Fed Up with Food Fear-Mongering

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  • shst07
    shst07 Posts: 61 Member
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    I agree.
  • navydentalchic
    navydentalchic Posts: 234 Member
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    bumpy bump for later ;), this should get interesting..
  • lilyjoin
    lilyjoin Posts: 1
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    It's beyond just a preference for certain types of diets and lifestyles, and there's nothing you can say, and no evidence
  • darkangel45422
    darkangel45422 Posts: 234 Member
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    ^^^^ I hear you, but I also disagree. My kid knows there are 43 grams of sugar in a can of pop because he gleefully reads it to me when he gets one. While it doesn't stop him from drinking it, or me from allowing him to have it occasionally, I am glad he is aware of what that means (and he knows what a gram is etc). I am hoping it will serve him later in life and he will make better choices than I did.
    Also it gives you an opportunity to educate your son about nutrition. With Halloween right around the corner, we will have ample opportunity! (before anyone goes off - not that candy is bad, but how we eat it in moderation IF we eat other nutritious food).

    I agree; I see nothing wrong with the fact that kids are becoming more educated about nutrition at a young age instead of waiting until they're older and have already developed some potentially unhealthy lifestyle habits. Why take him learning about veganism as a bad thing instead of as an opportunity to discuss nutrition and the wide ranging views on health?
  • sabified
    sabified Posts: 1,051 Member
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    bump for later
  • scruffykaz
    scruffykaz Posts: 317 Member
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    I'm actually in, but waiting for someone to seriously try to convince us that cauliflower will kill us all.

    If there's one food that is genuinely evil, it's cauliflower.

    Cauliflower got no reason to live.

    Nope, it's definitely celery...

    I disagree. It's kale.
  • obrientp
    obrientp Posts: 546 Member
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    Awesome post!
  • thekyleo
    thekyleo Posts: 632 Member
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    I know that most people can fit these foods into their life and not feel guilt for it or be afraid. I had ice cream last night and i'm beating myself up for it. I've been told all my life that certain foods are "good" and "bad" and that eating the "bad" foods will make you fat. So I did get fat but not by eating the bad foods, but the quantity I ate them in ( I know that now, but it still doesn't clear my neurosis). Even after realizing this, i'm still afraid of food and I don't have a normal relationship. I just want to throw it out there that it's not easy trying to over come a fear of food and that no food is good or bad.

    I understand exactly where you're coming from. I spent years trying to get my weight under control by eating "good" foods and shunning "bad" foods. But as I started to spend more time looking for those good foods, it seemed like more and more foods were being constantly added to the "bad" list. It was really frustrating. Can't have this, can't have that, can't, can't can't.... There were a couple weeks where I was deeply upset about all of the conflicting information about foods being good and bad. "Nuts are good for you!" "Nuts are inflammatory and full of fat!" "Soy is a good source of protein!" "Soy can mess with your hormones!" I was afraid to even eat. What if I eat the wrong things? I already wasn't making any progress losing weight or "getting healthy," what if I ate some bad food and it only made things worse? I was pretty torn up about it, and I would say it brought me to tears on more than one occasion. I don't mean to say I was bawling my eyes out in the street, but I would have quiet meltdowns while I was logging my food. I felt so stupid because I obviously just didn't get it.

    This is the kind of mindset you create when you say that some foods are bad. Think about it.

    you are right, which is why i'm currently in counseling to help me come to a normal place about my relationship with food. I need to not be afraid of eating certain foods
  • tula1980
    tula1980 Posts: 54
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    I have IBD and loads of the foods mentioned are on my trigger list (grains and legumes especially, although interestingly I'm fine on wheat/gluten!). All that happens if I eat them is I'm ill. I'm not dying any faster than I was dying before I ate them!

    It's staggering what unfounded and ill informed claims people will make just to be the person in the room who is speaking. It's like they have nothing interesting to say so they fill the silence with utter nonsense.

    As for the comment about nuts causing inflammation, there are clinical studies which prove that certain nuts (at least, almonds and I think walnuts - but don't quote me) reduce inflammation, not cause it!
  • RunningRichelle
    RunningRichelle Posts: 346 Member
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    Eh, I"m not too convinced by that person's blog post.

    When people 'fear-monger' as it's been termed, it just prompts me to do my own research, not be confused or develop a food-phobia. I learned, I experimented with replacing the all-holy grains and added sugars with avocados, meat, and green leafies, I saw positive results, I decided to continue. Plain and simple.

    Sure, if you blindly follow something somebody says without digging around on your own, there's a pretty big chance you're gonna be harmed.

    I think the message here should be 'Don't be an idiot and immediately do anything someone else tells you to do,' not 'Don't say x and y about this food and that food, because you will harm the sheeple who don't know any better.'
  • VBnotbitter
    VBnotbitter Posts: 820 Member
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    ^^^^ I hear you, but I also disagree. My kid knows there are 43 grams of sugar in a can of pop because he gleefully reads it to me when he gets one. While it doesn't stop him from drinking it, or me from allowing him to have it occasionally, I am glad he is aware of what that means (and he knows what a gram is etc). I am hoping it will serve him later in life and he will make better choices than I did.
    Also it gives you an opportunity to educate your son about nutrition. With Halloween right around the corner, we will have ample opportunity! (before anyone goes off - not that candy is bad, but how we eat it in moderation IF we eat other nutritious food).

    I agree; I see nothing wrong with the fact that kids are becoming more educated about nutrition at a young age instead of waiting until they're older and have already developed some potentially unhealthy lifestyle habits. Why take him learning about veganism as a bad thing instead of as an opportunity to discuss nutrition and the wide ranging views on health?

    Who says I didn't? We actually do discuss the science of nutrition (along with quantum physics, evolution and the politics of economics, he's a bright kid).

    My concern, in line with the OP, is that food fear mongering is starting young. Fine for a 9 year old to ask about the nutritional make up of his dinner but not to be afraid that its unhealthy or "bad". I'm far more worried that it would result in a potentially unhealthy lifestyle habit of an eating disorder
  • grandpoobah12
    grandpoobah12 Posts: 138
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    seriously, I was hung up for 3 years on here. I fell for every fad. I never lost weight! Now I finally am. How am I doing it? By creating a caloric deficit. IF only I had never looked at the forums. If only I wasn`t so naive! If only I hadn`t researced weight loss looking for the easy way out.

    You mean I can do any exercise, not just heavy lifting and it will be good for me?

    All I need to do is eat less than I burn, and I lose weight.

    Too bad I was so simple that it took me so long to see the simple truth.
  • perfect_storm
    perfect_storm Posts: 326 Member
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    This was a fantastic post and a great read...but...will someone explain the cauliflower thing to me?
  • darkangel45422
    darkangel45422 Posts: 234 Member
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    ^^^^ I hear you, but I also disagree. My kid knows there are 43 grams of sugar in a can of pop because he gleefully reads it to me when he gets one. While it doesn't stop him from drinking it, or me from allowing him to have it occasionally, I am glad he is aware of what that means (and he knows what a gram is etc). I am hoping it will serve him later in life and he will make better choices than I did.
    Also it gives you an opportunity to educate your son about nutrition. With Halloween right around the corner, we will have ample opportunity! (before anyone goes off - not that candy is bad, but how we eat it in moderation IF we eat other nutritious food).

    I agree; I see nothing wrong with the fact that kids are becoming more educated about nutrition at a young age instead of waiting until they're older and have already developed some potentially unhealthy lifestyle habits. Why take him learning about veganism as a bad thing instead of as an opportunity to discuss nutrition and the wide ranging views on health?

    Who says I didn't? We actually do discuss the science of nutrition (along with quantum physics, evolution and the politics of economics, he's a bright kid).

    My concern, in line with the OP, is that food fear mongering is starting young. Fine for a 9 year old to ask about the nutritional make up of his dinner but not to be afraid that its unhealthy or "bad". I'm far more worried that it would result in a potentially unhealthy lifestyle habit of an eating disorder

    Oh I didn't mean you didn't, just that it sounded as if you thought it was a bad thing that his conversation lead him to question the healthiness of his dinner. I agree there's a difference between knowing something is unhealthy or bad for you and being afraid of it because of those facts, but I guess your son's fear didn't come across so much as just a child questioning its healthiness.

    I guess I just see a difference between being afraid of food and understanding it's relative healthiness and thus the place is can play in your diet. Just as the above poster says, it's not about somehow giving kids the message that bad or unhealthy foods should be avoided like the plague, but teaching them that these foods shouldn't occupy the same place in their diets as more healthful fare.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    werd!
  • EHisCDN
    EHisCDN Posts: 480 Member
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    I think this is all about the journey. It's easy to initially be caught off guard about how many calories are in things and avoid them by the plague. But hopefully overtime things begin to even out as you realize that there are no innately good or bad foods.
    Truth be told though, I'll probably have to go through my friends list and get rid of some people who keep touting the keto diet or shakeology or have a fear of carbs. Carbs aren't the enemy people! Neither is fat! (Sometimes fat makes up almost half of my daily calories and yet I still lose weight).
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
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    This was a fantastic post and a great read...but...will someone explain the cauliflower thing to me?

    You must have missed the cauliflower pizza crust, or mashed cauliflower dessert, like it's some magical holy grail of food.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
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    In.

    Also, since folks asked for it, I present: The Dangers of Cauliflower -

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/423748-side-effects-of-cauliflower/
  • kkerri
    kkerri Posts: 276 Member
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    I have fallen prey to this - which is why I spent years on a vegan diet (well, that and animal cruelty). But, I did fear those foods. And, I feared fat. And, then I ended up eating things that were healthy, but should not make up the bulk of a diet.

    I am trying to get back to a balanced diet (albeit trying to avoid gluten for a legitimate, diagnosed disorder).

    ;-)
  • VBnotbitter
    VBnotbitter Posts: 820 Member
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    ^^^^ I hear you, but I also disagree. My kid knows there are 43 grams of sugar in a can of pop because he gleefully reads it to me when he gets one. While it doesn't stop him from drinking it, or me from allowing him to have it occasionally, I am glad he is aware of what that means (and he knows what a gram is etc). I am hoping it will serve him later in life and he will make better choices than I did.
    Also it gives you an opportunity to educate your son about nutrition. With Halloween right around the corner, we will have ample opportunity! (before anyone goes off - not that candy is bad, but how we eat it in moderation IF we eat other nutritious food).

    I agree; I see nothing wrong with the fact that kids are becoming more educated about nutrition at a young age instead of waiting until they're older and have already developed some potentially unhealthy lifestyle habits. Why take him learning about veganism as a bad thing instead of as an opportunity to discuss nutrition and the wide ranging views on health?

    Who says I didn't? We actually do discuss the science of nutrition (along with quantum physics, evolution and the politics of economics, he's a bright kid).

    My concern, in line with the OP, is that food fear mongering is starting young. Fine for a 9 year old to ask about the nutritional make up of his dinner but not to be afraid that its unhealthy or "bad". I'm far more worried that it would result in a potentially unhealthy lifestyle habit of an eating disorder

    Oh I didn't mean you didn't, just that it sounded as if you thought it was a bad thing that his conversation lead him to question the healthiness of his dinner. I agree there's a difference between knowing something is unhealthy or bad for you and being afraid of it because of those facts, but I guess your son's fear didn't come across so much as just a child questioning its healthiness.

    I guess I just see a difference between being afraid of food and understanding it's relative healthiness and thus the place is can play in your diet. Just as the above poster says, it's not about somehow giving kids the message that bad or unhealthy foods should be avoided like the plague, but teaching them that these foods shouldn't occupy the same place in their diets as more healthful fare.

    Completely agree, I guess it's one of those misinterpretation over the Internet problems :smile:

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