Less Food Anxieties · 11 October 2012
I read somewhere that vegans suffer from less food anxieties than omnivores. So far, I have found that to be true.
Last night, we had spaghetti for dinner. While I still like to lick the pan and get all the sauce I can when cleaning up, I do not feel the need to sop up every bit of leftover sauce from my children’s plates. I am sure part of it is because parmesan cheese does not taste as delicious as it used to, but there is something to this food anxiety thing. I do not need to eat everybody’s food anymore.
I used to be the eating cleanup crew – the Human Garbage Disposal. As a teenager, it was partly because I was a growing boy and partly because I needed to keep up with my younger brother. As a young adult, it was because I was hungry, because I needed to keep up my image, and because I did not want food to go to waste. As a parent, it has been because I did not want food to go to waste. Which, I suppose is where some food anxieties come from. At least for me.
Part of not wanting to see food go to waste is due to our parents telling us that somebody would be thankful for those food scraps we left. Another part is because I see the money going into the garbage disposal. But I wonder how much of my food anxieties have been from eating the wrong foods.
I still do not want to throw food away, but I do not feel the need to gobble up everything from my kids’ plates. Especially, before they are even through. Sure, old habits die hard. And I am not going to eat all the leftover meat. Still, I think there is something to the notion that vegans have less food anxieties.
I need to do more investigation into the phenomenon, but for now, I am content not to be the human garbage disposal anymore. I am content to live with less food anxieties.
© 2012 Michael T. Miyoshi
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