Every now and then, I come across really well-written pieces on the interwebs and get the urge to share. Whether it aligns with my viewpoint or not, I only have one rule: it should be thought-provoking. Lately, it seems like all the food and wellness-themed posts have been jumping out at me, so today's roundup is a very special nutrition edition. Grab a cup of coffee/tea, pull up a chair, and settle in for some interesting foodie reads.
The Wellness Industry Thrives on the Fear of Death
"One of the gaping holes in the conversation around wellness is the central role that privilege plays in its appeal...
And thus, we don’t just eat food, we fret over and forage and grow and grind and ferment our food. Some intermittently forgo food entirely, as if it’s a competitive sport. And we demonize the cheapest and most easily accessible foods and shame those who favor them—such as that true pariah of wellness: fluffy white bread.
There is no doubt that in uncertain times, food is a great mechanism of control. And wellness is appealing because it presents a glowing, Instagrammable solution to a problem that we all share. That problem, quite simply, is the spiritual work of being alive."
Rosie Spinks breaks down the term "wellness" in relation to our modern and westernized cultural values for Quartzy and exposes the healthy living industry for being both manipulative and exclusive.
Why You're So Obsessed With Almond Milk: An Investigation
"While almond milk certainly has a better environmental footprint than dairy (and it doesn’t involve any animal cruelty), it still takes an infamously wasteful amount of water to produce, especially when you consider that almost all of the almonds are grown in drought-stricken California.
Almond milk’s real staying power has been fueled by what came next: the “clean eating” craze. Clean eating is a notoriously nebulous, anti-scientific term. It can mean different things to different people, but in general it encompasses a variety of consumer trends
It’s not that almond milk is bad for you. It’s neither particularly good nor bad. It contains small amounts of vitamin E and riboflavin from the almonds, but it’s pretty much the equivalent of almond-flavored water."Amelia Harnish and Tove Danovich write more words about Almond Milk than I ever thought I'd read, but the finished piece is a fascinating read on how and why it became a staple in the millennial's diet (via Refinery29).
Why Cereal has such Aggressive Marketing
"Breakfast is often lauded as “the most important meal of the day.”What is less commonly mentioned is the origin of this ode to breakfast: a 1944 marketing campaign launched by General Foods, the manufacturer of Grape Nuts, to sell more cereal.
Ads like these were key to the rise of cereal, a product launched by men like John Harvey Kellogg, a deeply religious doctor who believed that cereal would both improve Americans’ health and keep them from masturbating and desiring sex. (Only half of his message made it into the ads.)"
Alex Mayyasi explains how the idea of breakfast being the most important meal of the day is rooted in marketing, not science (via The Atlantic).
I love your filter the fluff series. You ALWAYS find the most interesting reads. Bout to check out the article about almond milk since that's all I drink now and laos because I switched over from cow to almond based on a friend's recommendation as opposed to my own research so I should probably go educate myself lol.
ReplyDeleteOMG i really appreciate this, because it time to collect all of THREE quality articles to share.
DeleteI'm upset that I seen this so late! Now I'm rethinking the idea of a "diet"! Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteLove an article that re-shapes my everyday thinking!
Delete