Soul Rebel Digest - July 2026

the words we eat

Our family was lucky enough to travel to Greece last year for my brother's wedding, & one of my favourite memories from the trip was sitting with Isla, sharing a bowl of pasta.

Nothing particularly special, not a perfectly balanced meal.
No vegetables hidden in the sauce, no nutrition lesson planned.

Just two humans enjoying food together.

It got me thinking about how much of our relationship with food is shaped long before we ever start counting calories, reading nutrition labels, or stepping into a gym.

Many of the beliefs we have around food as adults didn't start with us.
They started when we were kids.

The messages we grow up with

"Finish everything on your plate."
"Just three more bites."
"You haven't eaten enough."
"No dessert unless you finish your dinner."
"That's a bad food."
"Be good."

Most of us have heard some version of these growing up.

While they almost always came from a place of love, they can sometimes teach us to ignore the signals our body is sending.

👉👉👉 Before we go any further, this isn't about blaming our parents.
Most of them were simply passing on what they were taught.
Their parents were probably doing the same.
Every generation does the best it can with the information & experiences it has at the time.
The goal isn't to judge the past. It's to become aware of the messages we've inherited so we can decide which ones we'd like to keep & which ones we'd like to update.

Kids are actually born with a pretty impressive ability to regulate their food intake.

Some days they're hungry... Some days they're not.

Some meals they eat everything in sight... Other meals they survive on what appears to be three crackers & a single blueberry.

Sound familiar?

Yet somewhere along the way many of us learn to trust external rules more than internal signals.

We learn to eat because the plate says so.
Because the clock says so.
Because someone else says so.
...Instead of because we're hungry.

How we got here

Interestingly, a lot of this can be traced back to previous generations where food scarcity was more common.
For many families, wasting food wasn't an option.
Finishing your plate wasn't just good manners, it was practical.

Then as diet culture grew through the 70s, 80s & 90s, foods became increasingly labelled as "good" or "bad."

Fat was bad.
Carbs were bad.
Sugar was bad.
Then fats became good again.
Then carbs became good again.

...Then everything seemed confusing.

Many of us grew up learning that food wasn't simply food.
It carried moral value.

If you ate the "good" foods, you were being good.
If you ate the "bad" foods, you were being bad.

That's where guilt often sneaks in.

More than just nutrition

This came up in a conversation I had with a member recently.

He's someone who generally eats really well & takes great care of his health.
But during an InBody scan he mentioned that every Friday night he takes his kids out for burgers.
Almost immediately, there was a hint of guilt attached to it.
As if the burgers somehow cancelled out all the positive things he was doing the rest of the week.

But when we unpacked it, what I saw wasn't a nutrition problem.
I saw a dad creating a weekly tradition with his kids.
A meal they'll probably remember long after they forget what was on the menu.

Food is about nutrition.
But it's also about family.
Connection.
Celebration.
Culture.
Memories.

Sometimes we get so focused on whether a food is "good" or "bad" that we forget to look at the bigger picture.

Because a burger shared with your kids every Friday night isn't just a burger.

It's a ritual.

That's something worth protecting too.

How we’re thinking about food at home

At home, we're trying to take a similar approach with Isla.

Not a perfect approach, just a conscious one.

Rather than labelling foods as good or bad, we talk about what foods do.

Some foods help us grow.
Some foods help us recover.
Some foods give us quick energy.
Some foods help our tummy feel good.
Some foods are simply fun to eat.

We talk about flavour.
Crunchy.
Sweet.
Salty.
Soft.
Warm.
Cold.

We encourage her to notice how food feels.

We try not to put foods on a pedestal.

Because the funny thing about foods we aren't allowed to have is that they often become the foods we want the most.

The more power we give a food, the more power it tends to have over us.

What about us grown ups?

This isn't just a lesson for kids, it's a lesson for us grown ups too.

Many of us still carry food rules we never consciously chose.

Maybe you feel guilty after eating pizza.
Maybe you "earn" food through exercise.
Maybe you save treats for special occasions & then find yourself overdoing them when the opportunity finally comes.
Maybe you still describe yourself as being "good" or "bad" based on what you ate that day.

Awareness is often the first step.

Not changing everything.

Just noticing.

This month’s challenge

Pay attention to the language you use around food this week.
Notice the words that come up in your own head.

• Do you call foods "good" or "bad"?

• Do you feel guilty after eating certain things?

• Do you tell yourself you've "blown it" after one meal?

• If you have kids, notice the language you use around them too.

• Could you talk more about flavours, textures, energy & nourishment?

• Could you replace judgement with curiosity?

Because building a healthy relationship with food isn't just about what we eat, it's also about the stories we tell ourselves while we're eating it.

Sometimes those stories deserve an update.

After all, food is fuel, but it can also be fun

Train hard.
Fuel smart.
Stay consistent.

See y'all in the gym Rebels