Tuesday, November 7

MINDLESS EATING

This is a cute "offbeat" story about a guy studying eating habits, headlined: Prof asks: Why do we eat mindlessly, and what would help us stop? Simple, snarky answer: We eat mindlessly because we don't want to think about where what we're eating came from, if it's from a dead animal, which it tends to be, one way or another. And what would help us stop? Hmmmm. I'd have to say, stopping doing so.

Sure, it's snark, but it's more applicable than you might think:


    Eating a wrap sandwich for lunch on campus, he can't help noticing a label on his mayonnaise packet: "As always 0g carbs."

    "I love it!" he said with a laugh.

    The packet doesn't mention that a single serving has 10 grams of fat and 90 calories.

The article doesn't mention that the label plays into one of the great "mindless" fads of all time, the "low-carb" craze, and attempts to soothe the consumer's health consciousness while slamming them with saturated fat and cholesterol from animal products.

There are a lot of reasons, in short, for mindless eating, but we'll never be mindful unless we're willing, as a culture, to pay attention to what our food really is.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am aware of where my food comes from, and I myself have shot/broke the neck of some of the animals I eat. While I was eating it, I showed it's picture to my friends. We discussed how much energy it takes to get a soy-burger together compared to buying a chicken from the local butcher or just shooting your own animals. We have a pet cow named buster who loves being scratched under the chin and is adorable...he will make a good hamburger. Yes I agree that alot of meat eating is energy inefficiant when they are bought all over the place, but we very well know that our meat comes from dead animals. Animals that once breathed and made noise, and their death makes me live longer. Also, this in no way reflects peoples view on people. I wish people would put as much sacrifice and effort into helping the povershed as they do trying to save a cow that could feed them.