Last week, my Milkybar got up from his homeplace in the fridge, opened the door and made a flying leap out, knocking all of the eggs over and onto the floor. I told him he was naughty.
My apple went and cleaned up the mess then. She is a good apple.
Later on I decided to order pizza. Afterwards I felt like I needed to own up to someone. I felt like I had cheated. I should have had something that didn’t make me guilty.
No I have not gone mad! Of course, my Milkybar doesn’t have a mind of its own. If it did get up and start walking around like that, it’s unlikely that I would be here typing this post; I would probably still be on the floor with my jaw dropped.
The purpose of my bizarre anecdote is to draw attention to the language that we use around food and the use of moral terms when it comes to describing what we eat. As a bit of a language freak, I feel that this is an important issue to talk about.
(Before I begin, I want to point out that I am not speaking about vegetarians and vegans who decide not to eat something as they have concerns about animal cruelty. Their moral choices about diet are entirely different to what I am writing about and I fully respect them.)
When I was young, as in a five-year-old in dungarees and spotty leggings young, the phrases were quite simple. Fruit and vegetables were always encouraged in abundance. Carrots helped you to see in the dark. Crusts made your hair curly. Milk was good for your bones and would help you to grow big and strong. Skittles were only an occasional treat, not because they were “bad” for you but because they made Amy hyper (and still do!) You could have dessert at any time, provided you finished your dinner. #irishmammyrules
Ok so maybe they weren’t so simple and perhaps mammys made up a few white lies to make sure we ate our greens. However, they weren’t guilt-inducing words and, bar the last one about no dessert until after dinner, there weren’t really any rules.
I feel that over the last few years, things have become a lot less simple. This is partly to do with me getting older (I am now a 23-year-old with dungarees and spotty leggings :D) but also to do with a change in society.
“Good”, “guilt-free”, “clean”, “healthy” and “saintly” are all words with positive connotations. “Bad”, “cheat”, “guilty”, “dirty” and “naughty” are words with negative connotations. They are phrases we once used to describe people and places but for some reason, we have transferred them onto the foods that we eat. Why has food become a moral issue?
What’s more is that nobody seems to agree on the morals. Despite the fact that our knowledge of food and the human body is advancing by the day, the information out there is more confusing than ever. One person will tell you that dairy is bad for you. The next will tell you that dairy is very good and important for building your bones. Another person will say that fruit is a guilt-free snack. Someone else will say that it should be avoided at all costs because it is full of bad sugar. Others might say to enjoy it as part of a cheat meal.
So what happens when you listen to all of this conflicting advice? The likelihood is that, you will give up almost everything. Take me for example. Anyone who knows me will know how I absolutely love oranges. I always found them tasty and was pretty sure that they were giving me some much-needed VIT C! Yet, a few years back, I read somewhere that they were ‘full of sugar’ and ‘should be avoided’. I’m sure some reference was thrown in about our ancient ancestors not eating them. Our ancient ancestors also did a lot of things differently such as hunt, make their own clothing and I dunno, live in caves and all that.
Anyway, I gave up the oranges. Later on I decided to give up all carbohydrates because of course, these were “bad” for me. According to what I was told, I was allowed some on “cheat” days if they were “clean” carbs and only taken post-workout. UGH I’m cringing even typing this.
So what was the result eh? Because I was making “good” choices, rarely being “naughty” and only “cheating” on occasion, was I a better person? No. In fact, with such a restricted diet, I was extremely irritable, obsessive, emotional and unmotivated. I was also much more likely to fly off the handle and lash out at the ones I loved.
This is just my story. But for those who are feeling under any obligation to obey everything you hear regarding food, I just want you to know that this won’t make you a better person.
Nor will it necessarily make you a healthier person. When I cut out so many of the major food groups, I was constantly tired, became weaker and experienced brain fog and headaches almost daily. My hair fell out. My vision became blurred. The list goes on. Even if you don’t experience these physical symptoms, what about the psychological implications. You may be in tip-top shape physically but if you are constantly depriving yourself of things that you enjoy, that can’t be any good for your mental health.
So what is the key here? BALANCE BABY! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Of course, we shouldn’t eat only chocolate for the rest of our lives. However, this is not because it is “bad” for you. If you were to eat any one food and nothing else, you would deprive your body of essential nutrients. It wouldn’t be a good idea to depend solely on chocolate but it also wouldn’t be wise to load up on broccoli and nothing else.
There is no one food that is inherently bad for you. There are some foods with more nutritional benefits than others, yes. I’m sure there may be some foods that don’t have many nutritional benefits i.e. Skittles but if it makes you happy to have them now and then, then surely they have psychological benefits right?
If we take away the rules around food and focus on listening to our bodies, on balance, we will become calmer, happier and more grounded individuals. We will learn to appreciate our bodies for what they do for us, not for how they look. Most importantly, we will have more time to focus on our relationships and how we treat others. This is what being ‘good’ is truly about, not whether you decide to have a Twix bar after dinner.
Amy.
x
everybody's grand 