body/self image

The Joy of Eating

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In our diet-obsessed society we’ve been taught to view food as a necessary evil, a nuisance, the thing to blame for the scale not budging, the thing we can’t have. The forbidden fruit. Or we’ve been taught to view food in a more neutral light: as fuel. Strictly as a source of nutrients, vitamins, protein, fiber. Fuel for our bodies to function. Fuel for our brains to create. But nothing more. Over time, this has led to an ingrained tendency toward restriction, deprivation, fear. And guilt. A heaping pile of guilt. We feel guilty for consuming something, anything with sugar. We feel guilty for consuming foods with “empty calories.” We feel guilty for eating bagels and bread and cream cheese and…