The Yumminess Binary™ is ruining your life
And you’ve never heard of it (because we made it up for this newsletter) - Hanna
You know what keeps you stuck in the binge eating cycle? The belief that the healthier the food, the more it tastes like sh**filled dusty prebiotic bars (but what IS IT?!). You can trust yourself to eat yummy food AND be healthy. Read on, sister 👇
“Why does the food that's bad for you taste amazing, but the food that’s good for you taste like sh**?!??!”
I’m marching across The Quad of my grad school campus, and trailing (in a very non-creepy way, to be sure) behind two undergrad girls lamenting about diets on their afternoon pilgrimage to the cafeteria. I’m not gonna say what year it was, but I will say the boots with the furrrr were peak fashion.
Here’s the thing - at that time in my life, I listened to their frustrations with a slightly-hesitant-but-definitely-there superiority complex.
My ego got a little boost hearing two young women struggle with what I’d accepted..hell, embraced:
To achieve Wellness Girl status, you gotta forfeit deliciousness, sweet treats, gooey goodies, and crunchy salty yumyums.
It was just me, my protein powder, and some plain seed crackers against the world.
In case it isn’t overwhelmingly obvious, your girl was unwell when it came to food. And this was AFTER recovering from a full blown eating disorder.
I’d argue that we’re all a bit unwell when it comes to food.
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There’s a deep lie in American food and diet culture. And it’s keeping you trapped in the on-again-off-again diet cycle. It kept me ping-ponging from chalky, low-carb food bars to takeout pizza for one for YEARS.
We call this lie the Yumminess Binary™
It can be summarized as simply: Unhealthy food, yum! Healthy food, yuck!
This binary has never existed before in history. And it still doesn’t exist in most traditional food cultures, from fresh vegetables for a Korean breakfast, to afternoon Mediterranean mezze, to Ethiopian chicken smothered in berbere.
It’s only here - in our American Willy Wonka Wackyf**k Food World that healthy food is a separate thing from yummy food…healthy food is on the opposite end of the binary from yummy food.
The Yumminess Binary™ isn’t an objective truth like saying gravity exists or Henry Cavill is the human incarnation of the 2003 Brawny Paper Towel logo. Rather, the Yumminess Binary™ is a social construct - true because we all decided so, and then mega industries that MAKE MONEY MARKETING FOOD TO US upheld it as forever truth.
If you're a compulsive eater, yo-yo dieter, or sugar addict, YOU MUST DUMP THE YUMMINESS BINARY™ TO FIND CONTROL WITH FOOD!
Since you’re a strictly logical lady, just like me 😉 here’s the math for you:
If you want to stick to a healthy diet long term, YOU HAVE TO LIKE WHAT YOU’RE EATING!
But if you believe in the Yumminess Binary™, a healthy diet means plain chicken and broccoli tupperware that smell like your toddler’s farts until you die. There just ain’t no way. You will inevitably face plant into a jar of honey peanut butter double fisting chocolate bars as scoops because you don’t actually like the healthy, no-yum diet you’ve committed to.
The way out of this ping-ponging is to reject the Yumminess Binary™ (no we will not stop using the little ™ every time!).
After that eavesdropping, judgey walk across my grad school campus, my Yumminess Binary™ tumbled down. I wish I could say it’s because I called Laura and we revenge-poisoned the Yumminess Binary™ together and wrapped it in a tarp a la Earl Had to Die.
But it was much more gradual than that.
One key changing point was noticing how the nutrition claims on labels were becoming more unhinged and obsolete - prebiotic + probiotic protein adaptogenic low sodium 1g net carb BUT WHAT THE ACTUAL F IS IT?!?!?!?
But the biggest reason I broke away from that emotional shit punch?
HEALTHY FOOD IS F***ING DELICIOUS.
Want proof? START COOKING LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES, BABY!
Make chicken and broccoli the southern Japanese way…
Make chicken and broccoli the Czech winter season way…
Make chicken and replace the broccoli with spinach for a traditional Nigerian stew…
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These bring the Yumminess Binary™ to its weak old knees. It can’t survive as truth when food is healthy AND delicious.
This is why the Sugar Sober rallying cry is “Bonnes Bivantes Don’t Binge.” (Also, the name of this newsletter. Hiiiiiii.) Pleasure is a tool to get control of your eating. Don’t fear the yum! Embrace it!
You’ve got this and we’ve got you,
Laura & Hanna
P.S. What about when Aunt Mae is insisting you eat her famous pecan pie squares but you’ve already had turkey dinner and 2 pumpkin shaped sugar cookies and your armpits are sweaty just thinking about how bloated you’re gonna be tomorrow if you don’t stop??!
Just because you’re embracing the yum doesn’t mean you want food pushers force feeding you from now until the ball drops.
We’ve got you covered just in time for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, and work potlucks!
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