After a fairly hellacious three days of coffee mongering, I was relieved to discover that my diet hadn't been drastically up-ended...
Yes, I am on a diet.
Being in a wedding this fall, and deciding that I had to do something different, I've made some changes. No fast food. Lots of salads and soups. So far, it's working, and, as I said, it seems to hold up even during the stressful moments. We'll see what develops.
But a funny thing has happened on the way to living my diet - a lot of advice and commentary, some solicited, some not, on whether it is the "right" diet. I've had tons of "helpful" suggestions, thoughts on calories and meal planning and specific food choices and food groups and nutrients and so much more.
And frankly... I'm a little weary of the input. But all the commentary has got me thinking about what all the "dietary expertise" says about our culture and our food politics, just now.
All the stories about us having an "obesity" crisis, and a food crisis tend to miss the opposite forces - that we have an enormous (sorry, perhaps the wrong adjective) diet industry, and a tension between big agriculture and a more hippie-ish back-to-the-earth movement. And the flood of information - especially dubious statistics and pseudo-science about food and nutrition - have led to an odd kind of "everyperson" expertise when it comes to food. It's the confidence so many people have making their conflicting assertions about diet and nutrition that really got me thinking.
Of course one could trace back the conflicting information we get to the contradictory information given out by "experts"... but the reality is that in food and nutrition, almost anyone can be styled an "expert"; actual nutritionists, people trained to think about diet and nutrition, are rarely used... and so much is given over, as we so often do, to doctors, even if their specialization or basic training doesn't include much in the way of diet and nutrition. And that's, of course, not including all the Oprah-ish "experts" like actresses and exercise gurus, who can say pretty much anything and get away with it.
I'm not saying I have all the answers; I did work with a nutritionist some time back and much of what I'm doing is trying, more fully, to incorporate her suggestions (mostly sensible, do things in moderation, type advice). But what's different most, for me, this time is that I'm not looking for anyone's advice (although one friend, who is significantly thinner now in his twenties than he was in high school, has been a good sounding board)... and it's given me a moment to observe how much unsolicited opinion on food is out there.
Most of it well meaning; I think the really illuminating thing, in people's certainty, is how helpful they want to be. It's that helpful, well-maning aspect that I think is what's complicating our atttempts to improve food regulation and food production; rather than looking at an objective, practical approach to food... we're letting do-gooderness and "save us from ourselves" type thinking lead an amotional charge. And in so doing, we set up a recipe (heh) for failure... because we miss that many people - even ourselves - aren't looking for anyone's "help".
Over at Red's place, this is where food policy meets the sense that, when it comes to feeding the hungry, we should decide what food is right for others - and expect homeless shelters and food banks to not just feed people, but make them eat "healthy" along whatever lines that thinking is going in the current moment. You can also see this do-gooderish element in the "food desert" and other discussions of grocery and fast food choices that exist in many communities... that somehow the opinion-makers know what's best for everyone else to eat.
And just to be clear, I'm also agnostic on the whole obesity question too. One thing I think the web has really opened me up to is thinking about the choices and value judgments we associate with weight; our diet obssession in so many ways, is so unhealthy and unreasonable, that we should realize we're in no position to tell anyone to do anything - we parade skeletons around in fancy clothes and call it fashion, and we create all sorts of weird measures (like dress sizes) to create false expectations around weight and size... and then we wonder why people are so messed up. My diet is not an opinion about anyone's size or shape, even my own; I couldn't begin to make some of the changes I'm making until "You're fat and that's bad" was not my thought when looking in the mirror. I just want to try doing something differently. I'd like to lose some weight, I think this will help. That's really all I know.
Of course we need better food production standards, and we need better information to help consumers make better choices... and we may even have a national problem with obesity. But we can't force those choices, or assume we know what's right for everyone else. We don't necessarily, know what's best even for ourselves. We can't expect that everyone will choose the low-calorie option, the less fatty food, the diet that limits sweets. Not everyone has to make those choices (and not everyone, of course, is Michael Phelps, burning off thousands of calories with massive amounts of physical activity), and we can't make them. I think, still, as a nation, we don't get that. And little can change until we do.
So my resolution, for now... is no comment. No comment on your diet, your food choices, the things you choose to eat and not eat, drink and not drink. Live and let freaking live. I don't know what's right for you, and it's not for me to try and figure out. I know, for now, what's working for me... and when I want your advice, I'll ask for it.
And PS... this post is not me asking for it. Just to be clear.
Comments