Have you ever set out to do something and failed? Tried to stick to a plan and found it impossible? Me too. Nobody is perfect. Sounds obvious enough. For many of us, its easy to remember this when others apologize for their shortcomings, and yet when it comes to ourselves, we can be so harsh.

One thing I hear/see a lot from clients is, “I know this is bad…” or “I was trying to be good, but…” And then the food-guilt spiral begins.

As a dietitian, I feel like it’s my personal duty, somehow, to get folks to drop those kinds of judgmental statements when it comes to their eating. We make so many food choices over the course of a day, and while it would be wonderful for all of them to align with our personal goals, reality sometimes has other plans. Sometimes we make a call we later wish we hadn’t, and that’s okay. The key is to recognize a mistake and learn from it. I love when a client, for example, posts a meal and says, “So this is what I did this time, but next time I am going to do this other thing that will be a better fit for me.”

And in case there were any illusions to the contrary (though if you’ve been reading a while, you know I’m just a dietitian, not a nun), I’ve had my own struggles along the way, believe me. I recently had the opportunity to share a story I’ve been wanting to tell for years on The Lady Project blog. In the spirit of moving forward on a stronger foot, check out my post on What I Learned By Failing At Vegetarianism.

Have you ever struggled with food guilt? What is one mistake you’re proud to have learned from?