When I first meet a patient, I ask her about her diet. A typical response is, "I eat normal."
What does "normal" mean? Upon further questioning, "normal" is the Standard American Diet. In other words, a diet high in processed meat, red meat, sugary desserts, high-fat dairy, processed foods, refined grains, and sugary drinks. It's a diet that has few fruits and vegetables, if any.
A "normal" diet is one that increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, and many forms of cancer.
from www.newhealthguide.org
How normal is that????Why can a person sit and eat a burger, fries, and large soda and no one think anything of it, and if I sit down with a big salad for lunch, it's viewed as alien, atypical, or even.... "healthy". But not normal.
So, how is that we as a society have come to view foods and habits that kill us as "normal"???
Our paradigms need to change. And that's going to take a big shift in how we as a society view food and exercise.
3 comments:
Well said. Commonly accepted norms are not necessarily healthy or good, as epitomized by the S.A.D. We need to change the standard to a better one.
Maybe "normal" means "all the food that has billions of dollars spent on advertising it on TV", and it's all those images that associate junk food with happiness, friendship, family togetherness, or sex appeal that are a big part of the problem?
Ps: I've just realised that my Google profile pic shows me chomping down a big portion of very unhealthy chips, how's that for hypocrisy? In my defence it was post tri carb reloading!
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