The Today show had a short segment on the obsession with healthy eating this morning with Leslie Goldman, author and blogger of the Weighting Game and Madelyn Fernstrom, director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Weight Management Center. For the most part, I thought they got their point across about the hazards of obsessed healthy eating and how it can lead to vitamin/mineral deficiences, loss of weight, loss of muscle mass as well as eating disorders and/or orthorexia.
What I found interesting were the comments from the show. Some people understood what was being said, while others felt their lifestyles were being attacked. It just goes to show how many people are misinformed about the whole topic. The operative word in all this is "obsessed." I wish people would understand that most people know there is nothing wrong with wanting to be vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, or raw foodist (okay, the last two kind of make me raise my eyebrows but to each his/her own) as long as they are educating themselves and it is for the right reasons, not being masked by fear, an eating disorder or otherwise. That would mean correct nutrients and caloric intakes were being met as well as a heathful dose of psyche, ie "balanced," not black/white thinking.
One commenter mentioned that we should "highlight the positive aspects of these 'unhealthy' foods"--that maybe that would help people see a bigger picture.
What do you think? Is there a way to stop all the paranoia of obsessed healthy eating? Or is this a moot point with the nation worried about the obesity epidemic?
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