Ah food, a touchy subject, prone to creating some of our biggest battles (no pun intended) and quite frankly, also prone to taking over our damn lives.
From mass media propaganda showing us how we ‘should’ look
(which basically involves looking like we haven’t eaten for a month and are bloody miserable!)
To the constant ‘chewing over’of what's going on with our food intake with just about everyone in our lives:
Our friends , family, long suffering boyfriend, Our co-workers, neighbours, cat (Why are you capable of surviving on lean fish perfectly happily BITCH?!).
Food has become not just a mere side-dish in the grand scheme of topics to mull over, but a bloody huge banquet with endless dishes to pinch an inch from accomponied, of course, by a side-dish of judgement.
Take what to eat for example, or, more commonly what "no way in hell, absolutely never" to eat.
Every month/week/day/minute it seems like some ‘expert’ pops up with some new earth-shaking enlightenment as to what we should, or more commonly shouldn't be sampling.
Instantly, years of simple enjoyment can be turned into some kind of "Guilty Pleasure".
Well, what if we don’t want to feel guilty about our pleasure? What if we have enough to feel guilty about already, without making a meal over a favourite chocolate bar or the odd plate of chips.
Labels, I feel, should quite ironically, stick to the front cover of the food we eat and not the consumer.
One plate of chips does not a carb monster make.
Now, of course it can't be argued that obesity, is of course, a growing issue that should never be ignored, and that everyone who feels the need should have access to material to assist them in shedding a few pounds.
I fundamentally disagree with the constant shoving down our throats of food and what we should be doing with it.
Surely what we eat or don't eat is our business and our business alone and unless we A)Ask for help, or B)Clearly need help, then alone is how we should be left?
On a personal level, some of my favourite memories from childhood, are from when food had not taken me over and I would happily eat a few rounds of toast, liberal amounts of jam and even a little butter without the sky falling down.
What was once a simple pleasure now seems utterly unfathomable and this, I think, is really sad.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly why this change in me and many others has occured, food, of course, was once the tool that bonded us all - way back in caveman times it was the prize at the end of a successful hunt and the root of new discoveries.
Dinner parties, family meals, long pub lunches - they are the toast of many a happy daydream, but not nearly often enough are they actually enjoyed and when they are, all too often it’s only alongside a large serving of guilt and promises to eat less tomorrow.
Balance, is what life is all about and whilst I have the balance levels of a wobbly bambi in stillettos I do believe that a little of everything shouldn’t hurt you.
Sadly, however, for me and many others, believing it is one thing.
Actively carrying out is another.
Maybe we all need to work together to change that?
What's your opinion on how food has taken over our lives?
