I made a boo-boo today. It was unintentional, of course, but I think I could have and should have handled it better. Someone showed me a photo that their granddaughter sent them of a meal they were having for lunch: whole wheat bread with peanut butter with avocados. As she was showing it to me, she said, “How’s that for healthy?” She was beaming. I became the joy thief when I said, “Nope. There are two out of the three things there I won’t touch.” She said, “Really? Which ones?” “Peanut butter and the bread. Both of those are off-limits to me.”

She was a bit deflated, and as I walked away, I wondered if I could have handled that better. Why yes; yes I could have. I followed up with her by saying, “You know, that may be fine for some people, and it’s a far cry better than a hamburger or a sub. It’s just not part of my current diet.” She seemed much happier with that, and I was hopefully able to restore some of the points I lost for being a joy thief earlier.

I’m not the Paleo Police, and sometimes unintentionally, I say something that can be perceived as judging. I don’t judge what others eat, but when presented with something that is allegedly healthy when I know it’s not, sometimes, it’s hard to just smile and accept it. I am not a liar, and I won’t just nod and smile when someone shows me that they think is healthy but is, in fact, filled with sugar, grains, or dairy. It’s this false information that has gotten our culture into the health trouble it is currently in.