Which Are You: Healthy Eater or Food Nazi?

I'm not a food nazi just yet...:)

Food nazi except for the "control" part,I believe in personal responsibility.

om goodness, there is such a thing as a food nazi!!!!????? then im def one of them. i have most of the estraits...except....i cant find one. Im everything...such a fine line between healthy eater n food nazi ey.

This is one of the good things about Weight Watchers. They give you that bank of Flex Points "in case of emergencies." They recognize that we have to be flexible.

Life is short. Eat the cake your mother made for you. Work out tomorrow morning.

Life is absolutely too short to turn down every single thing that might cause you harm. I make allowances for the odd slice of cake/pizza and thoroughly enjoy them as a result.

If I never ate them, I'd be miserable. Just like I'd be miserable if I ate them all the time.

I'm a food nazi when it comes to food being promoted as healthy, when it is in fact toxic. For example: Soy.

Soy, like several other plants, contains phytoestrogens as a defense mechanism. This isn't like thorns or a bitter flavor, which keep animals from eating the plant, but is much more insidious. The estrogenic plants defend themselves from predation by chemically castrating the males of those species foolish enough to eat them! What's more, the consumption of soy, and its bad estrogens, can cause breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

Yet, soy is promoted as being heart-healthy. Is this because men (with testosterone) are statistically more likely to have heart disease? Feminization does not seem like a good strategy to avoid disease.

Particularly when the cause of heart disease is an excess of pro-inflammatory fats, the Omega-6s. Here is another area in which I became a food nazi. Basically, whenever there is false propaganda spread, I become a food nazi.

By now, those of us in the know realize that grass-fed beef will not give you heart disease. It has a healthy balance of anti-inflammatory omega-3 and pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats. In fact, it might help to bring one back into balance, overall. Yet, all beef gets a bad rap, because the big commercial producers have switched from the natural diet of grass to using corn as a means of fattening their cattle. So the garbage beef that is bought out of the bargain bin, or sold at most restaurants, is to blame for the stigmatization of all beef.

But why aren't people told of the difference? The corn lobby won't allow. Neither will the corn and soy lobby allow the truth on soy to be known. It's the corn and soy engine of modern agriculture, perpetrating these myths, and for their propaganda I show no mercy. Like Harrison Ford said in Apocalypse now "Terminate with extreme prejudice."

I'm a terrible, terrible food Nazi when it comes to myself. Constant guilt and preoccupation and second guessing over what's overall an incredibly healthy diet.

I don't think I'm that bad with regard to other people. I'm always happy to give suggestions if someone WANTS to learn about healthy eating, but realize that everyone makes their own priorities and decisions. (though I do get on my boyfriend a bit for his habit of starving himself for ten hours and then eating junk at 3 AM, but only him and only for his attempts to destroy his metabolism)

I REALLY, REALLY want to be less of a food Nazi, though. It's been a MAJOR goal of mine for the past couple weeks and I'm having so much trouble with it.

Kailash said:
and prostate cancer in men.[...]

I think when I'm really on a roll with a diet and am good about watching what I'm eating, I get almost fearful about going "off the wagon," as it were, like an alcoholic saying "I can have just one drink." I know it isn't fully rational, and it probably leads to problems later on, but allowing myself the 90/10 split can easily become a problem for me. Once I've slipped once, then it feels like "oh, well, this week is down the drain ..." and then you're on a spiral.

Again, not rational, but that's how the brain works sometimes.

Woohoo, healthy eater!

I am a food nazi about certain foods because I know I have no self-control.

No big bags of potato chips, tortilla chips or anything in the chip aisle, even pretzels. Or I will eat them all in one night.

And nothing with mayo. I have the BIGGEST weakness for mayo. I know it's gross, I can't help it. If I buy a jar of Hellman's I will stand in the kitchen and make sandwich after sandwich after sandwich... my husband told me he could teach me how to make it from scratch and I said he'd be giving me a death sentence. He'd come home, I'd be lying on the floor passed out in a jar of mayonnaise. The cats mewing frantically, pawing at my mayo-covered body. It would be a sad sad sight.

I think I sometimes border on the edge of being a healthy eater/food nazi. Depends on what's going on in my life, I suppose. When things are feeling out of control for me, I tend to go into food nazi mode so I feel like I can at least control something. Most of the time though, I will try to just make healthy choices and allow myself some treats. I work out enough that I can eat the occasional chocolate bar or margarita without freaking out too much.

I also try to avoid getting too uptight about certain foods...the media will hype one food as being super great for you and the next month, it's horrible for you and you should avoid it, yadayadayada. I believe that the human body is designed to run on a variety of fuels, so nothing should be banned or eaten in huge quantities. One woman my mom worked with heard that carrots were good for you, so she started consuming pounds of them a day. Guess what? Her skin turned orange. So yeah, it's all about moderation.

I try to be a healthy eater. I've known several food Nazis and they make me uncomfortable. Life is too short.

By the way, nice of God to comment on this blog.

Great post Jim. I agree wholeheartedly.

Good post! Though I think food nazis *do* have eating disorders.

I've been a bit obsessive since I started "Fat Smash" but I'm learning to relax, and the endorphins from the gym are helping too ;) So now I'm eating with less guilt woohoo!

Angel said:
Good post! Though I think food nazis *do* have eating disorders.

I don't want to generalize for anyone else and I do think healthy eating in general is fabulous, but I think in some cases this is correct.

For myself certainly. I obsess as much as most people with DSM disorders and if I know I'm going somewhere decadent for dinner (even if it is a really nice restaurant for a very special occasion) or not sure I'll be able to get a healthy meal in, I'll obsess about it all day. The amount of anxiety and guilt wrapped around food is to the point of being seriously detrimental. Yes, I'm not in danger of serious physical effects of starving or binging or purging, but it's hard to seek help for "I eat really healthy and when I don't I freak out. Sometimes when I do, I freak out anyway."

Wow, what a great post--and such an interesting discussion!

Far more people than I would have guessed confess to being food Nazis!

I suspect that trying to eat healthy in an unhealthy world causes a sort of super-vigilance that's hard to turn off.

I tend to be a bit too self-indulgent to ever worry about getting too fascist with my dietary restrictions, but I can see how some people could end up with an all-or-nothing attitude.

And Nic's comment about the mayo was hilarious!

Angel said:
Good post! Though I think food nazis *do* have eating disorders.[...]

I think so too...I think it's called orthorexia when you obsess so much about what you eat that it's all you ever think about. As we get more and more information on the foods we eat, I think we get paranoid as a society and many of us have strange/disordered eating habits that don't necessarily have horrible health repercussions, but can make us neurotic nonetheless.

i am an extreme food nazi with myself .. but i dont do well at being that .. i get obsessive with my food then feel cruddy..
i have years of training being a food nazi from having to watch my protein due to health issues. ugh i would like to ilghten up and balance but i am not there yet

one of the most damaging things I think people overlook when it comes to obsessing about weight is what it does to your mental state, not only is it self defeating but what how much room this constant obsession takes up in your brain.

I've spent 30 years agonizing over my weight, what a waste of valualbe thinking time and power. I wonder what I might have accomplished in my life had I devoted that time to other things.

I just started an informational website hoping to help others-especially my daughters!

I'd appreciate feeback from any and all interested in these issues.

www.thinkhealhtynotskinny.com

I definitley admit to being a food nazi. It definitley gets hard for me when I eat out, or even when I eat around other people who aren't used to me eating just chicken or salad. My family is definitley used to it. My boyfriend got used to it, but I always feel bad when i visit his family and I do feel like an outsider because if they BBQ and all eat full fat burgers and fries, I just stay with a salad or some kind of side dish they may have. I am self conscious about it, but if I did eat that I would feel very guilty. I also have a weak stomach with IBS, so basically anything that involves grease or tons of fat grams, it would make me sick anyways. His family does not understand that yet either.

First of all, I'm not happy with the use of the word "nazi" in this case. I think it makes light of the atrocities of the actual Nazi party. When words are used lightly, there is a tendency to become more accepting.

I think I'm mostly a "healthy eater." I've been obsessive in the past, but I have seen that it always backfired on me when I couldn't keep up with it. I stick pretty much to whole foods in as close to their natural state as possible, buying local when it's available. This means I actually drink whole milk and eat full-fat cheese. I just try to do it all in moderation.

The only thing I'm not sure I agree with is the control section. Yes, it's about personal responsibility. But there are many people who are not equipped with that responsibility, including children, people who grew up in families with food issues, people who have eaten traditional diets and have only later in life been subject to the American Diet, and others. Corporations also have a lot of money to spend on finding ways to convince us to buy their product and eat/drink more of it, and many of us are helpless against that strength. While banning may not be the answer, I am supportive of rules about where things can be sold and advertised. Elementary school children shouldn't be put in a position to decide for themselves between coke and water.