02/26/2021
with
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For so long I truly believed the ubiquitous saying ‘food is fuel’. I thought that the secret to a healthy life (which I measured as a smaller body) was viewing food from purely this perspective.
I thought that convincing myself that food was just fuel was the right thing to do, and would beat myself up every time I treated food as something more.
Recovery has taught me that food is so much more than just fuel, and by reducing it down to just calories and nutritional content limits all the wonderful things that surround it.
The food is fuel mindset detracts from all the wonderful things food actually is.
Across both time and cultures food brings people together. So many of our most joyful memories with family and friends revolve around sharing delicious meals together. Food is a way in which we learn about cultures and tradition.
✨Food is social connection,
✨Food is pleasure.
✨Food is comfort.
✨Food is security.
✨Food is memories.
✨Food is culture.
✨Food can be challenging for some.
✨Food is an experience.
You are allowed to derive pleasure from food, because food is pleasurable.
This food is fuel phrase is a prime example of how diet culture can warp our perception of food. I can’t wait to stop seeing this hashtag around Instagram, and for people to accept that it is okay to see food as more than just fuel.
I want to also highlight that this post, and much of the content I see in my feed, comes from a first-world privileged perspective. Food insecurity is a global challenge that we should all be advocating towards ending. Here is a link to the United Nations Zero Hunger initiative https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/ to find out about what more we can do.