Does This Have Gluten in it?: Dieting and Individualism

July 16, 2019

Gluten, dairy, pine nuts, tree nuts, sugar, carbs, legumes, vegetables… If you had to guess how many of these food groups are “bad” for you, would you be able to? Your first thought may be sugar, and that’s most likely because it’s an easy target to villainize. But there are good sugars, like the kind in the antioxidant-filled berries, local honey that can help your allergies, and bananas packed with potassium. Let’s move on to carbs, which seems to be the ultimate no-no in today’s society. Sure, white bread and pasta shouldn’t be eaten at every meal, but did you know that carbs are in vegetables, oats, fruit and legumes? Carbs can even be found in some types of dairy! But is that a good or bad thing, because we’re suddenly realizing the “dairy” we grew up with (like American cheese) isn’t really a whole food at all. With all of these new food findings, how can we know what is good and bad? And what if the whole issue isn’t about the health side of it – what if we all just want to be individuals, and picking apart food is the easiest way to get there?

I want to take a minute to offer up my deepest condolences to those of you who actually do have a food allergy. As a passionate bread connoisseur, I can’t imagine not being able to go to a restaurant and never having to think about every menu item in depth, making sure my health won’t be compromised by a mere crumb. For those of you who have a peanut allergy – we see you and we hear you. Seriously, these allergies are not to be messed with or made fun of, and I would like to apologize to those of you who are now the brunt of a lot of “Millennial” jokes just because you actually do have a serious allergy. I think I’m still more sorry that you can’t eat bread, dairy, peanuts, etc. than I am anything else, though.

And with that apology, another quick point to make is that dieting is a socioeconomic issue. The access you have to certain food labels such as organic, non-GMO, etc. is completely based on class, and if you have financial access to eat all organic foods, consider yourself lucky. This doesn’t happen for everyone. There is a journal entry in the US National Library of Medicine that states, “One likely contributor to the socioeconomic patterning in healthy diets is the cost of food: less nutritious, energy-dense foods are often cheaper sources of calories, and higher diet quality has been associated with higher diet cost.” Many people don’t get to pick and choose what foods they can put in a negative light. If you can, that isn’t a bad thing, but it’s important to keep in mind that not everyone has that luxury.

Now that we’ve cleared those subtopics up, I want to get back to the issue at hand, which is that a lot of Millennials are claiming food allergies and/or sensitivities when they don’t actually exist. Popular Science claims, “Although one in five people surveyed reported having an allergy, only about one in 10 actually does.”

Why would anyone want to be allergic or sensitive to a food when they aren’t really?! I have a few of my own ideas for why that may be:

1. It’s a lot easier to cut out a whole group of food than it is to pursue a holistic, healthy lifestyle.

Why else would trends like Whole30, Keto, Paleo and more be as popular as they are? The Whole30 has been attempted by many of my friends, and the few that are strong and brave actually finish it. Because honestly – it’s kind of the worst! Having a limited number of foods and beverages you can intake isn’t necessarily fun. Yet, being on the Whole30 is enticing because you know you will lose weight from it and eat healthier; all your parameters are set for you. This seems to be much easier than having an open-ended food intake and saying you’re wanting to eat healthy foods. Why not just cut out the bad ones entirely? The problem in most cases, though, is that these elimination diets are not sustainable over time.

2. It’s trendy to have an allergy or sensitivity.

Need I say more? You know that having issues with certain food groups is very “in” right now – it’s what Regina George would do in 2019, probably with carbs and sugar, maybe even with dairy.

3. You’ve convinced yourself the said food group is making you sicker.

And that very well may be true! This website can give you some assistance while you’re trying to figure out what’s going on in your body every time you eat pizza.

4. You want to be set apart from everyone else…

…which is kind of the whole point of this blog post. If you’re the only one in your friend group that has a dairy sensitivity, your pals probably know that they have to be pretty creative with dessert when you’re around. It’s something that makes you set apart from everyone. It gives you a new part of your identity. This isn’t a bad thing, but it does make you think about why you’ve decided to give up meat lately.

It isn’t outlandish to use food as an identity marker – food has actually been a huge piece of our identities since we were born. Food ties cultures together in a way not much else can. If you’re not from Philadelphia, what was the first thing you knew about the city? For me, being from Florida, it was cheesesteaks. The first aspect of San Diego I knew was that it houses some amazing Mexican restaurants. Every city, state and country is comprised of restaurants that make the environment what it is. When you think about the world in that perspective, you begin to feel much more connected to those geographical spots you aren’t familiar with at all.

Choosing to be gluten, dairy, nut, or carb-free doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong, but we will encourage you to make sure you’re getting the nutrients you need even though you’ve cut out a food group that supplies them. Do your research so that every time you sit down for a meal, you know what you’re getting out of it. And if you realize most of what’s on your plate doesn’t harbor many nutrients, maybe swap out a side in order to get what you need. Listen to your body and learn from it.

And when it comes to individualism, you are an individual regardless of your food preferences. Food can bring community, but it doesn’t have to define you (unless you’re a chef, then maybe it does a little bit). At the end of the day, food is your loyal, life-giving friend – so treat it like one.

Sources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4910945/

https://www.popsci.com/allergies-food-intolerances-differences/

https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/millennials-kraft-american-cheese-sales-decline

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263965.php

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