“GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD…”

Eating and food choice has become a secular religion, with all the benefits and downfalls that go with it. If you utilize social media, you’d be hard pressed to go a single day without one of your friends or acquaintances posting an attractively designed meme relating to food. People, having been ‘illuminated’ into a particular ‘food-religion’ feel compelled to proselytize, to help others that have not yet been enlightened.

So why are we turning food into our new Church?

Limitless choice and apparently conflicting ‘evidence’ is an ever shifting sea with no horizon, it is unsettling. Religion helps people make sense of a chaotic world: Suddenly, there is order and there are instructions. All you have to do is follow them. No wonder media nutritionists are routinely described as “gurus”, a word meant to denote a spiritual leader.

It’s understandable, inevitable even, that amidst this sea of shifting dietary recommendations, people will pick a pre-defined way of eating and stick to their guns, -it gives them the feeling of ‘solid ground’. Interestingly, there seems to be no need for the aforementioned dietary ‘religion’ to have a positive message. Why would you follow a dietary message from someone telling you that the world is full of evil toxins, chem-trails and ‘deathly’ industrial additives? But then, why would you want to believe in a world where humans (even newborns) are inherently sinful and must be ‘saved’? It sounds like an upsetting notion, but it’s not: It’s comforting. The only thing scarier than a world full of toxins is a world in which you don’t know what the toxins are. Clear-cut certainty is far more attractive and comforting than a world of shifting understanding, nuance and complication.

The “Past as Paradise” paradigm is another idea that seems almost woven into our DNA. We ate the “wrong” or “forbidden” food in paradise and subsequently fell from Grace. The notion that everything ‘past’ (and therefore ‘purer’) is best can be seen in the fear and anger displayed at the marriage of technology and food (‘Organic’, ‘Non-GMO’): Anger that comes from primarily from fear, and fear is usually associated with a lack of understanding.

Aligning yourself with a particular ‘food religion’ also confers a sense of belonging, -a community of people just like you, and we humans have an innate need to feel that we belong. The trick is not allow this investment in personal identity get in the way of critically processing information.

It has been said by many that sugar is addictive. Health information, it seems is also addictive. The only ‘detox’ I would ever recommend is this: Try a week without reading the blogs, clicking on the headlines, and absorbing the memes. Instead, focus on preparing meals that you enjoy, and that provide your body with the nutrients it needs. You don’t need to be in fear of food.