I am getting really f’ing tired of food paranoia. Absolutely everything, except a few roots, leaves and seeds from the forest primeval, is bad for you.
The preachiness and the food police type attitudes are bad enough but what I really hate is how this stuff gets into my head. I resolve to ignore it all and just eat sensibly but then I go to buy groceries and I can’t keep from thinking about the latest set of “rules” we’re supposed to follow and I feel like there’s nothing I can buy that’s safe. So I just buy what I always buy and worry that I’m bringing poison home to feed to my family.
I alternate between, “The advice will change again next month so just ignore it,” and “There must be something to this; they can’t be completely making it up.” The people who put this stuff out there think they’re doing a good thing. They’re being helpful. (Sometimes I think that the crusader types don’t actually want to help; they just like the feeling that they are being helpful.) But, damn… it seems like no matter what you do it will never be good enough.
I used to imagine myself having a vegetable garden and growing maybe 50 to 70 percent of what we eat but I run into some problems with that. One, I don’t have a green thumb. Two, we don’t have soil; we have rocks. Three, we have a lot of veggie munching wildlife. Four, the annual drought. Five, my family doesn’t like most vegetables. All of those, except for the last one, (and possibly the first one) could be overcome with a lot of work, and truly I have nothing better to do, but I would still have to go to the grocery store every week and buy a lot of Really Bad Stuff. We might be able to live on nothing but beans and tomatoes (if I could even get those things to grow) but my guys would rebel and go to Pizza Hut.
I know I could just not read those stupid articles but it’s everywhere. I see the headlines whether I want to or not. I hear about it on the evening news. Packages of pasta shout in bold lettering about omega-3′s and fiber. People repeat what has been preached at them, spreading the food gospel in the checkout line. You can’t get away from it. I don’t know about you folks but since I can’t win anyway I’m going to have another chili dog. See you at the hospital.
August 28th, 2012 - 9:56 am
Dammit! Your blog ate my long comment.
I guess I basically am saying “AMEN” and that I get sick of those scare stories. There’s another one out right now saying egg yolks are “as bad as” smoking cigarettes. But egg yolks contain lutein, which I have been told to get more of in some vain hope of staving off macular degeneration! So I guess if I believe those studies, I can have my heart crap out on me, or I can go blind. (I have a stronger family history of macular degeneration than I have of heart disease, and also, egg yolks are delicious, so I know what I’m going to do….)
Also: I don’t think Yahoo News graduated from med school….
August 28th, 2012 - 9:57 am
Also have to add: Castoreum doesn’t bother me one bit. Neither does cochineal, which comes from beetles, so people get really freaked out about it.
August 28th, 2012 - 12:53 pm
Just one more thing: Those “Omega 3″ pasta? Are actually pretty good. My dad started eating them b/c they’re lower in carbohydrates….but it turns out they’re pretty tasty, they are not like eating sandpaper (like the whole wheat pasta is).
Of course, YMMV, but I was pleasantly surprised.
August 28th, 2012 - 6:11 pm
“Sometimes I think that the crusader types don’t actually want to help; they just like the feeling that they are being helpful”
I think you nailed it right there.
Personally, though I don’t do a great job of practicing it, I do try to stick with moderation in all things.
August 28th, 2012 - 7:43 pm
There was this man in California who spent 14 years on a diet of absolutely nothing except Hostess Twinkies, hard-boiled eggs, and Scotch whiskey. Supposedly, he was in excellent health.
August 29th, 2012 - 12:13 am
I know too many old people (in their 80′s) who are just fine and have lived on the four basic food groups of sugar, starch, bacon and fat to worry a lot about the latest unhealthy food scare or supposed “super food”.
August 29th, 2012 - 7:08 am
Sorry about the lost comment. I do like the omega 3 pasta. I really don’t mind the advertising so much. They’re just trying to make money by calling attention to the “features” that they think people want most. And positive advice, in general doesn’t bug me quite as much as all the “DON’T EAT THAT IT WILL KILL YOU” stuff.
Regarding people in their 80′s and 90′s who have always eaten all the wrong foods: genes have a lot to do with that. Some of us do need to be somewhat careful about what we eat but your own family history is a better guide than a bunch of scare articles based on possibly questionable research. And even still, moderation is better for you than fad diets and extreme self denial.