Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Irksome

It being the holidays, we have copious amounts of sweets lying around the office. And I often hear that these foods are "evil" or "dangerous" or someone who is eating them comments s/he is "being bad" or "feels guilty." I am so sick of this. First of all, foods are neither good nor bad -- they just are. Some have more fat, sugar and/or salt than others, but they are not imbued with a specific morality. Secondly, there are worse things one can do than eat a cookie. If you don't know that...well, I'm not sure I want to disturb your innocence by telling you things that are worse. But trust me, there are. Third, don't share these things with me if you can plainly see that I am eating said "evil" or "dangerous" thing, as you are passing judgement, and I just want to enjoy my damn cookie in peace.

What plagues me more is that I don't know what to say to these comments. Most of them that are made are said in a manner of small talk (which I dislike and adds to my animosity), and I neither want to encourage further chit chat nor do I want to make a bigger deal out of something just thrown out there because someone felt the need to fill the silence. But I worry that people do feel these foods are bad and that they in turn are bad or naughty or evil for eating them. I don't know. I'm feeling a bit tweaky today. I guess it bugs me because I've been working to get out of that mindset, and I guess I resent it when I'm confronted with it, instead of feeling empowered that I no longer feel the need to make such comments. Now there's the positive spin I needed.

Funny how these postings help me work things out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i am so there with you. for me it went something like this. someone says "ooooooh those cookies are so bad." i think, "well if the cookies are bad and i am eating one then i must be bad." it's a logical response. but the reality of it is, sure it might not be the most nutritionally useful food, but in moderation, it's also not useless or harming. i think we live in a culture that places soooooo much emphasis on body image, hence the constant struggle with food.

so i say to you - fuck'em! eat your damn cookie and enjoy it! xo, liv