Today I’m linking up with Jenn & friends for What I Ate Wednesday. WIAW is all about sharing a day’s worth of eats almost like a virtual potluck. I’ve loved doing these posts because I love finding new blogs, sharing eats, getting inspired and discussing important food topics. In the past topics we’ve chatted about have included: healthy habits, finding balance between a healthy diet and healthy mindset, snacking, stress and appetite, coffee preferences, just to name a few. The best part? Hearing your thoughts. Seriously, that’s why I keep writing these posts because I love hearing what you think and learning more about your experiences with your own healthy lifestyle.
Today I wanted to talk about labels. Specifically dietary labels such as vegan, raw, paleo, gluten-free, oh and… vegetarian. On one hand, I believe that labels can help those who make a specific dietary choices to quickly navigate and communicate those choices. For example, if you’re celiac and cannot eat gluten, that gluten-free label can be an efficient and safe way to make your food choices. Labeling yourself can also quickly connect you to like minded eaters, especially if you’re doing so for health or ethical reasons.
On the other hand (allergy reasons aside) I think the amount of pressure, especially on those within the healthy living community, to “define” your eating is completely unnecessary and even a borderline dangerous. For example, say you eat a vegan diet on a regular basis because a.) it makes you feel good and b.) you don’t want to support factory farming – but, once in a while you want to throw a little cheese on that veggie burger when you’re out to eat- does that make you a bad person? Of course not! Does it make you a perfect vegan? Probably not. But who cares? Like really, why is it anyone elses business? I have the same beef with the label “clean eating” (besides the fact there’s absolutely no real definition) because it emphasizes striving for perfection and demonizes “unclean” food. I’m happy to give out a sincere high five anyone who cuts out processed food from their diet, but I’m not going to try and take it back if they want to have an oreo once in a while.
Why is it necessary to define yourself as a certain diet anyway? What’s wrong with doing you, eating what makes you feel good and just calling yourself a “human that eats food.” I know it doesn’t sounds super trendy, but I promise my “human beings that eat food” club won’t ever bust your balls for eating that cheese, nor will we judge you if you do happen to love a big kale smoothie or a batch of vegan, paleo, grain-free cookies (because they’re probably 90% nut butter.) Being a HBTEF (human being that eats food) is all about 2 big things: being human…. and eating food. If you can do both those things, we promise never to judge you. #HBTEF for the win. Can we make this a movement on Insta?
Oh and real quick: here’s why I’m kind of a hypocrite. I do identify as a vegetarian/pescatarian. This is for 1 main reason. I don’t like meat. Period. Never have. Never will. The label merely allows me to be picky with less judgement. If I liked meat, hell yeah I’d eat it. I never judge others for eating meat (why should I?)
Ok! On to the foooooood.
Breakfast
Molokai Coconut Bai mixed with 1 Scoop of Mocha Vega Protein Powder
Snacks
Pink lady apple & 3 nut butter dates
Lunch
2% Fage with peanut butter, homemade jam & granola
Coffee
Starbuck’s new cold brew with coconut milk
Dinner
Acorn Squash with avocado & hemp seeds over a bed of arugula drizzled with tahini
Your Turn:
To label or not to label, that is thy question
What do you think? Are labels helpful or harmful (don’t be afraid to disagree)
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How is the new cold brew from Starbucks?! I was so excited when I saw they were going to have it, and now I am dying to give it a try!!
Even better than I thought it would be, and that’s coming from a coffee snob.
I think labels can be helpful to simplify things, so if you’re at a restaurant, you can just say you’re vegetarian and not have to explain certain things that you do & don’t eat, etc. Everyone understands what a vegetarian is! But they can also be tricky if you don’t neatly fall into one of the categories.
P.S> I love pink lady apples!
Very true, as I mentioned I’m a bit of hypocrite because I use the label vegetarian, which helps me quickly identify what I don’t eat. As long as the label serves you and doesn’t add stress or anxiety then they can be good, but as soon as it adds stress then it’s good to re-asses
#hbtef for the win!!!!
Aww yeah!
Ohhh how is the iced coffee with coconut milk from starbucks? I haven’t tried it yet but I love that they have coconut milk!
I’m a big fan of coconut milk so I love it! I still like the soy for hot lattes, but when it comes to iced anything coconut is the way to go.
Those nut butter dates look scrumptious:) I need to try them! On labels, I think they can be harmful for some. Personally, I think they restrict people’s diets. If a food isn’t “approved” by the diet, although it may be perfectly healthy, you can’t have it. That doesn’t seem right. Our bodies are well equipped to deal with all the foods we put in them. Eating non-processed, whole foods and everything in moderation, seems like a good plan! Thanks for the post:)
Thanks for stopping by Vangie! “Eating non-processed, whole foods and everything in moderation, seems like a good plan!” Amen! #hbtef for the win
Oh what your Starbucks does coconut milk? I need to move to the US! I love the label #HBTEF – I’ll totally support that on IG! I get that labels can help simplify things (and naturally our brains like to package everything to simplify) but it just isn’t as clear cut as that. I switch between labels on a meal-by-meal basis – anything from vegan to paleo to chocoholic.
Starbucks is doing all sorts of fun things lately! I’m a big fan of the coconut milk, but you guys have Costa and Nero and I’d gladly take those chains over Starbucks any day.
I’ll admit I’d totally eat a paleo, vegan, chocoholic cookie 😉
Oh my gosh Georgie, haha, this is why I love you! Why DO people feel better putting a label on things? Such great points.
Having gone mostly vegan for Lent, I felt like I had to justify “but I’m eating this today and it has whey/honey/dairy in it…” but I kept joking that I make the rules. 😀 It’s true – just stick with what works for you! It’s not really anyone else’s business.
Know what else I can’t wrap my head around? The whole ‘flexible dieting’ / IIFYM stuff. So okay, Pop Tarts are okay again? I just don’t know anymore! Haha.
I think we all want to be a part of something and create our identity around food buuuuut it’s totally unnecessary in the end.
IIFYM is a whole other beast. If I had to calculate my calories and macros every day I’d go nuts. But hey, whatever works I guess.
I have to try Starbucks cold brew!!
Sooo good!
Homemade jam??? I want the recipe…Labeling bothers me and “clean eating” bothers me the most. I don’t label my eating, I just EAT. I EAT what works for me, my body, my training, my lifestyle. And what works for you or anyone else, well that is great, but don’t label it…just EAT! We’ve become a society of labeling…from food to fitness. I mean the whole #fitspo thing drives me NUTS…Okay but that’s another topic for another day…Getting sidetracked. 😉
LOL I agree with you 100%!
Yes! Agree 100% Food is good. Eating is good. I think as humans it’s natural to want to compare yourself, but the truth is we’re all so different that it just doesn’t work.
Girl, don’t even get me started on fitspo!
Everything looks great:) I do think that labels are helpful…and there should be more and more regulation in food!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Marissa
How is the new cold brew at Starbucks? Actually – how is the coconut milk there? i haven’t had that yet! And i’m indifferent about labels. I know they tell a story – but just part of the story. I do like to know what’s IN my food and get a gut check on calorie/fat count/etc. when I can – but again, it’s not the whole story. (and label-free food is the best – like fruits, veggies, etc.)
Cold brew is way better than expected!
Totally respect your position. Like so many other labels they tell 1 thing not the big picture. Thanks for sharing
I too try to avoid labels – except I have allergies, and so have to eat without consuming wheat, tree nuts, avocadoes, or oranges. Which can be totally amazing and delicious, but it does feel weird when other people comment on my “gluten-free” needs implying it’s a fad!
Totally makes sense. When it comes to allergies and safety labels can literally be a life saver
I am drooling looking at that acorn squash + avocado combo. As far as labels go, I feel that probably 70% of it is advertising, and most of the time we need to look deeper into the ingredient list to really figure out if it’s something we want to consume. The other day for instance, my mom was trying to pick which jam to buy. She almost bought the “low sugar” option until I showed her what they add to it to compensate for the “low sugar”. However, I agree with your statement regarding gluten free labels. Due to stomach issues I had to go off gluten for a whole year, and having labels saying gluten free helped a lot. Love these posts 🙂
Thanks Christina <3 There are definitely pros and cons of having labels, as long as they give you freedom over stress. Also it makes me so mad seeing food companies ride too hard on a trend when they have no business doing so.
Oh how I love this (and you)! Obviously I take my “gluten free label” pretty seriously because of celiac but I think it can get taken to a whole new, unhealthy level. Those labels can be used to disguise restrictive eating as something that is socially acceptable. Labels can be too limiting. I LOVE your hashtag. Let’s get that trending 🙂
Exactly, for allergy reasons labels can be life saving! But yeah working on getting that club up and running 😉
AMEN SISTER. I love this so much. Dietary labels are not my jam. For me, they bring on guilt and anxiety – I enjoy food and life so much more listening to my body. And, Starbucks now has cold brew?! This could be dangerous…
Totally! It’s so easy to get wrapped up in fear that a group will judge you if you’re not following x rule. Life is just better when your body (not your ego) calls the shots. Oh and Starbucks cold brew? WAY better than I thought it would and that’s coming from a self proclaimed coffee snob.
Labels are certainly helpful – they make people realize how TERRIBLE the foods are that they’re eating. I do not eat foods with labels! The foods I eat are whole, one or two ingredient foods and that’s that! 😉
Not the labels I was thinking of, but great point! (mostly) Stick to the stuff that doesn’t need nutrition facts or ingredient lists
I’m struggling with this a lot right now.. I’ve been vegetarian/pescatarian for about 3 years but recently went to Europe and ate some meat for the experiences and now am questioning if I want to be “stuck” in a box, especially considering the fact that my family are also the best cooks ever. Maybe a life of moderation is key