FOOD SHAMING

I think one of the biggest problems in society alongside body shaming is food shaming. I am guilty of shaming and being judgmental of people's food choices. I have looked into people's shopping carts and compared them to my own often feeling virtuous that mine was just full of fruit and veg. I have openly and vocally disagreed with people's food choices because they haven't aligned with my own.

What has motivated me to write this post is the discussion about whether we should eat meat or not, and the recent debate on @iammelwells page relating to her recent post. I have nothing against eating meat (I do believe we could improve our farming methods and that we do over consume it and that we could up our plant consumption) we are omnivores and I know that I feel better when I include a little meat in my diet. I do try to be as eco conscious as possible but I also do not want to experience the self imposed deprivation I inflicted on my self for far too many years. Do I feel shame admitting that I eat meat? I do. And do I feel shame admitting I enjoy eating animal products? I do. I worry about being judged, that I will be told I should be more caring and ethical. But I also like cheese and yogurt and I like to drizzle honey on my porridge in the morning. When I feel under the weather there's nothing I enjoy more than toast with lashings of butter with a coating of marmite. Often animal products are cheaper than their alternatives and after having lived on on a tiny budget I had to learn to make certain compromises.

We are each entitled to out opinions and I am always open to further educating myself but shaming people into listening is not ok, and for anyone recovering from an eating disorder it makes the journey so much harder.

Surrounded by diet culture, clean eating and healthy living I think we forget how privileged we are to have this variety and abundance of food available to us, and the means with which to buy it. Instead of shaming people for their choices why don't we become grateful for the fact that we have the freedom to make these choices. We are each entitled to our opinions and I am always open to further educating myself but I think shaming or preaching at people isn't the way to get people to listen. I know when I got on my nutritional moral high horse at home it did not go down well. People do not like to be told they are wrong, and we should never shame people into changing their choices or way of living, we have no idea what might be going on behind the scene, what underlying health issues they could be dealing with. I am a born perfectionist and leaving things to trial and error can be hard for me, yet isn't that what nutrition is, trial and error. Finding what makes you feel good both in body a soul. Throughout the years I struggled with food I found it increasingly difficult to make decisions so I would end up just not eating, I was too terrified of making the wrong choice, all of the articles I read contradicted each other and so I stopped trusting food. My point in this post isn't about what we eat it's about the way we judge each other over the choices we make. A lot of us have developed a poor relationship around food because of this very debate. I 100% respect my vegan friends I have even toyed with the idea of going vegan but every time I restrict my food intake it is detrimental to mental health. I do not want a label, I want to respect and listen to my body, I do not want to live a life of deprivation and neither do I want to isolate people or myself because my beliefs take greater precedence over my health and the life choices of others. I respect my cravings and I am always grateful for the food on my plate. I'm not saying I give in to every whim and fancy I have but, I know that there are foods that nourish the body and foods that nourish the soul. From a holistic point of view shouldn't we also take care of ourselves as well as the planet? We only get one life and we should be able to enjoy it. I am am educated on the alternatives, and I try my best to source whatever animal products I use. There are products I refuse to eat and brands I refuse to use. It also goes further than what we eat, I'm conscious of the beauty products I buy and I avoid any brand that tests on animals best I can. I also try avoid shampoos and gels that have synthetics ingredients as I don't want to contribute to the poisons being washed down our drains daily. However people choose to live their lives and feed their bodies should be respected and this is a difficult thing to do in a world that revolves around diet culture. Living ethically is more than just what we eat and living kindly is part of respecting the planet. We can't respect the planet if we don't respect ourselves or each other. We forget how privileged we actually are to have this abundance and variety of food to choose from. So instead of shaming people and judging people for the choices they make why don't we become for grateful for the fact that we have the freedom and the means to be able to make these choices.