I adore the Dax Shepard podcast, “Armchair Expert.” In the latest episode, he was interviewing Gwyneth Paltrow. They were talking about nutrition, and Dax made an interesting comment: basically, secular people treat nutrition like religion! We seek purity through what we eat.
I studied dietetics in undergrad, but people rarely ask me for food advice. If the did, I would give them the following basic, but boring advice:
- Count calories
- Increase your protein when you want to lose weight
- Eat what your body craves, within reason.
- Eat small portions
- Eat fruits and vegetables every day.
- If you have an illness that you’re treating with nutrition, then that supersedes the previous 5 rules.
Admittedly, I get caught up in other food obsessions. I’ve been an on-and-off vegetarian since age 12, I was gluten-free for a year, and I avoid high fructose corn syrup like it’s a plague. I’m on or off diet sodas depending on my current mood. But most importantly, I follow my basic food rules!
A current food trend is fasting. Jews have been doing this for thousands of years on holidays for religion. Now people are doing it to achieve purity or health, but it has nothing to do with religion, anymore. Or, does it?