Have you seen articles like these?

10 Foods to Never Eat

5 Foods You Should Never Eat Again

10 Foods You Should Never Eat and How to Avoid Them

After having lost 100 lbs and maintaining it for the last 10 years, these types of shock and awe headlines about nutrition drive me crazy.

I have news for you, and I say this as someone who is fit and healthy, has completed 50+ triathlons and other distance events, works out on a regular basis, and runs an online fitness program for women.

I say this as someone who is a recovering Binge Eater and Compulsive Overeater.

I still eat french fries.

I still eat ice cream, and not the Weight Watchers fudge bars. I eat the real deal. There are 2 pints of Ben and Jerry’s in my freezer right now.

I still go to restaurants and eat real food, and sometimes I still pick up a fast food meal.

Please do not misunderstand my intention. The majority of the time, I eat a diet of fresh, whole foods, and I encourage you to do the same. I love fruits and vegetables and incorporate them into my diet every day. I intend to model fitness and living a healthy lifestyle to my children.

A healthy lifestyle is about balance. I find it incredibly hard to believe that the people who write these articles and preach these messages never eat greasy potato chips or drink mochas with whipped cream. Maybe they don’t. I’m not them.

I just know me, and to me, when I wanted to recover from my eating addictions, I wanted to be normal. Normal people don’t think about food all the time. They don’t obsess, which is what I did when I was compulsive overeater. I thought about food All. The. Ever-loving. Time.

What’s the difference between thinking about food all the ever-loving time when it’s junk food, or thinking about food all the ever-loving time when it’s healthy food? Obsession is obsession.

My goal was to learn to live a life where LIFE was the focus, not food.

If you are caught in the web of food addiction, as I was, I am here to offer you hope. There is hope, my friends! You can get well. I promise you, there is a way out.

Maybe you don’t have an addiction, but you just wish food wasn’t such an issue for you. Perhaps you need to lose a few extra pounds or quit that afternoon 6-okay-8-double-stuff-oreos-when-the-kids-are-napping habit. I have hope for you too. Just like the whiny toddler who needs to be reminded that mom is in charge, you have complete control of every single bite of food that goes into your mouth. You are giving food too much power.

These headlines are written to sell articles and capture attention, but they do nothing for our collective psyche. Let’s all just chill a bit.

French fries are not going to kill us or make us fat. Are they healthy? No. Is eating them sometimes a problem? No.

Calm down. Have a french fry.