Why "Black-and-White Thinking" Is a Dangerous Diet Strategy

In my late teens, I experimented with raw veganism, a lifestyle that emphasizes eating fresh fruits, vegetables, and other non-animal products in its rawest, purest form. I lost weight rapidly on this plan, but in turn, developed a phobia that made me afraid of processed products--such as candy and doughnuts.

Later on, after I quit raw veganism, I learned that my processed food phobia was actually an irrational logical fallacy called black-and-white thinking. Worse yet, I learned that black-and-white thinking can be a symptom of rigid dieting, which a 2001 study correlated with disordered eating symptoms, mood disturbances, and a higher BMI.

Turns out being too strict with your habits--viewing food as either good or bad--can actually tempt you to overeat more, making it harder to lose weight.

What is Black-and-White Thinking?

To make it simple, black-and-white thinking is a defense mechanism some people use to create a sense of security--a way to gain control. In the dieting world, black-and-white thinking attempts to categorize dieting behavior or food choices into two extremes: good and bad. Alternatively, dieters use other terms to describe good and bad food choices, such as unclean and clean or healthy and unhealthy.

Dieters initially develop these thoughts to make it easier to differentiate between food choices. For instance, dieters may label pizza as bad while calling fruits and vegetables good, because vegetables and fruits are usually lower in calories and fat. Knowing what is right or wrong also gives dieters a sense of control--by picking the right choices more often, they feel like they're dieting right. Conversely, if they consistently pick the bad choices, they think they've failed.

Why Black-and-White Thinking is Wrong

Although their intentions are good, black-and-white thinkers actually hurt their diet success by thinking in extremes. This is because black-and-white thinking tends to be a defense mechanism--used to deal with anxiety over a situation. If you're faced with a number of food choices, labeling foods are either good or bad narrows down your choices. You don't have to worry as much if this food could make you fat or not; by picking the good food, you know you won't get fat.

The problem with this is that you can rarely categorize food in extremes. Eating bad foods can create anxiety, which in turn can lead you to more extreme behavior, such as exercise bulimia or fasting to fix the perceived problem. In actuality, most foods in moderation are safe, healthy and provide an abundance of nutrients.

For example, I used to believe all processed foods was bad, but now know that some processed foods are sometimes even better, nutritionally-speaking, than non-processed foods. An example of this is whey protein, a processed product whose protein quality is actually superior to eggs and milk.

Conversely, compromising all of your foods of good foods isn't always healthy. To be healthy, you have to consider the health of your entire diet--not just a specific food you eat. For example, if you think only vegetables and fruits are healthy, you'll miss out on healthy fats, which can affect your hormones. You also may not eat enough calories, which can affect your physical and mental health.

The real key here, instead of black-and-white thinking, is moderation--eat the foods you like moderately, but don't go to extremes with it. Make sure to maintain a calorie deficit, and you'll also lose some weight.

Source:
Tiffany M. Steward, et al.," Rigid vs. Flexible Dieting: Association with Eating Disorder Symptoms in Non-obese Women" (ScienceDirect.com)