What would happen if we were to start thinking about food as less of a thing and more of a relationship?

Wouldn’t it feel wonderful to look at a plate of food and not automatically conger the amount of calories, fat grams or points that lay in front of you? Eating food has become a chore as the question, “what can I have” echoes with each hunger pain felt over the course of the day. How have we become so confused?

Each week news stories report on the latest health studies, focusing on a nutrient thought to improve health or further our demise. In the wake of this confusion food has been reduced to the value of the nutrient it contains.

With the current mood of our culture we eat a strawberry because it has vitamin C in it and not because it tastes sweet and satisfying on our tongue. We eat a handful of bland cookies because they are labeled “low fat” and are so deemed a better choice over the homemade chocolate chip cookie, fresh from the oven. We stay away from fruit because they contain, “all that sugar” that we have repeatedly been warned is killing Americans. Do we eat the strawberry anyway, because it has vitamin C in it? We could choose to take a vitamin C supplement, right? This seems the easiest solution to rectify the conflicting headlines in the news. Unfortunately, if you forgo the strawberry for a vitamin C pill you will be missing out on hundreds of other compounds in the fruit that benefit your body, but more importantly you will miss out on the experience of tasting the delicious fruit.

In this society most of us grow up eating without ever being told why we eat, the function of food in our bodies and how to develop a healthy relationship with food. We model our eating patterns after our families and our peers. Without a basic understanding of nutrition how can we expect to recognize sound and reliable information vs. the misinformation we receive from the media or our coworkers?

Try this experiment (if you have not already experienced this): make it known in your circle of friends and coworkers that you are thinking about going on a diet. Then sit back and listen to the advice you receive. It seems nowadays everyone’s an expert. Mind you, their hearts are in the right place. Yet their advice each contradicts the next. Who do you trust?

For the lay person, the media may as well be talking about an element on the periodic table. Most of us remember the table hanging on the wall in chemistry class. But I doubt many of us remember where each element is placed, the amount of electrons and protons that reside in the nucleus, and how the elements react with each other. (You see, I already messed up. Protons reside in the nucleus and electrons outside…how many of you caught that?) By reducing food to the nutrients it contains we are at the mercy of scientists to help guide our food choices.

Americans have followed suit, trying to eat a little more of this nutrient and a little less of that nutrient, depending on the latest thinking.

In the wake of amassing health diseases and obesity the food industry, recognizing the potential for monetary growth, has been quick to respond promptly reformulating their food products to reflect the new ‘official’ scientific advice. Eggs have been fortified with omega 3; tortillas have frequently changed their stripes from “trans fat free” to “low cab” to “high fiber” to “net carb.” Low carb, low fat, low sugar containing foods have inundated our supermarkets, each easily labeled for identification as a “healthy food choice.” How is the typical whole food supposed to compete with a food product that can change its label so easily? A strawberry is just a strawberry and a potato is just a potato. During the Atkins craze potatoes sat in the produce section while tortillas were reformulated to low carb. The American waistline has expanded in response to focusing on low fat and “nutrient dense” processed foods.

The relationship and experience of food has been lost.