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.