Is It Bad To Reward Yourself With Food? Here’s What Therapists Say

Using takeout, chocolate or a glass of wine as your go-to “little treat” may seem like no big deal, but it might be messing with your psyche.

There’s a reason why “little treat” culture is so popular; it’s completely natural to be motivated by a reward waiting for you on the other side of something you don’t want to do. Food is a go-to reward because it’s relatively inexpensive and, well, eating is fun.

As a kid, you might have been rewarded with a pizza party if your class read a certain number of books. Or maybe your parents took you out to dinner at your favorite restaurant if you brought home an impressive report card. Heck, even animals are rewarded with food. Is it even possible to teach a dog how to sit or roll over without treats?

For adults, rewarding yourself with food might look like treating yourself to Starbucks after getting up early to work out or grabbing your favorite snack out of the pantry once you finish the biggest task on your to-do list. Maybe it looks like rewarding yourself with a big glass of wine simply for getting through the day, because sometimes that’s tough enough. These might not seem that different from other types of rewards (and, hey, it’s certainly cheaper than buying yourself something new for every small win), but according to therapists, it could be messing with your psyche.

Is it truly a reward? Or is it actually a restriction?

Eating disorder therapist Cherie Miller told HuffPost that she doesn’t believe there’s a hard and fast rule when it comes to whether using food as an incentive is a good idea or not. “Most things in life are nuanced, and this is especially true when it comes to ideas about food,” she said.