How the Halo Effect Can Mask Deeper Issues
Can you overeat healthy food? Uhhh – ya… I’ll never forget that time I gained 10 pounds eating too many vegetables. I was still in my corporate career but taking a health coach certification course on the side (just starting to plot my escape :)).
One of the modules was about the power of root vegetables. It went into the grounding properties and nutrients found in all these vegetables that I either never heard of (like celeriac, rutabaga) or that I thought were gross (like beets and turnips).
The key was roasting them.
OMG – they became like candy!
I made trays and trays every week and next thing I knew, my corporate pant suits were tight. I had gained 10 pounds in like a month!
This is when I came to realize that healthy food is not a free pass. We often place a halo on these foods – I especially find this in the more extreme Vegan and Paleo/Keto worlds – and the “Clean Eating Movement” (which I firmly support).
We think because the foods we eat are organic, “clean”, gluten free and whole foods based, (add low carb to the list) – that they are so much better than ‘those poor schmucks’ addicted to fast food, donuts, soda and cupcakes.
Even my Keto-friendly Low Carb wine dons an expensive halo, but this doesn’t take away the calories and toxic properties that are the very foundation of any form of alcohol. Sure it’s better than Boone’s Farm, but over-drinking Dry Farms Wine doesn’t make it healthy.
Overeating beets, macadamias, dark chocolate or Brussels Sprouts has negative consequences. Overeating creates stress on the body, messes with the gut and leads to weight gain. It’s even trickier in my experience, because we tend to over-justify their ‘use’ even more in our subconscious minds. (I know I sure did.)
If I really look at how I’ve used halo foods and drinks, they’ve not only given me a false sense of superiority and health, but they’ve been used as a free pass to over-consume them. I just used them as more expensive, classier, socially conscious, ‘woke’ numbing agents.
Remember repetitive patterns of over-eating and over-drinking are often used to alter our emotional state – to conceal or distract us from pain and discomfort. That’s the deeper place we need to explore and release. You can’t gloss over the root issues with halo foods either.
Bottom line: Good for us (and the planet) for investing in all the healthy things (and for going low carb/keto etc..), but overeating and over-drinking these ‘better foods’ will still lead to poor health and weight gain. Aim to always eat and drink these higher quality foods mindfully, moderately – without overeating/drinking them.
