This Anti-Diet Twitter Thread Reminds Us “Food Is Not Evil”

Update: We have removed C. Spike Trotman's tweets from this article at her request. We encourage you to click through to Trotman's original Twitter thread to read her smart perspective in full. If you look at the words we use to describe food, we talk about it in a very moralistic way. Sweets are labeled "indulgent" or "sinful." When we go off a diet, we've "cheated." While these may seem like innocent, casual comments, they can actually do a lot of harm, and a recent Twitter thread by cartoonist C. Spike Trotman illustrates why. "Hey, hey so real quick, OK, food is not evil," she starts off. Then, she gives a brief history of "bad" foods: fat was once considered bad, and then it was carbs, and both those claims were wrong. Now, everybody's scared of gluten. The bottom line: Food is fuel, and we should focus more on getting what our bodies need than berating ourselves for not "eating right." With New Year's coming up, this message is more relevant than ever. If you're looking to improve your health in 2017, then, good goals might be to improve your strength, get more sleep, or practice more self-care — not lose weight.