Food used to be straightforward. You ate what you got, what your parents cooked, or what you happened to have. But today? Now, in order to do any food shopping, you’re supposed to have a PhD. You’re instructed that carbs are bad for one minute. Then, in the next, watch out for fat. And before you know it, protein steps in, muscle-flexing, commanding our attention.
And don’t even start on the debates–paleo, carnivore, vegan, keto, vegetarian, pescatarian. It’s a minefield of opposing opinions, and just when you think, “Ah, I get it now,” someone tells you you’re wrong. Again. And the cherry on top? Every diet seems to have an army of loyal adherents and accompanying do’s and don’ts that sound more cultish than a diet.
Via Pexels
The Food Spectrum is in Shambles
Diets aren’t diets anymore. They’re movements, systems of doctrine, and identities. Others treat them as if they’re a novel religion, zealously defending their choice, proselytizing to unbelievers.
Take the carnivore diet. No grains. No plant foods. Only flesh, fats, and eggs claim extreme clarity of mind and health benefits. On the other side of the coin – the movement towards veganism, looks on animal foods as an ethical nightmare and health disaster waiting to happen. These two philosophies point to how personal and emotional food choice is today, and how tough, therefore, to have any conversation on the subject and not trod on someone’s toes.
And then there’s everyone in between. The pescatarians, who consume fish but no other meats. Vegetarians, who consume dairy and eggs but no flesh. The high-protein individuals, who consume copious amounts of flesh, eggs, to meet their macros. We’re all convinced our approach is right, but most of us are simply trying to figure something out that works for our lifestyle and health goals.
The result? It is an overwhelming, exhausting debacle in which no two individuals agree on anything, and we’re all running around trying to figure out what to eat and feel good about and not to feel like traitors to our own bodies. How did something so elemental as food end up such a confusing phenomenon in our generation?
The “Healthy” Confusion
There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to eat “right” and learning there is no standard for “right.” Science is always revising. Studies contradict studies. An expert prescribes a diet, and another expert deconstructs it.
We all know someone in our life who excels on a diet of fat and meat. They say they’ve never felt better. And there is always the vegetarian friend who claims their life changed for the better on the day they ditched animal foods. Who is right? Who is lying? And, better yet, who in their right mind has time to figure it out? The answer is probably in recognizing that bodies are unique, and what is healthy for someone is not healthy for everyone, in spite of diets’ strict rules.
Then you have the food industry, fuel to the flame. Labels shriek in our ears in every possible direction: organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, sugar-free, high-protein, low-carb. Everything is supposed to be the solution to our ailments. And somehow, the more we try to decipher, the more confused we feel. Food choice is made no simpler by marketing but is instead made to feel like a game where pieces never seem to fit.
Why Do We Care So Much?
We care because no one is ever willing to be the doofus who is having “bad” food while everyone is choosing their health. The threat of getting something wrong—to hurt our health, to eat something we shouldn’t eat—keeps us in an ongoing loop of doubt.
And then, naturally, there’s social media. The perpetual Instagram highlights reels of food bloggers posing in their immaculately designed food, their perfect store buys, and their ongoing diet experiments. This one tells us that food causes inflammation, and the other one swears by having it every day. What a head-scratcher. They make it appear effortless. They make us wonder if we’re just not striving hard enough. What they never post is the struggles, the temptations, the doubting thoughts—because perfect diets and perfect lives are simply the only options.
Food used to only ever be for hunger and pleasure. Now? Now, food is a statement. Food is a lifestyle. Food is an expression to send to the world who we are—or, better, who we pretend to be. The never-ending quest to legitimize our food choices is draining and ultimately redundant where food is meant to be such an intimate and natural thing.
Maybe We’re Overthinking This
Here’s a radical idea: food does not have to be so darned complicated. Maybe healthy eating is not achieved by opting up or opting down in food wars but by tuning them out.
Humans have lived for thousands of years, and none of them ever dieted, never heard of nutrition facts, and never heard food gurus screaming in their monitors. They simply ate what they found, and their bodies got to keep up. Their ancestors did not fuss and fret about macros and food fads and diets and such.
Maybe we should do something different. Eat what feels good. Let’s stop obsessing over every macro, every calorie, every opposing newspaper headline. Maybe our enemy is not carbs, fat, or protein—but guilt surrounding food. If you enjoy your vegan bacon – why not? If you prefer your crisps high in protein – that is your choice! If you enjoy steak – don’t make anyone feel bad about it. The stress of striving to eat in perfection may hurt us more than the supposedly “bad” foods we’re striving to avoid.
Because at the end of the day, food is meant to sustain. Not frazzled. And certainly, not to make us enemies of each other in a war in which no one ever comes out on top. If only we didn’t care so much to be “right” and instead simply enjoyed our food, we might relearn what food is meant to be—all uncomplicated, comforting, and free of all extraneous pressure. So, let’s take a breath, take our steps back, and simply eat like humans. Whatever that is for any of us. Life is simply too short to waste on arguing about what’s on our plates.
