The Fine Line: Caring for Your Health and Unhealthy Restriction

In the wake of extreme wellness, MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) conspiracies, Bryan Johnson, and the dizzying amounts of reductionist nutritional rules/diets, it’s no wonder that our relationship with food has become increasingly complicated. 
We often get fed the message: "If you’re not implementing discipline, if you never say no to your cravings, if you enjoy food too much, too often, then don’t expect yourself to be healthy". 

Merlin’s Unrefined challenges that message. We love indulgence, health, and feeling great in our mind, body, and spirit!

Awareness and mindfulness are key in allowing you to discern which foods make you feel good. However, it is important, especially to Merlin’s Unrefined, to think about these things with nuance. I see so many diet fads demonizing entire food groups like sugar or even carbs, but these beliefs around food are not realistic or even healthy especially for the vast amount of people they are generalizing to. Ask yourself: Are you happy when you keep saying no to yourself when you want something sweet? Are you satiated when you eat with restrictive practices in mind? Are you focused and present this way?

We the People deserve to have the healthy, delicious, convenient treats that we crave, we just want them with minimally processed ingredients!

At Merlin’s Unrefined, we believe that by choosing the highest quality, minimally processed ingredients, the true beauty of food is able to come out, providing joy and deep nourishment. 
We also believe in providing transparency about the ingredients we use. I really like the term, “Informed Consent” in the context of being a consumer. Especially when it comes to food, I want to know how the ingredients are being processed, I want to know what I’m buying because I am using it to energize myself. 

We need to find a way to maximize our pleasure from food. I don’t mean finding the perfect combination of additives and excess processed ingredients to make food addictive like how the big players in the food industry have historically done. Pleasure from food comes from how it makes you feel as a whole – how do you feel after you eat it? Do you feel balanced? Do you feel satiated (artificial/non-nutritive sweeteners make me hungrier!!)? 

Many people are starting to notice: Ultra-processed food doesn’t provide the same level of satiety as minimally processed, whole foods. I personally do not feel as energized after eating lower quality, refined sugars compared to their minimally processed counterparts like coconut sugar, maple syrup, and panela. I strongly feel the same way about refined oils vs minimally processed fats.

This world is not an easy place to always be in control of what you’re eating. Our society celebrates and rewards convenience and efficiency. Many of you are pursuing your dreams, spending most of your time ambitiously working, studying, or volunteering. It's hard to keep up with your idealized ‘clean’ lifestyle and make food from scratch at the end of a long day. 

So Merlin’s Unrefined is here to bring some simplicity into this confusing world. We exist to show you that it is possible for our food to reach a higher potential through ingredient integrity. We exist to bring celebration back into food. No more avoiding your favorite dessert. Grab some Merlin’s Unrefined Chocolate Cake Mix and Frosting and rediscover the nourishment that comfort food is all about.