The Influence of Western Civilization on Our Diet
Are you aware that the United States is currently within the top margin of countries with the highest rate of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure? Why is that you may ask, is it genetics? Nope, it’s the standard american diet (SAD). The way that we eat now is not the same as our great grandparents, who didn’t have the availability or variety that we do today. There were no big box supermarkets offering a one-stop shop option, no franchise fast food drive-thrus, or chain coffee shops on every corner. Additionally, our great grandparents didn't consume near the amount of sugar, fat, or sodium that we do today. There were no caramel frappes or deep fried twinkies for them to indulge in. When they did use sugar it was rarely and usually only for a special occasion. Our great grandparents for the most part grew their own produce, harvested their own grain, and either had livestock and/or hunted/fished their local wildlife to sustain their way of life. Their food wasn’t overly processed or refined. They ate a diet predominantly based on whole foods. The work that they had to put in was back breaking and strenuous, if they didn’t, then they didn’t eat. They did not have the luxury of saying, “nah, I don’t feel like hunting deer tonight, let’s get sushi instead”. Between our great grandparents' diet and their physical labor, there wasn’t the incident for obesity or chronic disease that we see today.
So what does influence your decisions on how you eat? What you buy from the grocery store? Or which restaurant you choose to eat at? You may think that you are the master/mistress of your own domain, but are you really? Something as trivial as “what to eat” isn’t as simple as it may seem. You may not know it, but we as a collective are influenced constantly in our every waking moment by what we choose to eat. Subconsciously we are allowing ourselves to be swayed by the influence of our culture today, whether it be by those in our close circle, i.e. friends and family, commercials we see on TV or hear on the radio, or the many sponsored ads that pop-up in our social media. You may think to yourself that you aren’t so easily swayed by what you see and hear, and that may be true to an extent, but if you’re a parent, how many times have you caved to the requests of your children? Additionally how we feel mentally, emotionally, and physically can also play apart in how we make our “decisions.” Are you too tired from work, overwhelmed by your home life, or feeling disconnected from your social circle?
At any given moment when we think about “what I am going to eat”, the decision we make depends on our surroundings. Are you in your home or are you out? Who’s with you, are you with family or friends or by yourself? If you’re out, are you at work, running errands or being social? When you’re home, do you go into your kitchen or do you hit up your food delivery app? If you do choose to eat in, what do you have in your fridge? Looking at what’s in your fridge, what made you decide to purchase the food that you did? Did you have a game plan for what you purchased, or is everything that you bought, bought on a craving that you were having at the time you were at the grocery store? Can the food you have in your house be prepared to make a meal or is it just a hodge podge of this and that that you’ll graze upon until you feel satisfied? With the technology we have at our disposal what we decide to eat can be a blessing or a curse depending how you choose to utilize it. Are you using the internet to look up recipes or are you ordering takeout?
With a touch of a button you can go to an online bazaar of many restaurants all with differing food fares to offer all while you sit on your couch and binge on streaming media. Not too long ago, if you wanted to order out, there was more thought put into the decision than there is today. It used to be that if you wanted to order out you had to go to your junk drawer in your kitchen, fish out the many different paper take-out menus you’d collected and make a decision. If you’re by yourself, the decision may have been easier, but if you were living in a cohabitation situation, then you were at the mercy of majority rules. Once you had decided on a place, did you have any coupons that weren’t expired? Back to the junk drawer, not in the junk drawer, maybe they’re on the fridge under that tourist trap magnet you got on vacation. You’ve made your decision, found your coupons, now let’s call the restaurant, dang, it’s busy. It’s ok, you’ll call back, after all it is Friday night, everyone wants what you want too. Call again, yeah it’s ringing, oh but it’s busy at the restaurant, can you hold? Sure, five minutes later, they’re ready to take your order. You’ve placed your order, it’ll be about 20-25 minutes. Again, it’s Friday night, traffic could be busy, better leave now. You’ve got your shoes on, now where are the car keys? Are they by the door on key hook like they should be, no? Maybe they're on the coffee table, nope? Third time’s a charm, turns out they were in your pant pocket, but where’s your wallet, oh there it is, on the coffee table. Do you have enough cash, or will you need to stop by the ATM? Looks like you’re a little short, better hurry, stopping at the ATM amid busy traffic is really going to eat into your travel time, the longer it takes to get to your food, the less fresh it will be by the time you sit down to eat it.
This may seem like an extraneous demonstration of making a simple choice of what to eat, but it’s an accurate portrayal of the process of what we use to go through 20+ years ago. Now with these online order apps, it’s all so streamlined, everything is digital, including the coupons, and the hassle of time management has been removed. All you do is decide on whether you want a bacon cheeseburger or fried rice and then boom, it’s at your front door in 30 minutes or less. Fresh, hot and read to enjoy. But how is the decision to order out now vs then any different you may ask. Yes, 20+ years ago, if you were watching TV and it was 5:00 PM, there would be an assault of commercials pumping out a meat lovers pizza or crispy fried chicken. However, today we have become a society of convenience who have been programmed to multi-task. Yes, your mowing through as many episodes of that paranormal nostalgic blast from the past show, but you’re also on your social media. Ooooohhhh, look at the waffles that girl is eating. Waffles? Waffles sound ssooo good, but, hey, you just saw an ad for that new fusion restaurant up the road. Tonight's special is Korean tacos. Hmmmm, which do you want more? Let’s see who has the better coupons. Wow, If you order a waffle, you can get a side of hashbrowns for ½ off, oh, but if you order the Korean tacos, you can get 2 for the price of one, plus they give a student discount. But which one would look better on your social media, causing “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out) among your friends? You could post the waffles along with the hashtags that are relevant to that show you're watching along with everyone else on the planet, but that new fusion restaurant is the new “lit” (millennial slang for cool or hip) place that everyone’s been dying to try. Mmmmmm…….Korean tacos it is. Again, you’re thinking that this is another extraneous example, but it is a very real occurrence that happens everyday amongst a lot of people. All you see is a decision making process, but did you catch the subtle or rather not so subtle influences that helped make that decision?
The advertising industry is broad and has many different categories and subcategories to pander. For food alone, you have restaurants, frozen/processed foods, and the agricultural industries. These are but just a few categories that are heavily advertised. Growing up as a kid of the 80’s I LIVED for Saturday morning cartoons. I was up by 7 and glued to the TV till about noon. In those 5 hours of TV I would watch commercials for: cereal, waffles, toaster pastries, chocolate milk, pudding, fast food kid’s meals, and ice cream. Not to mention all of the toy commercials sprinkled in between. The advertisers knew exactly what they were doing. Early in the morning? Show breakfast commercials. Mid-morning? Show the snack commercials. Oh look it’s noon, better start peddling the lunch commercials. In 5 hours where parents thought they had a block of peace and quiet for a little “me” time, they would be bombarded with requests/demands for all of the above mentioned items.
As children we were very impressionable, and our parents would pacify us with vague compromises with the hope of us forgetting because of our short attention span. As we grow, we think that we grow out of that impressionable phase, but do we really? The wants and desires change as we grow, but the formula for advertising is the same, only the products have changed. Today as adults we find ourselves being persuaded to the suggestions of meal planning services or low calorie, low carb adult beverages. Look at those commercials again and compare. What's so different from seeing kids get excited about a bowl of magical marshmallow cereal to a group of young attractive millennials laughing and having a good time because of their alcoholic mango seltzer drink? NOTHING!
Regardless of our age, we are subjected to subliminal and not so subliminal influences that we encounter on a daily basis, if not more. Even the positive marketing influences us, which is not to say it's a bad thing necessarily. When you’re on your social media and you see an influencer or a celebrity touting the benefits of a health product or a diet, there is a transfer of ownership from them to you, saying “You too can feel and look this good, if you do what we do”. Transfer of ownership is a very powerful tool in the bag of tricks that marketing departments have. Even if you can’t actually physically touch the said product there is a very real and tangible sense to the product. However, we have to be careful when it comes to our health, because not all health products or diets fit in a “one size fits all” category. Everyone’s physiology is different. Mine is not the same as yours and vice versa. You may be able to benefit from the consumption of animal products, I may not. Additionally when it comes to our health, we can not rely on the endorsement of an influencer/celebrity for vetting the product/diet. You need to do your own research to see if the product/diet really is a good fit for you.
For example, you just saw that new documentary about that super successful singer who praises the benefits of being vegan. You really like their music and you see how much their health has improved, their increase in energy, their weight loss, etc. But you’re not the same as them, you have ulcerative colitis, which means you have to be very careful about what you eat, like foods high in fiber. So when you see them having their green smoothies or eating a lot of dark leafy green vegetables, that can’t be you because it may cause a flare up. You can however take that concept of a plant based diet and amend it to fit within your lifestyle.
Now that’s not to say you have to be afraid of watching TV, listening to podcast, or scrolling through your social media, perceiving everything that you see or hear as an attack on your decision making capabilities. It just means that you need to be more mindful about what you do see and hear and give it considerable thought before blindly jumping into the masses.
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