OK-the first time I heard about this on a Facebook post I started ranting
about how now-the commercial giants-my nemesis’ are now trying to target
healthy eating as harmful to ones heal-give me a flippin’ break!
GMO’s and horrific food production strategies are an abomination-I admit;
and this seemed like one other way for commercialistic bastards to spread
their poison and gain more ground with the spread of the budding whole foods
movement.
I pondered and struggled with the whole idea of this-yes it was an absurd idea;
but on further exploration I recalled some points that I could agree with.
I then began to recall a friend of mine who had obsessive compulsive behaviors. Even
though I fed my kids organic foods for the most part she refused to let her
kids accept any food I offered when they came to visit. I started to notice
kinks in the armor when we were out and about on mom dates too. If we
had lunch somewhere her kids would look at the purchased food I bought as
a treat for my kids and drool; trying to snatch a piece off my kids plates
before their mom’s prying eyes could notice and she could snatch it away,
reprimanding them and unknowingly offending me.
Her little girls would stare and drool with longing at birthday parties as all t
he kids scooped candy from the spilling pinata and shoveled icy cupcakes into their mouths
with wild abandon. While staring their mom would redirect and offer them
the firm dry hunk of bread and square of organic cheese from the recycled
paper sack. As her close friend I remember her so focused on this that it
was disabling her as a person. She was so obsessed with her kids never having
anything that wasn’t pure or raw that it seemed to be damaging her relationship
with them.
She confessed to me once that she considered leaving her husband after he
offered her children salmon that was not Organic Free Run Wild Alaskan Salmon
and she lost her shit and screamed bloody murder.
She moved to the states and called me crying
stating she couldn’t make any friends in her new town. I asked her why she thought
that was and she was clueless as to why. Later in the conversation she mentioned
pridefully that she had banned cupcakes from her children’s school. Cupcakes? So
that her children would not constantly have to refuse and feel left out of the
many classroom birthday celebrations. I asked her with caution if it could be possible
that banning cupcakes could be the reason she wasn’t fitting in with the other moms.
She thought about it but was blinded by her organic, whole foods agenda.
Her fanaticism with her whole foods was disabling her as a person-it consumed
her and harmed her-even though it was a positive and admirable vision to begin
with-now it was rapidly swallowing her whole and segregating her and her
offspring from others.
Here is my personal confession-I have been a vegetarian several times but I ended
up hospitalized from malnutrition-I admire people who can do it; and I love the ethical
standpoint; but I admit, I do consume meat. While pregnant, nursing and raising my
babies I was hyper vigilant about organic foods being the only ones my kids ingested.
This caused friction with people in the older generation-when I bit their heads off when
they tried to feed my 6 month old baby cheesecake I was not the most popular relative;
but I was a momma bear. I admit though; now that my kids are older; I have really
relinquished control over the 100% organic whole foods diet. I still shop around the
outside circumference of the store to ensure I maintain top nutritional groceries but
I am relaxed about my kids eating what they eat. Restrictions can make children into
junk food scavenging maniacs; leaping across the table at a birthday party to steal a
tainted bite of the sugary lusciousness.
Such as everything in life-I think the key to making sure your healthy diet does not
become an obsession that disables your life, is moderation and a relaxed attitude.
The knowledge that you won’t die of cancer because you have one bite of a Mars bar.
Having a healthy and mindful relationship with food and being conscious of
any behaviors that are addictive is the key to maintaining a positive relationship with food.
Morning Meditation: Eating Mindfully
http://www.fiterazzi.com/2014/05/01/orthorexia-the-healthy-eating-disorder/
An Article in the Times about Orthorexia
http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1963297,00.html
Video-Orthorexia-Vegan Disorder
Journal Entry:
What is your relationship with food? Do you have any obsessive behaviours
when it comes to food? Think about a time when you had a healthy relationship
with food. How could you recreate that in your life?
Mindful Eating-Mini-Meditation:
Peace, Love & Namaste
Em
Please leave comments-I would love to start a dialogue about this!
90 Days to Spiritual Enlightenment 