When I was redesigning my website, I went back and forth on whether to include nutrition information for my recipes. At first, I was hell-bent on including it, simply because I am bombarded – daily – with requests from readers asking for this information. And I, a helpful gal, always want to provide my loyal community with information they want and find useful, for living their best and healthiest lives.
But after thinking about it, long and hard, I decided against it, and I want to share why. The reason why I wanted to include it – initially – is because I know there are people that do have a healthy relationship with food; people that simply like having the information to help them achieve certain fitness goals; or people with a healthy relationship with food that simply like to know for no other reason than simply having information.
Then, there are other people, with food limitations, and who do – medically – need to lose weight, and I know that my recipes have been very helpful for helping those people live better. They have been able to include my nutritious recipes and treats into their lives, while losing weight in a healthy way. And to that I say, “you go girl!” Or boy. Or anything in between, because we do not discriminate around here. But you catch my drift.
But, what changed my mind is my own personal story. Whenever I am confronted with a tough decision related to food and the messaging I want to send out to others, I always bring it back to the days when I was struggling with food, when I was knee-deep in my eating disorder, and what I wish I heard from others during that time.
So here is why I’ve decided not to include nutrition information in my recipe posts:
No. 1 – When I was in my eating disorder days, I was obsessed with nutrition labels.
The calorie, fat, and sugar information determined whether I would purchase food to eat for nourishment, or whether it would be purchased as an “off limits” food that I would binge, and then purge. Numbers – number of calories, number of fat grams, sugar grams, numbers on the scale, number of points for foods (thanks to Weight Watchers), controlled every single aspect of my life.
Because of my previous obsession with numbers, and because I am super conscious of the fact that many of my followers are still struggling with food and strive to achieve the peace with food that I have, I want them to focus on the way my foods/recipes make them feel, instead of the numbers.
No. 2 – Calorie counts do not indicate how nutritious a meal is.
Some nutrient-rich foods, like nuts and seeds, are high in calories, but they are actually good for your health. Take my Life Changing Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies, for example. They are made with two high calorie foods – almond flour and tahini – but they both have health benefits. Almond flour is an excellent source of protein, manganese, vitamin E and monounsaturated fats, low in carbohydrates, and contains fiber. And tahini is packed with antioxidants and is full of healthy fats and omega 3’s that lower cholesterol and fight inflammation.
As you can see, eating one of my cookies is a healthier alternative to eating a “low calorie” cookie made with processed ingredients.
Now again, please keep in mind that I do believe, as part of my food philosophy, that all foods are on limits. If you want to eat a processed cookie because that makes you happy and allows you to enjoy your life without restriction, then eat the damn cookie! My point is simply that calories are not the end-all, be-all when it comes to how nutritious a meal is, and that’s where nutrition information often falls short. I want people to focus on the ingredients and how food makes them feel, instead of number of calories, which don’t measure nutritiousness of foods!
No. 3 – You can access nutritional information anytime you want.
These days, if you want nutritional information, it’s so easy to find it. I know so many people that swear by My Fitness Pal; again, not because they have an eating disorder, but because they simply love to know information. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I just want the people that follow me, that are the most vulnerable, to understand that life is more than numbers and that calories aren’t everything. And that in fact, unless there is a medical reason why calorie counting is essential, the real focus should be on ingredients and how food makes you feel!
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What others are saying
I love this!! I don’t think having the nutrition label on your recipes is necessary. The ingredients you recommend are of quality so who cares how many calories make up a recipe? It makes me happy to see intuitive eating being promoted.
I agree! That’s why I chose not to include it. Thank you for taking the time to read the post and leaving a comment! 🙂
I love your philosophy, too! I have just learned about you and I am over the moon to see such delicious sweet desserts. I am going to try your life changing chocolate chip cookies and I think you’re going to change my life as well! I’ve been on a health and nutrition journey and missing having healthy desserts. I think I will soon become your biggest fan! LOL Keep up the great work and I understand completely support your decision. Good thinking! 🙌🏻👌🏻
I totally agree. Peoples obsession with nutrition info is why I haven’t started my own vlog/blog on social media. When I do post my food that’s one of the questions I usually avoid. Mostly because I don’t have time for that. I just wanna be know for my food. I want to help them learn how to cook healthier. Kudos to you. I love your content. Thank you.
I just ignore all the requests or tell people that they can find the nutrition information they want on my fitness pal. Don’t let that deter you from starting your own blog! Do YOU! 🙂
potential new food blogger here, and I stumbled across this post while searching for guidance on ‘do I have to list this information?’
I was leaning more on the ‘no’ side and that was again, confirmed, after reading this post. Thank you for acknowledging the pros and cons and reiterating that the focus is on how the food makes you feel. Hopefully my followers will understand the same. Thank you for sharing this great insight!
I’m so glad this post was helpful for you, Jennifer! Thank you for your comment, and I’m wishing you all the best for your potential new food blog!
I love you.
This is such a valuable message and how I want to model health and nutrition for my children.
I love you, Nico! Thank you so much for reading this post.
I wanted to say that there is a another very important reason people want nutritional information and that is if they have a medical condition where they have to know the carbohydrates and fibre in everything they eat to be able to calculate much insulin they need to give themselves to be able to eat it. As a mum of a Type 1 Diabetic adolescent having recipes that include nutritional information is such a gift and often determines if I will make a recipe or not. There are 1.5 million people in the US who have Type 1 Diabetes.
Thank you so much for your feedback, Andrea 🙂
I love that you don’t include any nutritional labels or information. As someone still struggling with an eating disorder, it is difficult to find online recipes that don’t include that information. When they do, it is always too high of a number for my brain, and I end up not making the food I want. But your website and recipes have become a safe haven for me. I get to make all the beautiful and amazing foods that I want to make without the caloric number constantly being in the back of my mind. I appreciate it very much, keep doing what your doing!! 🙂
This is exactly why I don’t include nutritional information. I am so glad that you found this helpful, and I am sending you so much love!
As a type 1 diabetic I am very interested in nutrition content of a recipe as it helps me calculate how much insulin to take to cover the carbs and fat content in a serving. Not everyone is weight conscious and should be able to make decisions that are best for them. If I see a recipe on line that’s too carb heavy I skip past it.
Hi Leslie, you can always plug the ingredients into an app like MyfitnessPal to get the nutritional information that way.
I appreciate this so much to the bottom of my heart. Having a broken relationship with food is so insanely hard to heal. Nutrition is so much more than calories but many folks don’t have access to the right education to fully understand that. 9% of the US population will have an eating disorder in their lifetime… that’s tens of millions of people.
Thank you for helping to increase understanding of health
Thank you so much for your support, Emily! I’m sending you lots of love.