Do We Focus too Much on the Impact of food?

Constantly guilting yourself over food choices can spiral into something more dangerous than some off-handed comments.

Yesterday we shared a study on how purchasing healthier foods have become a status symbol today we want to discuss what PopSugar calls a Sad Trend That's Ruining Our Relationship With Food. 

Constantly guilting yourself over food choices can spiral into something more dangerous than some off-handed comments, says the column and what can start off as something lighthearted, even funny, can turn into a truly negative relationship with food. 

As one recovering anorexic woman told POPSUGAR, "I innocently thought that I was just exercising and eating healthy, but over time, I continued to take it to extremes." 

The concept of "healthy" is relative to each person. Domique Astorino, the article’s author, says that to her lactose-intolerant friend, a Greek-yogurt-based smoothie isn't healthy, but to her it's an excellent source of protein. So goes on to write that there are no hard and fast rules or lines between what is or isn't "healthy," so by arbitrarily making up the rules, we subject ourselves to guilt, confusion, and negativity. 

She asks “Is a life of obsessively counting and restricting calories, second-guessing choices, and feeling guilty and sad at every single meal time something you want to deal with”? And wonders why we in a competition with ourselves and the universe to out-healthy one another, so much so that we shame our otherwise-healthy choices? 

And if you need help in food shaming, there is a German firm, who is starting to sell here in the US a new kind of fortune cookie, “Misfortune Cookies” that are black in color, naturally colored with carbon, and contains over 1,000 message including

• “Life is a symphony – and you’re playing the kazoo.”
• “At least I believe in you. Me, a piece of paper.”
• “Things will get better. Sometime. Maybe.” 

The company says the product is for the doom-mongers.  The cookie won the innovation award at the ISM Cologne Trade Fair New Product Showcase. The suggested retail is about a buck a cookie.