‘Be Careful About Reading Health Books; You May Die of a Misprint’
What a wonderful quote! Mark Twain never fails us, right?
As someone who spent a good five years, obsessively trying to be healthy (and, um, thin) this really resonates with me. Not only was I obsessional about what I ate (and used to wash my hair, and wash my face with and how much I exercised) I was also obsessed with taking other peoples word as gospel, never looking within myself for the truth.
It might sound like a bit of a random quote for a budding nutritionist to choose.. especially one who has recently pledged to eat fewer grains, more Omega 3’s and generally lean towards a paleo and Nourishing Traditions influenced lifestyle. Am I not in danger of dying from a misprint? I hope not! And also, I don’t think so.
Firstly, I am now actively using myself as the test dummy. How do I feel eating like this? How do I enjoy eating like this? Does it fit into my life and does it impede on other elements of my life? It’s hard to read a book that has 399 pages of how GREAT you’ll feel eating only raw, without taking on at least some of that excitement. But I also believe we all know what our bodies are trying to tell us, we just get so caught up in not wanting to listen.
Unlike my previous healthstyle I also currently read nutrition books from all points of view. Much like how I think many liberals would benefit from reading conservative press, and many conservatives from reading liberal press, I think it’s important to read information from people you actively disagree with. Not the sensationalist stuff of course – that will just drive you crazy! – but the more academic papers. All popular opinion will be founded in some kind of rationale and even if you don’t like it, it’s important to understand. Much less danger of dying from a misprint if you read more than one opinion.
Finally, I would say the key difference in the way I approach my current eating style is that I do it with a lot better humour. (Here you can imagine my husband smirking given that I probably recently threw a tantrum in Trader Joe’s after finding they only had MILK chocolate espresso beans, instead of the more heart friendly DARK chocolate option). However, these days I chat about how much better I feel eating less bread all week … and then I get carried away and order a peanut butter bacon cheeseburger. But instead of lying in bed all night worrying about it, I just briefly mull on how utterly ridiculous I am.
Your health IS your greatest possesion – it should absolutely not be foresaken for any other pleasure – but micro management is never the key to success. Just like work and love and everything else, you should never get too obsessive, assume to be an expert or think you have 100% control over the ending.
The Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge is hosted by WEGO Health. I will be writing a post a day for all 30 days. I hope you’ll join me in writing every day about health. All you have to do to join is sign up here:http://info.wegohealth.com/
Hiya! My name is Emilia. I'm a certified Nutrition Educator and Natural Chef. On Wine and Butter I post recipes, nutrition tips.. and sometimes just my food related ramblings.
My aim is to combine a fun and foodie lifestyle with healthy ways and traditional nourishing food.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
This is such a sensible attitude, I love it! I can’t wait to see the rest of your posts this month, I have a feeling I’m going to learn a huge amount.
Thank you so much Kathryn!!
You’ve got the right mind-frame sister, for sure
Looking forward to your health activism posts …. now I want chocolate coffee beans!
Thanks Lou!! And sorry to keep on about the pb bacon cheeseburger. My mums practically veggie and she wants me to shut up about it too!!
I think I’m going to like this month of posts by you…. this really resonates with me! Over the past several months I’ve been tuning more into how I feel eating certain things and truly believing there is not one right way for everyone. I also really believe our needs are constantly changing with the seasons, what’s going on with our lives, activity levels, hormones etc… never stagnant and always changing. I’m curious about your budding nutritionist career and how eating a more non- traditional diet is working and fitting in with your education. I’ve though about going down that path and am curious… maybe you could email me some of your thoughts if you have any on the topic?
Don’t shut up about the pb bacon cheeseburger. No one seems to understand how amazing it was, I keep getting weird looks. I love your very sensible approach to nutrition… and I do believe you got your chocolate covered espresso beans. Unless they didn’t survive the drive home.
Yes, what a wonderful post. I think it’s the detriment of many blogs that they focus so much on eating only certain foods, restrictions…it can become orthorexic in many ways. And sadly.
I truly believe that people need not worry so much. YES, they should eat healthy – without a doubt! – but variety, desert, eating out…it really is not going to be the end of you. And if you think it does – then you have a whole host of other problems going on. Meaning that you are missing something in life if you are putting all your focus and energy into food.
Dr. Oz once said that “Food is to be eaten. Not to be celebrated.” And he was actually referring to how people LOVE food, whether healthy or not-healthy foods, it makes no difference. You shouldn’t revere any food – whether it’s greens or cake. It’s just food. Get on with life.
Hi Jenn! Thank you so much for such a wonderful and enthusiastic comment.. and I couldnt agree with you more!! I really really love food so much (as I think most people with a slightly disordered eating past probably do). So I still get really excited about it – but I find these days its in a much more spontaneous way. Like I can leave getting excited (or anxious) about what Im going t ohave for dinner, until right before I have it – and let inspiration hit, or go out for food with friends, or whatever. It’s so much more emancipating and then I have all this other brain time left to think about more important things. And yes – eating healthily is going to help you live longer (probably) but there are a lot of other things going into the picture. I totally agree – you can’t let food be your God.. regardless of whether that food is oreos or your raw wheatgrass diet. Thank you so much again for such a sweet comment!