A woman I know recently started a low-carb diet. She’s making an exception for cherries. She adores them and they’re in season torturing her. Her diet transformed her summer treat into a guilty pleasure. Cherries? How did they end up on the hit list? Yet another victim of nutritionism. Sure, they may have lots of fiber, antioxidants and vitamins, but they are also a carbohydrate, so they must be eyed with suspicion and consumed with defeat.
Another friend of mine has been exploring different diets for over a year. He plunged into all manners of vegetarianism and is now following a paleolithic plan. That means eat like a caveman. It’s another term for a low-carb diet, only fruits and veggies aren’t vilified quite so much.
Ever since I took control of my plate in the fifth grade, I have eaten a plant-based diet. I never bought into carbohydrate hate. Dr. Atkin’s promise to make us lean by eating meat didn’t tempt me. Common sense told me he was wrong, and it was no surprise that he died of heart disease, but not before he infected us all with his unhealthy habits. If I am to be completely honest, a part of me has been affected his ridiculous beliefs that I don’t even genuinely believe. I, too, have avoided bread and pasta when trying to lose weight. It made me grumpy and I knew it was wrong, but sometimes it’s hard to go against the flow, even when you know the flow is going down the drain. The sewage drain, at that.
By the way, potatoes are healthy. I’m talking about the white ones, the Yukon Golds, the pride of Idaho, not the sweet ones. Yes, the sweet ones are marvelous, but somehow the two species keep getting compared and the whites keep losing. You can’t compare species that way; it’s nonsensical. The government sponsored nutrition program for pregnant women and children (WIC) specifically names white potatoes as the only produce their voucher checks won’t accept. Weren’t those the very same root vegetables that kept my Irish ancestors alive during decades of food shortages? Aren’t they high in vitamins, minerals and even the glorified protein? I know the real problem: People can’t tell the difference between french fries and potatoes.
Willful ignorance. Poor potato.
I will still eat you. After all, you are just a potato.
Food is just food. It is not evil. It is not trying to destroy us. You may love it or hate it, but it doesn’t care an iota about you. Food isn’t even food until we decide to eat it. Until we prepare to eat it, food is a living thing with a completely separate identity. It is a root growing underground. A nut hanging on a tree. A berry bursting on a bush. A fish swimming in a river. If there were ever any ill-intentions, they occurred on our part. Food is food.
Cherries are cherries. Some people say, life is a bowl full of cherries, meaning something good. Others say, life is the pits, meaning something bad. We assign these meanings, but they are essentially meaningless. The cherries are just cherries. Eat some if you like; I think they’re delicious. If you eat too many, your tummy might feel funny. Sometimes that’s worth it. You decide. Cherries are cherries.
Grains won’t make you fat. If pasta and bread caused obesity, Italians would be fat. They’re not. If rice was the culprit, Asians would be fat. They’re not. Fat won’t make you fat. If that were the case, the French would be fat. They’re not. Sugar doesn’t make you fat, if that were the case, everyone would be fat. Not everyone is fat. Genes don’t make you fat. If that were true, all our ancestors would have been fat. They were not. People who eat too much junk and don’t exercise enough are fat. People who don’t, are not fat.
Along the same lines, chemicals are chemicals. If you eat chemicals, your body will suffer. It doesn’t matter if the package says it is all natural, occurring naturally in nature or from nature. Everything on our planet is derived from nature. Nature is our existence. Plutonium is natural. You shouldn’t eat it.
Here’s a cheat sheet: food is prepared in kitchens; chemicals are prepared in factories. Here is another cheat sheet: food doesn’t come in fancy packages. Bananas do, in zippy yellow suits, but we put stickers on the exceptions. Food with packages keep it simple. They just say what they are, like flour or raisins. Chemicals sport the most elaborate packages. They must plaster their packages with appealing hype and pastoral imagery to convince you to buy them without checking to see what they are. If they didn’t lure you, it wouldn’t occur to you to eat them in the first place. Whoever requested soy lecitin for dinner?
Food is food. It doesn’t need you. You need it. Chemicals are chemicals. You don’t need them, but the companies making them need you to buy them.
For profit margins.
Fat profit margins.
Eat well. Live well. Be well.
It is really that simple.
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