good. That's an easy swap for me that I'm not making any sacrifices.
12:18
And the last one that I wanted to share, that I like it, was smart sweets candy. They are flavored with Alulose, which is a naturally occurring, non-nutritive sweetener. It also I think that would have the fiber or something else. But there's a whole bunch of different like products within this brand. I don't like all of them. Some I actually think are disgusting, but I happen to really like.
12:42
They're kind of like the sour patch kid versions. I love them. I actually like them just as much as sour. My mouth is starting to that's so crazy like salivate as I'm talking about them. It's wild. I like them just as much as sour patch kids.
12:55
There's no downside for me. I can actually eat fewer of these and feel more satisfied than with sour patch kids. So I keep those in the house and I love them. They're equal satisfaction to me. There's no nutrition in them. They do have fewer calories because of the artificial or the non-nutritive sweetener. That's not really why I'm choosing them. I happen to actually like them just as much. So it all comes down to your why I'm choosing those things because I like them just as much and they have extra nutrition Bonus. I'm not making any sacrifices.
13:28
So when you're choosing these alternatives, are you enjoying them just as much or are you sacrificing something? Are you left wanting more? Are you wishing you'd had the original thing? Is it causing more cravings? Do you feel deprived? Are you resentful?
13:41
If you feel any of that bubbling up, that's a good indication that that version is not inherently healthier. It might have more nutrition, but food is about more than nutrition. Right, it might be that maybe you're just missing some of those skills that will allow you to eat the thing you really want in a way that feels good. Because, remember, the food itself is not the problem. It is not inherently bad, even the really processed salty, sweet stuff that's super easy to overeat. When you have the skills and you're using those foods for the right job meaning not when you're hungry and not when you haven't had a meal and when you're not, when you're stressed and bored and angry and anxious you can incorporate those foods in a way that feels good. You have to learn how. It's a skill that we're just never really taught, so it's just not that black and white.
14:31
You know I'm going to use the term healthifying, because that's the term that's kind of used can be great. It can be a great option for the reasons I shared earlier, or can be a not great option if it's left, if it leaves you feeling shitty, resentful, angry, unsatisfied, and so I just kind of wanted to talk about this Again. This is one of those things where I think there's like such polarizing opinions and everyone's, like you know, you got to replace. You know you got to replace your carbs and you got to, like you know, swap all sugar for coconut sugar and agave syrup and maple syrup and like you know, guess what? Like white sugar also comes from a plant. Like you know, all of these things ultimately get broken down into the same molecules of glucose in your body. So one is not inherently like better than the other. A lot of this is marketing. Coconut sugar is not inherently healthier or better for you than like white sugar. If you like it better and you prefer the taste, fine, great, go for it. But you also have to look at the science when you're making arguments, when you're making claims, when you're interpreting the marketing that's on a package you know making.
15:40
I saw a recipe on a reel for these. They looked delicious. They were kind of like a quote healthier peanut butter cup with like Greek yogurt and you put peanut butter and you dip them in chocolate. They looked awesome. They go in the fridge. I really want to try them because they look really good and I actually don't really like Reese's anymore. I know it's like sacrilege. They're just don't taste peanut buttery enough for me and they're super, super sweet. So if I were to make something like that and I liked it, that would be awesome. It'd be like great. I enjoy this just as much. I love the cold, I love the crunch of the hard chocolate and I get some nutrition. Cool.
16:11
It's not because Reese's are bad or because I'm afraid that I'm going to sit and eat like 10 packages, which I know you might feel that way and I get that, but the reason you feel that way isn't because of the food, again, it's because you haven't learned the skills yet. I will, I will go into my deathbed saying that it's not the food and it's not you. You're not not motivated, you're not not trying hard enough, you're not not disciplined enough, you don't not care enough, you don't have the skills. It always, always comes back to that and that's why I'm doing project plate plan, that's why I coach, that's why everything I do is about skills, always skills. You can practice, you can get better. They're with you in any situation. They go with you, they build confidence, they build self-esteem, they rebuild self-trust, like skills are where it's at. So you know, I guess.
17:03
The last thing, just like kind of a quick anecdote Again, back in the day I kind of mentioned that, that mug cake, but I remember I went through this period of time where I was making homemade paleo granola. I was probably doing a paleo diet, not for the reasons that many people do them, which is to help with inflammation. I was doing it strictly for weight loss, because it was restricting food groups, and so I made this granola which had all paleo approved ingredients and I guess I must have used a paleo approved sweetener and I remember making a bag of this and keeping it in the freezer, so it was mostly nuts I think it was almost all nuts, and I remember I put it in my Vitamix and I added like spices and cinnamon or whatever. It was fucking delicious. Let me tell you, I remember going through a bag of that in like two or three days. Now let me tell you one.
17:56
Going through a bag of anything in two to three days, unless it's a vegetable, is indicative that there's something going on where you're not able to have awareness around your portions or why you're eating something, especially something that's super calorie dense like that. I can't even imagine the amount of calories in this. Nuts are one of the most calorie dense foods there is, meaning it's a lot of calories packed into like a very small amount of food. Nuts, like the sweetener and whatever else. There was probably some coconut in there. I don't even remember what was in there.
18:25
So I'm doing this paleo diet to try and lose weight and then I end up eating a bag of homemade granola in two to three days, which is probably likely thousands of calories, and so my fat loss goal has gone out the window, right, if I'm eating this granola like going crazy with no ability to kind of regulate my behavior around that. So is that really a healthier version of regular granola? No, it's not. So you can healthify foods all you want. You can make what's considered a quote more nutritious, but if you don't know how to eat that thing and you don't know how to self-regulate and you're still overeating it again like that's not a healthier version, that was no different than buying a regular bag of granola from the store and I probably would have done the same thing at that time.
19:10
But I thought that because it was paleo, it was quote healthier. So it was like I was allowed to. I did that with whole 30 ranch dressing. I remember making their ranch dressing, which is also fucking delicious, and going through a jar of it, dipping vegetables in it over a couple of days. That's a ton of calories and I don't say that Again. You guys know calories are not good or bad, they're science. But I was doing all these things to lose weight and then would end up overeating because it was quote healthier. So you think that you're allowed to have more. It's not how it works. Like, all food has a caloric value and our bodies have a caloric need, based on whatever your goals are and whether you get those calories from Reese's Peanut Butter Cops or you get them from homemade ranch dressing, or you get them from fruit or wherever you get them from. Like, if you're overeating that food and you don't know how to self-regulate and you don't know how to choose portions and you're choosing the wrong food for the job, it doesn't matter how nutritious it is or how healthy you think it is. Like, there's still behavior there that needs to be addressed. So that's what I wanted to share for today.
20:15
I hope this is helpful. Reach out, I'm always here to chat and discuss and bounce ideas off of. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. If this podcast or any recent or any podcast episodes at all have been helpful for you, I am so grateful. If you share a link to it with a friend. If it's helpful for you, then it's probably gonna be helpful for someone you know and your word of mouth recommendations are the single most pivotal part of my business growth and I'm incredibly grateful for it. So thank you and back next week. I'll see you guys. Next time.
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