Yes, You Can Have Chocolate

Whenever I chat with folks about my way of eating, I get this one statement said to me repeatedly:

“I could never do that because that would mean I can’t have…”

The most recent “I can’t have [x]” that I got was, “I can’t have chocolate if I’m going to eat healthy.”

Here’s the thing: it’s never a matter of “can’t have…” unless you have a specific food allergy. It’s a matter of, “I choose not to have…”

That’s the thing about changing how you eat; it comes down to personal choices at the end of the day.

The truth is, you can eat whatever you want as long as you don’t have a specific food allergy that will cause an anaphylactic reaction in you.

My husband, Ben, has had a sensitivity to gluten for decades. When he consumes something that has gluten in it, he has an autoimmune reaction that presents itself as eczema on his face, head, and ears as well as digestive issues.

For the longest time, he didn’t know what caused it, and he just accepted that he had eczema stomach issues and was just going to have to live with it.

Once he figured out that it was tied to gluten, he would then make the conscious decision to either eat gluten-containing foods and face the physical consequences that decision came with, or he figured out something else to eat.

For the longest time, he would choose to eat gluten and then suffer the physical consequences.

Then, one day, about seven years ago, he decided that it wasn’t worth it to him anymore to choose to eat gluten and go through eczema and stomach distress.

That’s the thing about learning about nutrition and how foods affect you physically and mentally. Once you know that a certain food negatively impacts you, it comes down you choosing whether you are going to suffer through the consequences or cut the food out because it doesn’t serve your health.

I cut dairy out of my diet in January because eating it in the form of cheese, butter, and heavy cream, was negatively impacting my health.

My kids will say to me, “Mom, you can’t have dairy,” and every time that they say it, I correct them. 

I tell them, “I can eat whatever I want. I choose not to eat dairy because it messes up my body and the taste of dairy is no longer worth it to me.”

Mentally, it makes a difference when you say, “I can’t…” instead of, “I choose not to…”

When you say, “I can’t have…,” and it’s an instance where the food is not a potential, death-inducing allergen, it creates a shift in your brain where now you are not in control of your food choices, you are the victim of your circumstances. 

The choice was made for you, instead of you consciously making the choice.

That sounds like a subtle difference in wording, but it’s quite powerful in its impact on your mental and emotional well-being.

You become the victim in your own head, and when that happens, your motivation wanes very quickly.

It’s easier to give up hope when you play the victim. I know. I did it for most of my adult life.

Truly, I said, “I can’t have…” insert whatever garbage, processed food you can think of into that last part for most of my adult life.

That’s why I spent so much of my adult life sick physically and mentally.

Getting yourself on the path to true wellness, physically, emotionally, and mentally, requires you to make hard choices. I know I had to make them and truthfully, I’m still making them every day.

For me as an adult, taking ownership of my choices, and accepting that with food and exercise, I’m not a victim of my circumstances but a product of my choices was a massive turning point for me.

Psalms 18:29 says, “With your help, I can advance against a troop; with my God, I can scale a wall.”

Accepting God into my heart humbled me and made me acknowledge that my choices dictated my health. I was not a victim; I was making conscious decisions with my food and exercise choices to be in poor health.

Accepting that you are loved and that through God’s love and strength, you can make the hard choices you need to make to improve your health makes all the difference.