Why You Don't Have to Earn Your Food: Dismantling Harmful Mindsets Around Eating and Exercise
The belief that you have to earn food is a common mindset many of us are plagued with. This belief is perpetuated by diet and wellness culture, which is rooted in capitalism and hustle culture, and makes the literal shrinking of our bodies to obtain a Eurocentric body “ideal” the sole focus of food and exercise. This belief leads to guilt and shame around food and increases the likelihood of disordered eating behaviors. The idea that one must earn food can be harmful to both physical and mental health. Here are just a few reasons why you don't have to earn your food.
Food is a basic human need
The idea that we have to earn something that is required for survival is deeply rooted in our capitalist culture which is obsessed with productivity at any cost. The pressure to constantly work and achieve leads us to believe that our worth is based on our achievements. As humans, we all have basic human needs which include, food, water, shelter, rest, and air. We can expand upon the basic needs to include access to financial security, health services, human connection, self-respect, freedom, and self-actualization. Each and every one of these is a need to ensure we are not only surviving but also thriving as a society. The fact that food is a basic need is the most fundamental reason why you do not earn your food or be deserving of some foods but not others based on your activity level or perceived worthiness.
The mindset that we must earn the very thing that keeps us alive damages our mental and physical health while degrading our relationship with food and our bodies. Restricting or withholding food will only result in increased hunger, obsessive thoughts, and food urgency, which ultimately leads to feelings of being “out of control” and ultimately self-blame.
To dismantle the societal pressures that perpetuate hustle culture and capitalism, we must prioritize our needs, rest, self-care, holding and keeping boundaries, and understand that our value as individuals is not determined by our productivity.
Food is not a reward or punishment
Many of us view food as a reward for good behavior or punishment for bad behavior. This is something that we commonly learn from our caregivers because food is used as a reward. This mindset reinforces the idea that certain foods are inherently more valuable or "good" or "bad". Creating this hierarchy of food makes us believe that we are either deserving or undeserving of certain foods based on our accomplishments. This binary approach to food and the words we use to talk about food leads us to believe that our food choices are tied to our moral character. All foods have a place and purpose (yes, even cookies) and if we can shift the mentality from “food is fuel” to seeing food as something that provides not only nutrients and energy but also joy, connection to our cultural roots, and a way to experience more joy and pleasure, we can find more space in our relationship to food. It is important to note that all of these reasons are valid reasons to eat and none is more virtuous than another.
Movement is a celebration of our bodies and should not be used as a punishment or a way to “burn” calories
The concept of "burn it to earn it" is often promoted by trainers, media articles, and #fitspo influencers. This notion encourages excessive or compulsive exercising behaviors that lead to physical exhaustion, overtraining, burnout, and an unhealthful relationship with food and exercise (or as I like to say, movement). Our bodies are not machines. Rather, we are a combination of complex systems that are dictated by our genetics, hormones, stress, lived experiences, and so much more. And we require calories not just for exercise and movement but for a variety of functions including breathing, digesting, thinking, maintaining body temperature, and experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions. The amount of calories we “burn” during exercise is only a tiny percentage of our overall daily calorie needs. Therefore, relying on physical activity to "burn off" calories is more likely than not going to lead to a hyper fixation on food, reduced joy in movement, and in the worst-case scenario physiological changes that result in injury and health complications.
It is important to note that the tools and apps used to count and tabulate calories are inherently flawed. Calorie or macro tracking apps and nutrition labels provide only general estimates based on average values and do not account for individual differences in metabolism, hormones, or body composition. And, fun fact, the whole “2,000 calories a day” is likely not enough calories to support basic bodily functions. To learn more about this I highly recommend this podcast from Maintenance Phase. Similarly, fitness devices such as Apple watches, Garmins, or Fitbits rely on algorithms to estimate calorie “burn”, which are highly inaccurate. A recent study published in 2020 showed that some of these devices can overestimate energy expenditure by up to 93% and underestimate it by up to 41% (1). If you find it difficult to unlearn the “earning” mindset, it can be helpful to take the metrics and numbers away. You can start by not tracking your food and exercise this will allow you to build more trust in your body and its internal cues.
Instead of viewing exercise as a means of punishment or a way to justify food consumption, we should shift our mindset to viewing movement as a way to celebrate our bodies. And see it as one of the many tools we have to challenge ourselves, prevent injury, improve our quality of life, build community, experience the world around us, find a deeper connection to the present, and practice a deeper level of embodiment.
Eating should be a pleasurable experience
Let’s be honest, there are not that many pleasurable things in life. Because food is the very thing that keeps us alive, if we didn’t find it pleasurable, we wouldn’t be alive as a human race. Eating should be pleasurable, and free from guilt and shame. We can do this by starting to question where our rules around food came from and begin to get curious about our preferences, and what foods feel nourishing, pleasing, and enjoyable to us. The way that we choose to feed our bodies is deeply personal and is based on our culture, upbringing, preferences, physical needs, and values. There is no “one size fits all approach” to eating, nor should there be. By allowing ourselves to enjoy food without attaching rules or moral judgments to it, we can begin to cultivate a healthier relationship with it.
So no, you don’t have to earn your food. You have earned it by simply existing. There are no “good” or “bad” foods, there are just bad relationships to it. Your body requires calories and energy even on days when you aren’t physically active and exchanging food for exercise is likely to lead us down a path of restriction, anxious thoughts, and disconnection. By adopting more neutral and accepting narratives around food and movement, we can cultivate a healthier relationship with ourselves.
Montoye, A. H. K., Mitrzyk, J. R., Molesky, M. J., Shaffer, J. A., Tanis, S. P., &Zderic, T. W. (2020). Validity of Popular Wearable Devices for Energy Expenditure Estimation During Exercise. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 10(2), 25. doi:10.3390/jpm10020025