1. Is that true?
Yes, absolutely!

2. Can you absolutely know that it is true?
Well, the question is: Better for what? So, no I can’t know that.

3. How do you react when you believe this thought?
I attack junk food. I curse it, want to put a spell on it, and make it disappear. Life without the temptation of junk food would make my life as a stepmom of an overweight child much easier. (At least so I think )

I also attack the companies that produce it. How can they feel good about making foods full of fat and sugar, refined flour, artificial flavors, trans fat, and other chemically designed ingredients?? I hate them for twisting the truth about how unhealthy that stuff is by making commercials that say that these sugary, fatty cereals are “part of a balanced nutrition”.

I attack society in my mind. How can they be so blind to what’s going on? Don’t they see where eating junk foods leads?? I feel sorry for overweight people to have fallen into the “pleasure trap” of which it is nearly impossible to get out.

I act like the junk food police. Trying to restrict it as much as possible. I get so stressed out when it comes to mealtime. I see my stepson never eating any vegetables but fried foods lots of the time. I see a prepackaged iced chocolate doughnut stuffed with cream and it turns my stomach upside down.

STRESS. This belief brings me an enormous amount of stress. Actually, it is the single most intense stressor in my being a stepmom. That’s how stressful this belief is.

It’s time to look at a life without that thought! 

4. Who would you be without that thought?
Without that thought, there’d be peace. I wouldn’t cringe when I see R. buying W. junk food. I would be more relaxed. I would feel free to get him some junk food myself once in a while. I wouldn’t be a know-it-all in that I KNOW what’s best for people. I would assume a position of not knowing. I don’t know what’s best for other people in the long run and for their paths.

I would acknowledge that some people eat junk food and they stay skinny and some people eat healthier than others and still weigh more. I would be more humble: Can I really know what makes someone fat and someone else skinny? Do I know all the facts about nutrition and its effects?

Without the thought, I would still offer healthy food and I’d definitely keep eating healthy myself but I wouldn’t condemn junk food the way I do now. I would come to accept that junk food exists and that it is here to stay.

Without the thought, I feel a lot more relaxed and much less stressed.

Turnarounds
Healthy food is not better than junk food.
- To someone used to junk food, it may not taste as well.
- Healthy food often takes more time and effort to prepare.
- Healthy food is often more expensive and harder to get.

Junk food is better than healthy food.
- If you want to learn to love your body no matter how it feels or looks – eating junk food may help ensure that. Loving a healthy lean body is much easier than a sick and overweight body.
- The same is true for me: It is easy to be peaceful around healthy food. No stories – no stress. What a great opportunity junk food is to teach me that it is possible to love reality as is.
- It is certainly faster and often cheaper.
- To someone used to junk food, it tastes better.

Healthy food is equal to junk food.
- Both can trigger stories that lead to more clarity and peace with what is.
- Both keep us from starving.
- Both serve their purpose for a person’s path – whatever it may be.