In honor of today's holiday, the lovely Leslie Hatfield declared her food independence on the Huffington Post. The Center for Corporate Front Groups Consumer Freedom declared a different type of food independence. Whereas Hatfield writes of being food secure and independent by producing your own food (or supporting those who do within your community), CCF wants us to practice freedom by eating whatever the hell we want without guilt. CCF forgets to tell us that when we indulge in junk food, we are patronizing their sponsors (steakhouses, meatpackers, factory farms, chain restaurants, and other junk food peddlers). And while a good steak isn't off limits to those who practice Leslie Hatfield's brand of food independence (particularly if it is grass fed and raised by a local farmer), CCF forgets that we CANNOT declare independence from mother nature. And mother nature says we don't get to eat infinite quantities of junk.
The very sad truth is that we don't get to break the laws of Mother Nature. Think of her like any other parent who says "As long as you're in my house, you have to live by my rules!" Thus - we humans can't fly, even if we jump off our roofs and flap our arms. The law of gravity will get us. And we have to follow a whole bunch of food-related rules as well. Fortunately, if we do it right, we can enjoy ourselves within the bounds set by Mother Nature.
An occasional tiramisu is OK (thank goodness!). We're offered an incredibly wide range of foods, so its OK if you never want to eat broccoli again, just like President George H.W. Bush. If you hate it - don't eat it. But if that's the case, then you probably oughta look into other cruciferous veggies that are more appealing to you, or perhaps find a way to prepare them that you enjoy. And an awful lot of healthy foods are actually quite tasty (ripe strawberries, watermelon, cocoa, avocados... mmm).
That said, if you declare the ultimate food freedom and indulge in whatever you want, whenever you want, Mother Nature is going to punish you by restricting another sort of freedom: your health.
The best case scenario is that you'll need to take prescription drugs to cope with your health problems for the rest of your life. That might cost a lot and make it harder for you to get insurance, but it's not a huge deal in the scheme of things. But you might end up with a body that cannot enjoy the activities it once could, and all of the emotional anguish that goes along with being trapped in a body that makes you unhappy. Or, you might end up with expensive medical procedures and scary incidents that land you in the hospital. Worst of all, your life of food freedom might end at too young an age because your body simply could not handle all of that freedom.
I don't want to be a downer on this Fourth of July, but I'd much prefer to see us proclaim our freedom from poor health instead of our freedom to eat whatever the hell we want. An all-tiramisu diet might be enjoyable, but it's not worth the consequences.
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