Okay, I just can't take it anymore: people who insist on loudly analyzing their meal, snack, or whatever they're dining on and sharing their information with people who didn't ask to hear it. It's tacky.
I think Americans as a culture have a hard time with the concepts of balance and variety in food. And I see a lot more extremes in my culture (anorexia and obesity) than I've ever seen in Europe, for example. Why is that? I don't pretend to know the answer, but I have some guesses.
I recently heard a kid analyzing the protein content of a snack and proclaiming it a "bad" snack. Now, it's great to eat with health in mind, but do we need to talk about it incessantly? And what ever happened to letting kids be kids? Is it really healthy to be teaching young kids to analyze everything like a science project and to place absolute judgments on certain types of food? There's no such thing as bad food or good food. It's just food.
I refuse to eat meals with people who analyze every bite's nutritional value. More so, I refuse to eat meals with people who say things like, "I shouldn't...", "I feel so guilty" or "I'll be good tomorrow." There are plenty of times in my own life when eat more than I I know is comfortable for me and think, "Okay, I'll take it easy tomorrow," or I look in the mirror at my aging body and think, "Gee, my metabolism sure as heck ain't what it used to be." But, I keep my mouth shut. No one but me cares how I feel about what I ate.
I'm not endorsing a steady diet of foods proven to cause health problems. I simply believe that good health is not just about our physical bodies; it's also in the words we speak and harsh judgments we make about how we feel about what we put in our bodies. Just as in many areas of our lives, our culture has completely lost touch with trusting the inner wisdom of the individual.
I aspire to raise a child who does not make absolute judgments about food, a child who reads nutritional labels but does not let them dictate her diet, a child who listens to her intuition and gut feelings about what feels nurturing and nourishing to put in her own body. Everything from gourmet meals in fancy restaurants to Twinkies with a Coke, it's all wonderful in balanced doses.
I recently took a food writing class with a bunch of women. There I was in a room of 8 articulate women in their thirties and forties and not once did I hear the words bad, guilty, fat, protein, or carbs uttered. What a relief! Also interesting, not one person in the class was overweight or underweight. They were all passionate about the wide variety of experiences and stories around enjoying all kinds of food and drink. I love hanging out with uninhibited foodies. It's a normal and refreshing change from the ridiculous carb, protein, and fat babble I find myself surrounded by in my personal life.
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