A couple years back, the Times of London printed a great feature, excerpted from a book, entitled What scientists believe but can’t prove. A couple of sample answers: “I believe in the final triumph of the good guy.” “I believe but I cannot prove that God exists.” “I believe that Mozart was a better composer than Carl Stamitz, a lesser-known contemporary.”
I’m a few years late to the party and my entry will probably not surprise anyone who knows me, but I’ve been thinking about the question today because I just read this article about an appalling public health initiative in England:
Knives out for ‘death by fairy cake’ advert
> The Department of Health spent £500,000 on two advertisements aimed at mothers, and placed in women’s weekly magazines.
> One – which shows a picture of a young girl of healthy weight and appearance, biting into a fairy cake, and captioned: “Is a premature death so tempting?” – has provoked a backlash from parents, chefs and obesity experts.
(A fairy cake, in case anyone doesn’t know, is a cupcake.)
So, here is what I believe but cannot prove: **Health messages about food are hazardous to your health.** I mean this literally and I mean it emphatically. I believe we would all be better off with absolutely no guidance on what to eat other than tradition and our taste buds, and I believe that health messages about food literally cause health problems.
Someone pointed out after my recent post about calorie counts on menus that I didn’t mention perhaps the worst thing about posting calories on menus: it makes life hell for people with anorexia, people for whom counting calories is pathological and harmful and who have to learn not to do it in order to heal.
So it goes for all of us. Health messages about food are usually wrong (which of the popular ones today will go the way of margarine and low-fat? All of them, I bet) and they screw with our enjoyment of food. I call bullshit. I’m eating a cupcake for my English homies.
Post of the Year. Sharing with everyone I know, whether they want to hear it or not. Thanks.
Thanks, Sarah.
Posts like this one are why you’re one of my favorite food writers.
There’s too much sanctimony surrounding food and health. Thank you for hosting a sanctimony-free zone.
Thanks, O.C. Usually when I post something like this I expect to be vilified, and it never happens. Perhaps I have surrounded myself with a coterie of yes-men.
I mean, god, I hope so.
True. Dat.
Iris doesn’t strike me as a yes-person.
Huzzah, my friend.
Totally agree.
you de man.
If health departments had their way, we would all be eating overcooked steak, no raw fish, and chicken cooked to 190F.
One of my favorite posts mate I have to say.
That advert is rediculous (the british one), saddening in fact.
The only thing I like about food messages are the great variations that restaurants come up, when they have to put that bullshit FDA disclaimer on their menu. One recent restaurant I was in had “The FDA would like to point out that we could quite possibly kill you” (or something to that effect).
I call bullshit too.
Yesterday one of my student workers was berating himself for eating a Hot Pocket during a short break between classes. Unhealthy! Fattening! I quoted this post.
I mean, dude, you’re a student. You’re supposed to occasionally eat a Hot Pocket. It won’t kill you.
How does advertising factor into your statement? I am in full agreement if we include ads and product packaging as ‘health’ messages.
“I believe we would all be better off with absolutely no guidance on what to eat other than tradition and our taste buds, and I believe that health messages about food literally cause health problems.”
This works great for people with a revved up metabolism and the ability/willingness to stop eating when they are no longer hungry (not to mention that most peoples’ ‘food tradition’ wouldn’t be much of a guide). Many of us are lacking in both areas. Knowledgeable guidance on what and how much to eat can be helpful in these cases.
At the same time, I am totally opposed to diets that include absolute prohibitions of anything.
Vince, I was just having a debate about that topic today. Let’s get into it sometime, but not right now.
Josh, do you mean advertisements with health claims? I certainly hate those. Advertisements of the “try our delicious new cookie” variety, I have no problem with.
Honestly, it would be hard to parody how strongly I feel about this topic. I do not want to hear another word about high-fructose corn syrup, omega-3s, trans fats, or whole grains ever. Foods made with those things, sure, I want to hear about that. Thanks.
If the little girl in the advertisement had been fat, would you have still seen her as a being a healthy weight for her?
skeptic, I was quoting. If the girl in the advertisement had been fat, that would have been even more mean.
On calorie counts posted in college dining halls: http://harrietbrown.blogspot.com/2009/05/calorie-counts-in-college-dining-halls.html