I went grocery shopping over the weekend and was on the lookout for negative food advertising. The winner, which surprised me, was not a vegetarian or vegan convenience food (although they did prove competitive).
The winner was Ian's chicken nuggets which doesn't have this impressive list....
NO Artificial Flavors
NO Artificial Colors
NO Preservatives
NO Wheat!
NO Gluten!
NO Casein!
NO Milk!
NO Eggs!
NO Nuts!
NO Soy!
The product is at-bottom dryly described as, "Nugget Shaped, Breaded, Skinless Chicken Patties". Words like "juicy", "delicious", "tempting", "satisfying", or "savory" are absent.
This must mean that as consumers we care too little about flavor, and waste too much energy on the negative.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Negative advertising
I have noticed while browsing health-food stores that nutritional marketing is almost universally negative. There you will find bread "without gluten", chips "without salt or potatos", milk "without artificial growth hormones", soup "with less sodium", pasta with "no genetically engineered ingredients", Chixxen nuggets with "61% less fat", and so on.
If you have enough exposure to this type of message, you will soon wind up thinking about your food in terms of what it doesn't have to offer, and spend too much of your time scanning ingredient lists looking for things you don't want to eat.
Is that a healthy way to view food and the act of eating?
I don't think so and that is the primary reason why I have never warmed to the word "vegan". A vegan is a person that "doesn't eat" meat and dairy, rather than a person that "does eat" whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. A vegan is a person that rejects animal protein instead of a person that embraces a plant-based diet.
This might seem the same but it isn't. When you eat, say, a wild mushroom ravioli because it tastes delicious and promotes health you are performing a positive act. When you eat that same meal because of something it isn't you are performing a negative act, adopting the martyrs approach to suicide bombing or eating.
Food should be enjoyed and it is time to diverge from these tofu and sprout prophets and redefine healthy food positively.
Food should be one of life's pleasures and delicious, savory, satisfying, and nutritious instead of gluten-free and their ilk.
If you have enough exposure to this type of message, you will soon wind up thinking about your food in terms of what it doesn't have to offer, and spend too much of your time scanning ingredient lists looking for things you don't want to eat.
Is that a healthy way to view food and the act of eating?
I don't think so and that is the primary reason why I have never warmed to the word "vegan". A vegan is a person that "doesn't eat" meat and dairy, rather than a person that "does eat" whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. A vegan is a person that rejects animal protein instead of a person that embraces a plant-based diet.
This might seem the same but it isn't. When you eat, say, a wild mushroom ravioli because it tastes delicious and promotes health you are performing a positive act. When you eat that same meal because of something it isn't you are performing a negative act, adopting the martyrs approach to suicide bombing or eating.
Food should be enjoyed and it is time to diverge from these tofu and sprout prophets and redefine healthy food positively.
Food should be one of life's pleasures and delicious, savory, satisfying, and nutritious instead of gluten-free and their ilk.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Why do it?
Since committing myself, mostly, to a plant-based diet I have noticed some unexpected benefits that you might be interested in:
1. As wardens at CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) debate whether they can inject enough drugs into collapsed animals to make them healthy enough for human consumption, you can look on your plant diet as an act of self preservation and kindness rolled into one.
2. If you are Jewish and the Kosher meat/milk rules are driving you to the kitchen-supply store with more regularity than you would like, you can skip the whole conundrum when your diet is plant-based.
3. Since I must now spend more time thinking about food it has rekindled my interest in both preparing and eating food.
4. There is no mad lettuce disease, and when vegetables are recalled it is often for being contaminated with animal matter.
5. I have seen many people treat their food not as a source of nourishment and enjoyment, but as a neurotic homework exercise which leads to certain death with incorrect choices. Anxiety and stress are bad things for human health and it is simple to eat healthily this way. If you eat a variety of plants and take a supplement with vitamins B12 and D then you can calm your food anxieties and go back to focusing on enjoyment.
6. Understanding that it's not the "bad cholesterol" it's the animal protein, it's not the "fat" it's the animal protein, it's not the "lactose" it's the animal protein, it's not the "casein" it's the animal protein simplifies a lot of confusing nutritional advice.
7. Likewise, knowing that it's not the "lycopene", "Vitamin C", "crytoxanthins" or "beta-carotene" it's the plants simplifies a lot.
1. As wardens at CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) debate whether they can inject enough drugs into collapsed animals to make them healthy enough for human consumption, you can look on your plant diet as an act of self preservation and kindness rolled into one.
2. If you are Jewish and the Kosher meat/milk rules are driving you to the kitchen-supply store with more regularity than you would like, you can skip the whole conundrum when your diet is plant-based.
3. Since I must now spend more time thinking about food it has rekindled my interest in both preparing and eating food.
4. There is no mad lettuce disease, and when vegetables are recalled it is often for being contaminated with animal matter.
5. I have seen many people treat their food not as a source of nourishment and enjoyment, but as a neurotic homework exercise which leads to certain death with incorrect choices. Anxiety and stress are bad things for human health and it is simple to eat healthily this way. If you eat a variety of plants and take a supplement with vitamins B12 and D then you can calm your food anxieties and go back to focusing on enjoyment.
6. Understanding that it's not the "bad cholesterol" it's the animal protein, it's not the "fat" it's the animal protein, it's not the "lactose" it's the animal protein, it's not the "casein" it's the animal protein simplifies a lot of confusing nutritional advice.
7. Likewise, knowing that it's not the "lycopene", "Vitamin C", "crytoxanthins" or "beta-carotene" it's the plants simplifies a lot.
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