8 Food Rules You Don’t Have To (and probably shouldn’t) Follow
“You shouldn’t eat after 8pm” → FALSE. Your body doesn’t have a clock that magically turns calories into fat after a certain time at night. What matters most when it comes to weight loss is your overall caloric intake. Eating late at night has been labeled as a “no-no” in the Diet Culture world because most of the time the snacks we eat late at night are high in calories and lacking in nutrients, but that has nothing to do with what time you eat them.
“Diet soda is terrible for you” → FALSE. Diet soda gets a bad rap on social media, but the research shows that artificial sweeteners are safe to consume in moderation. In fact, swapping sugary drinks for diet options can actually support weight and metabolic health.
“Processed foods are toxic” → FALSE. “Processed” isn’t automatically bad. In fact, some processing (like freezing, canning, and fortifying) actually makes foods more accessible, safe, and nutrient-rich. Health isn’t about eliminating everything in a package. Frozen veggies, pre-cooked rice, and protein powder are all processed foods and can make meeting nutrient needs easy, convenient, and cost-effective.
“Organic produce is better than conventional” → FALSE. Research consistently shows that organic and conventionally grown produce are nutritionally very similar, and shows no significant nutritional advantage to organic foods. The healthiest choice is the one that makes eating enough fruits, vegetables, and whole foods more accessible, affordable, and sustainable for you.
“You need to hit your nutrition targets every day to make progress → FALSE. Weight and metabolic health outcomes are influenced by what you do most of the time, not one random Tuesday when you forgot to defrost the chicken or didn’t have veggies with dinner. Building habits and systems that allow you to hit your nutrition targets most of time is important, but progress lives in the trend, not in the tally.
“You need to eat six small meals a day” → FALSE. Meal frequency has little effect on metabolism. Whether you eat 2, 4, or 6 meals a day is irrelevant. What truly matters is total intake and protein distribution, not whether you eat every 3 hours. The number of meals you eat each day boils down to personal preference, hunger management, and lifestyle fit.
“You need to track your food every day” → FALSE. Food logs are tools, not prison sentences. Tracking can help with identifying trends and increasing awareness, but logging everything you eat - every. single. day. - isn’t required to make progress. Long-term success comes from learning habits, not logging every gram forever and ever.
“You need to mix up your meals ” → FALSE. Variety can certainly help with nutrient intake, but consistency actually makes healthy eating easier and more sustainable and research shows that boring-but-balanced meals often lead to better weight loss outcomes than chasing novelty at every meal.
