Diet culture tells us that:

Sugar is addictive.
Carbs are bad.
Animal protein is good or bad (depending on the diet).
Eat clean foods.
Greens are good.
Certain fruits are good, some are bad.

Intuitive Eating guides us to know that all foods are (emotionally) equivalent.

What? This may take a bit to wrap your head around.

I'm not saying that all foods are nutritionally equivalent. Without a doubt, some foods have more nutrients than other foods.

** Valuing certain foods as "bad" doesn't keep us from eating them. Thankfully. Eating a variety of foods is healthy. **

Here is valuing all foods as emotionally equivalent is so important:

Eating a food that you think has more or less value changes how you feel about yourself. When you eat what you think is "crap", you likely feel like crap.

And who wants that? That crappy feeling generally makes you feel guilty and even ashamed of yourself.

No, you don't need this guilt to prevent you from eating certain foods. When has that ever worked?

When you make choices on what you "should" be eating, you miss the important conversation with your body around what you would like to eat, what would taste and feel good to you, and what you would enjoy eating.

As a result, you miss the opportunity to enjoy what you're eating. You miss the chance to eat something really satisfying.

When you try to avoid certain foods because they are "bad", you end up fighting yourself. This dynamic puts more energy on the food you're trying to avoid. You likely feel exhausted because of it.

There is no freedom in this. There is no ease around food.

And take this one step further. It's okay to find out what foods you prefer to eat. These preferences are personal to you. To discover these foods, you need to see that all foods are valued (and emotionally equivalent) the same. Without that, it's really hard to know yourself and restore trust in your own body.