From convincing oneself that our eating habits don't have to change, to filling up the sales of junk foods and decreasing healthy foods in our diet after the "everything in moderation" rule can give dozens of problems without us even realizing it.
After the World Health Organization's (WHO) statement about how processed meat can cause cancer, there was an outbreak of various reactions on social media. People took it to their SNS, Twitter to be specific, expressing their feelings about the announcement. Most of the tweets made were disagreement about WHO's point of view, and urged other netizens that "everything in moderation" is better than actually following the advice to take the specific food group in our diet.
The problem some health experts see in this "everything in moderation" rule was the fact that this is becoming an excuse for people to stick to their current unhealthy diet rather than actually doing something about it. The WHO does not make announcement just because they feel like it, the announcements they're making are based from the latest scientific research. Unfortunately, large number of reactions started reciting famous excuses like: "everything in moderation" or "a little of it won't hurt" rather than just saying the simple "I don't want to change my eating habits."
Beth Skwarecki wrote an article in the Lifehacker pointing out that everything in moderation is usually used for two main objectives: (1) to dismiss those things we don't want to hear and (2) to be able to sell more junk foods.
Skwarecki explained in the article that once you allow yourself to eat anything you want, even if it's "in moderation," it can easily also allow yourself to eat anything and still call it moderation. The phrase becomes an excuse, or as harsh as it is, a way to say "screw you, I'm going to eat whatever I want." You show yourself as the type to live by the simple, old fashioned advice and that you're not worried about the latest in nutrition science.
