Have you ever heard a new word and said, “Of course!” Maybe it’s not in the Oxford English dictionary yet, but you’ve had this “feeling” for ages and finally someone has put a name to it, maybe even an ICD9 code (medical billing jargon for diagnosis). This morning on the Today show, while I was sipping my coffee, the proverbial light went off when I heard the word “Orthorexia.” It is defined as an obsession with “healthy or righteous eating”. I’m about to rant, so be prepared.
It all started when I was in college. I sat across from a couple who looked extremely hippyish, (granted it was a time for hippy) noticed they weren’t eating lunch and offered them some of my sandwich. Oh the humiliation. You see they were some sort of vegetarian I’d never heard of, no leather shoes and they didn’t even eat honey cause of the way the bees were treated…let’s advance to the dawn of the 21st Century, my kids’ college years. Students had lots of excuses – allergy, gluten intolerance, all equaling extreme food elimination. Skip ahead to the Bride’s medical school where I hosted a dinner and one girl was a vegan. So I learned how to make a vegan pesto with fake cheese. Another night I heard one of her friends say, “That’s a bad food.” This girl is now an Ob-Gyn. I had to correct her and tell her there are no bad foods. How can a food be bad, did it misbehave? I tried talking about balance, but I’m not sure she was following.
And now I am distraught. Paula Deen and Anthony Bourdain are duking it out over our very food souls. It’s the butter Southern Queen vs the arrogant French Chef. Much as I love Paula, and the French in general, I had to laugh. Maybe it’s my Libran nature, but I think the Greeks had a word for it. Sophrosyne was its goddess and she stood for: moderation; discretion; temperance; and prudence. In other words, everything in moderation. The French hosts of the Bride and the MOH’s Junior year in Paris had hit on something when they told them we Americans are so fat because we “…bring doggy bags home from restaurants.” I scoffed at first. But hello, it’s all about proportion isn’t it, and portion-control. Not about bad ice cream.
Poor Bill, we now have an ex-President, post-MI, shunning his big macs and praising the vegan life-style. We have the “slow food” movement and the “eat local” set. In Cville we have Retail Relay, an online grocery service that lets you “meet” the farmers who produce your food. We have moms insisting that peanut-anything can’t be served at school lunches (along with sugary anything and vending machines full of soda). Even fish have their “toxic” and “over-fishing” labels. It’s enough to make any home cook think maybe they’re poisoning their family.
the new food pyramid
A psychologist and founder of the National Centre for Eating Disorders in Britain said, “The attachment to strange eating systems and theories is now supported by a thriving industry and gives people a sense of status.”Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for healthy, fresh food. My Mom always told me that the way to a man’s heart…well you get it. Food equals love. Now pass me that croissant!
MountainMornings 