Fear of food

[sarahmichigan]

I refuse to fear my food.

I will not panic about conventionally grown fruits and vegetables and worry that I'm poisoning myself.

I will not believe that potatoes, carrots, or bananas are "bad" for me because they have too much sugar or simple carbs.

I will not live in fear that the fluoride in my green tea or the soy sausage and broccoli that I eat are going to depress my thyroid fuction.

I refuse to beat myself up for eating french fries or other treats because the trans fat is going to make me die young.

I refuse to live in fear that a couple servings of fish a week are going to make my brain turn to mush from mercury poisoning.

I will not assume that I eat too much wheat and gluten and that I'm making myself sick by eating a whole wheat tortilla or a piece of 12-grain bread.

I understand that some people do have life-threatening food allergies or sensitivities that make them ill when they eat certain foods. I understand people wanting to limit their intake of pesticides and herbicides from their produce. I understand that a lot of whole foods are very unlike the aboriginal seed stock they originally came from and they might be very different nutritionally than their ancient ancestors.

Caution and keeping up-to-date on nutrition and food science is a virtue, but I refuse to obsess about these issues to the point that it makes me live in fear. Food is to be used as fuel and is there to be enjoyed.

I will not fear my food.

Comments

[rikhei.livejournal.com]

*cheers*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_scarlet_ibis_/]

I live in a constant state of fear over everything I put into my mouth. It's mostly because I'm diabetic. Also because I'm fat and gain weight easily. (I'm WAY fatter than you think, too.) Also, I was just raised to fear food. It's not something that's easy to shake, though I try.

I envy your ability to do so.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

If eating certain foods (or food combos) makes you feel bad or makes you dangerously ill, I can certainly understand having fear around food.

I've just been reading too many comments and posts on way too many communities where people are living in fear for no good reason, though.

[custardfairy.livejournal.com]

Word.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_earthshine_/]

As a friend used to tell me, "Everything in moderation... including moderation."

I try to eat healthy. I think buying local and organic is generally good for me in a variety of ways. I try to watch things like artificial ingredients, sugar levels, hormones, pesticides and mercury levels (esp with my kids).

...and then every now and then, i exercise my right to gleefully wolf down two Sausage Egg McMuffins or a sack of White Castles.


Life's for livin'. :)

[airsucker.livejournal.com]

I do concur. I also hope nobody is taking my food-link posts as anything but a look at stuff that is interesting.

I think the only thing I haven't managed to try eating was sea urchin. It just doesn't look right to me. ;)

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I put the slashfood feed on my friends list for a while because the stuff you posted was interesting. I dropped it after a week or two becaues there's just SO MUCH stuff every day, but it is a fun blog.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

This makes me hungry.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

Aye, and doubly.

[airsucker.livejournal.com]

I have it feed into MyYahoo. I seem to be the one in my friends group that picks out the interesting bits and feeds it to them.

[shadbolt75.livejournal.com]

Have you read Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma?

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

Heard of it, but haven't read it.