The real problem with Joe Wicks’s sugar ban

And what it says about our food culture

Last week we woke up to the news that Joe Wicks, the famous personal trainer, had “relapsed” – not from drugs or alcohol, but from sugar.

The 39-year-old has been on a self-imposed sugar ban, avoiding not just added sugars but even natural sugars in fruit.

On Tuesday he took to Instagram to confess: “I've had a relapse,” he told his 4.8 million followers. “I thought I was invincible. I was about 11 weeks in, really cut out [sugar], really was feeling good, was getting leaner, feeling amazing…”

And then? Jaffa Cakes. A whole pack.

“I had a bit of fruit to begin with and I cracked,” he sorrowfully announced.

“Guess what it was that done me? It was a packet of Jaffa Cakes, which I haven't eaten for years. I smashed a whole packet of Jaffa Cakes.”

This “break in discipline” spilled out into a larger “wobble”, he said, prompting him to eat “brownies and loads of fruit”.

“Yesterday, for example, I had half a melon, three satsumas, two nectarines and three peaches. That ain't normal.”

I don’t follow Joe Wicks, but this caught my attention. When it comes to eating well, a positive relationship with food is fundamental – and language plays a critical role in shaping that.

Joe Wicks’ sugar ban and ‘relapse’ is symbolic of a bigger cultural problem in the way we talk about food.

Let’s unpick it.

The problem with absolutes

A lot of the backlash has been centred around Joe’s use of the word ‘relapse’ – which we’ll come back to – but I’m more troubled by his sugar ban in the first place.

The problem with a ban is that it moralises food into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ camps. If you stick to the ‘good’ foods you are winning, virtuous, superior and a master of self-control, if you ‘slip’ and eat the ‘bad’ ones you have failed, are shameful and may as well continue down a path of food-focused self flagellation.

It promotes an all-or-nothing mindset that isn’t sustainable – the moment you forbid a food, you crave it even more. All it does is set people up for disordered eating and ultimately cycles of restriction and bingeing.

Demonising whole food categories is nonsensical

Sugar isn’t inherently evil – just as fat never was and carbs aren’t now – but the diet industry thrives on making us believe otherwise.

What really matters is your overall diet. Having a Jaffa Cake – or even a whole packet, once in a while – will do precisely f*** all to harm you.

And this kind of blanket vilification ignores the most basic nuance. A child could tell you that a Jaffa Cake and a melon aren’t the same thing nutritionally. Fruit provides fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients so lumping it together with sugary snacks as “bad” is not just simplistic, it’s reductionist and irresponsible.

Language really matters

Food addiction is an emerging area of research, and the jury is out as to whether or not it exists. I’ve spoken to people who feel that they are addicted to food and I believe them. But using the language of alcohol and drug addiction to describe eating a few biscuits and fruit feels too strong.

It reinforces this problematic idea of good and bad, virtuous and shameful – a mindset that damages both our personal and collective relationship with food.

People in positions of authority, especially with large platforms, must be careful not to stigmatise eating. A slice of cake should never be made to sound like a moral failing that needs “confessing” or repenting for. It’s just a slice of cake.

It’s especially important to teach children from an early age that no food is off-limits, and that every choice sits within the wider context of their overall diet.

Sugar is joyful and joy is important

My final point is that yes, reducing added sugar can be beneficial for health (if we eat lots of it, on a regular basis), but we must recognise and celebrate the important role it plays in our food culture. When we reduce food to “clean” vs “dirty” or “good” vs “poison,” we strip away joy, connection, and tradition.

Sharing birthday cake, having gelato on holiday, enjoying a glass of fresh lemonade – these aren’t failures, they’re a wonderfully joyful part of being human.

What I learnt when researching the blue zones for my book, The Happiest Diet in the World, is that these communities (who stay healthy into very old age) don’t look at food through the lens of good and bad and certainly don’t ban anything.

They have a fundamentally healthy relationship with food, which acts as critical infrastructure for a diet that enhances our wellbeing in every sense.

Food is meant to be joyful, and joy is part of a truly healthy diet.

G x