Why I Started Using Real Butter and Why a Little Part of My Soul Dies Every Time I Use a Gluten-free Hashtag
In this profession and social media space, it’s really easy to allow SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to drive everything you create and share. If you don’t give the people what they want, no one will share your content, no one will pay you to work with them, and quite frankly with all these algorithms, no one will even know your corner of the internet even exists. Obviously, in order to attract people to your work, you need to draw them in somehow; food and diet hashtags are a solid way to do that. And if you can create a niche space, like sharing only Whole-30 approved recipes, you’re in even better shape for attracting an engaging audience!
The reason why this type of SEO strategy is so popular, pressuring every blogger to use them (including me), is that the general population is under the misconception that eliminating ingredients makes food healthier and worthy. You can feel good about making chicken parmesan if you substitute almond flour cracker crumbs instead of breadcrumbs. You can feel good about eating muffins if they’re made with coconut flour instead of all-purpose. These trends and posts convince you that food needs to be changed or fixed in order to be healthy and wholesome. Ask yourself this: Do you care what’s in a food, or do you only care about what’s left out?
One of my goals as a nutrition educator and intuitive eating advocate is to guide you to the realization that restricting foods and assigning morality (good vs bad) to foods creates a barrier between you and the thriving, authentic, and free person you are meant to be. For many, it can also lead them down an unhealthy path both in terms of disordered eating patterns and negative body image. My mission is to help you see that the healthiest diet for you is the one that works for your body, your lifestyle, includes any food that makes your body feel good, and leaves your tastebuds and stomach satisfied.
Despite having these food-inclusive beliefs, I still use the hashtags gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, etc. to attract people to my content. The reality is, it’s hard (read: nearly impossible) to get your work out there and seen without them. Still, I can’t ignore that when the general population sees these labels, they see healthier. So when I add gluten or dairy-free to the recipe description of my blog, a little piece of my soul dies and I feel like a sell out. Of course I aim to create accessibility for those who genuinely need to eat that way, but I also fear that I am contributing to the widely-held perception that these recipes are superior not because of what they do contain, but because of what they don’t.
Let me be clear here. When I post a vegan mac and cheese recipe, I am not saying that a dairy-free version is healthier than the dish made with dairy cheese. (Although it is certainly healthier for those living with a dairy allergy and lactose intolerance). I want to be clear that although I may occasionally post bread or cookie recipes that use almond flour or maple syrup, I do not intend to shame those who use regular flour or white sugar. My goal when creating recipes is to make food that makes my body feel good, food that satisfies me, and food that I feel excited to share with those I care about (you!). In my own life, I like a mix of plant-based and animal-based meals. I like experimenting with new ingredients, like cashew cheese, even though I love and eat dairy cheese as well. I don’t pigeonhole my recipes into one category or promote them as healthy alternatives, which may make it harder to grow a devoted audience, but allows me to continue being engaged with my work and remain honest with my readers.
In the past two years, I’ve made an effort to be more intentional with the language I use to describe meals, eating, and recipes to discourage labeling and assigning morality. I aim to celebrating each ingredient, whether someone else may deem them a superfood or not. I focus not only on what the food offers the body, but also what it offers your palate. I want you to know that any and all foods are worthy of a place of your plate, because choosing one food over another does not make you good or bad.
When I first started this blog, I was driven by creating healthy meals that provided the maximum amount of nutrition and health benefits. I wrote only gluten-free recipes because that’s what I knew, having my own diagnosed wheat intolerance. I also got drawn into making “healthier” substitutions because I liked the challenge and the feeling of making something I loved more “wholesome”. I didn’t bake or cook with real butter for at least two years. Here’s the thing — I absolutely love butter and as it turns out, it makes my body feel good whereas the coconut oil I was subbing in for it, did not. I waited until butter was trending to allow it on my plate and in my recipes. To be “seen” using it in recipes that I shared. How silly is that?
I firmly stand behind all the recipes I’ve made. I can confidently and proudly say that I have never shared a recipe that I didn’t enjoy making or eating. But I would never say that black bean brownies (although something I genuinely do enjoy) seamlessly substitute Betty Crocker boxed brownies or would satisfy that craving for me, or anyone. I would never tell you that substituting vegan cashew cheese sauce (without medical need) automatically makes a recipe healthier. Or that you can’t tell when you substitute butter with coconut oil, because you totally can. I love creating dishes that make my body feel good, and naturally that skews more whole, less processed ingredients. Or “real food” as some bloggers call it.
I, too, used to market my recipes and website as “made with real food”. But with time, I began questioning that. What is real food? What foods that I find tasty and nourishing am I excluding? Real food is any food that is edible and not made of pixels, fabric, plastic, stone, metal, or glass. Real food can be processed, it can be sweet, it can be salty, it can be inexpensive. I still believe wholeheartedly that whole, less processed foods can be just as satisfying as “other foods,” and that more often than not, your body will appreciate having them. But life is way more free and enjoyable when we expand our definition of what wholesome and healthy can be.
Now, my idea of “real food” is one that isn’t full of substitutions or alternatives. It’s food with ingredients that are familiar, exciting, nourishing, and satisfying. I used to be nervous to post a recipe with half a stick of butter or with more than 1/4 cup of sweetener because I thought that’s not what the people want. People want “healthy” recipes from me. Sure, I can give you almond flour cookies and seed covered chicken tenders. I can give you “cheese” made from squash and fruit-free smoothies. But what I think would benefit this community more, is authenticity and a healthier, less restrictive, less conditional relationship with food. I see great value in variety and creativity and in focusing on what we can add to our plates, rather than what we can take away.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to experiment with making flourless brownies or using coconut milk instead of heavy cream in a recipe, but do so because you want to. Do so without sacrificing the flavors and textures that you love. Do so because it genuinely makes your body feel good (and not based on a promise from the internet). And do so without the fear that not doing it will make the meal, or you, unhealthy.
I’m not suggesting that vegan or gluten-free meals can’t be healthier or more nutrient dense than their non-restricted counterparts, or that there isn’t a need for community support and resources for those on specialized diets. Instead, I’m suggesting that so many of us blindly accept something as healthy because we see these labels. It’s not our fault — we’re so conditioned to seeing these “free” labels plastered on every food product. Whether it’s a non-GMO butterfly, gluten-free in all caps on foods that are naturally already gluten-free, or a low-fat marketing quip, we’re conditioned to believe if some foods are free of certain ingredients, they must automatically be bad for us. And that the foods that are free of those things are better for us by default. This is simply untrue. It promotes feelings of inadequacy and guilt when we consume foods that aren’t “free”, which ironically make us restrict our eating and leave us less free than ever before.
What I hope you’ll get out of this post is the renewed desire to follow your gut and let intuition guide your food choices. I hope you’ll spend less time searching for the best option for you based on what’s not in a food, and focus on what the food offers you and how it makes you feel, instead. I hope you’ll move through the world knowing that SEOs and marketing designed to sell you food are based on trends, not on what’s best for YOUR body. And I hope you’ll feel safe, confident, and excited using real butter in your cooking and baking, if that’s what you really want to do.
