If you live long enough, you learn to question some of your former assumptions and prejudices in many areas of life, and often change your viewpoint. Things we thought we couldn’t do, or be, or like, sometimes become possible. As we are exposed to different things, understanding grows. I don’t know why attitudes toward food are one of the last holdouts for a lot of people.
“I Don’t Eat Anything Green.” I have actually heard people say this proudly, people over 30, and they seem to think it’s funny. “I just don’t LIKE vegetables.” Really, what other personal tastes or beliefs do we develop at four years old and stubbornly cling to for the rest of our lives? C’mon people, keep an open mind and try something new.
We see snide jokes everywhere from cartoons to commercials about how uncool healthy food is. We are bombarded with images of salty, sugary, fatty foods, and if you choose another way you are a health food nut, some kind of weirdo. Some coworkers will still recoil in horror from your hummus and spinach on whole-wheat sandwich, as they offer you another donut.
If you are vegetarian or vegan, you still hear “But what do you EAT, then?” on a regular basis, even though many of the peoples of the world, throughout much of history, have eaten very little meat and the species has somehow survived.
All the studies are reinforcing that we need to eat mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and certainly the available choices have improved in many ways. A lot of people are changing their diets for the better, and feeling better as a result. We have definitely seen some progress in recent years, but as a society, we still have such a long way to go.
We have learned to be open to new and diverse ideas in so many other areas of life. I wonder how long it will take for healthy-food prejudice to fade away.
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