The dangers of food identity

By EstherLifestyle, Nutrition

There are so many videos online of people confessing that they are no longer vegan, keto, carnivore or what ever diet they identified themselves with. I call it confession because that is what it looks like. People confessing to a priest or coming out of the closet to your parents during the 80’s. It is that painful to watch. Some responses however are even more painful to see. People are getting demonised for changing their diet in a very harsh and brutal way. Does it make any sense?

I can see where it is coming from. People start a new healthy diet. They get great results and they feel great as well. Health problems resolve and they have more energy. Also called the honeymoon feeling. Of course you want to tell everybody about it and you start heavily promoting it. Even saying it is the best diet out there or the only diet and everyone should eat this way. Everything starts to surround their diet. This can go on for years. Until the diet stops working for them and they get in real health problems. Because they identified themselves with the diet, I am vegan, I am keto, I am carnivore etc. it is hard to admit that the diet is no longer working for you. Sometimes with disastrous consequences for their health, before they finally change.

Let’s get real. Food is nutrition for your body and we are all a bit different. We all know that junk food, sodas, cookies and the likes are bad for you. When you start a new diet based on mostly organic, seasonal, fresh and unprocessed foods you will feel great and your body will start to heal. No matter if you follow Paleo, Keto, plant based or any other nutrition plan. Listen to your body and follow the diet you can stick to and feels good to you. When it stops working for you, you make changes. Nature is never the same and is constantly changing. If you do the same workout over and over again, it will stop working for you to. Why would food be any different?

It can be confusing with so many diets out there, to find out which one is right. But what if they are all right? People got great results with them. Mostly because they stopped eating junk and bad quality foods and start eating mostly unprocessed, natural foods. Sometimes going extreme on a certain diet can be helpful to clean out the body and heal it. If you want to stick to it, it is up to you. However you will feel when you need to balance things out. It is being connected with your body.

Why can’t you have a break from a paleo diet and eat vegan for a certain period? Or eat plant-based but have some animal protein for a while because you feel your body needs it? It doesn’t change who you are. It is taken responsibility about your health and wellness. Nobody should be demonised for that. On the other hand, don’t push your way of eating on someone else. If they want to follow it, fine. But don’t make people wrong for not following it. You don’t know what their body needs or what their journey in life is.

Isn’t it time to end the food (identity) wars and let people be? Food should bring us together not drive us apart.

15 thoughts on “The dangers of food identity”

  3. Amazing blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally overwhelmed .. Any ideas? Thanks!

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