In my last article, I shared that I converted to being a vegan. I shared multiple reasons about why I made that conversion, but one reason I did not talk about was my relationship with food. I associate food with joy. It makes me happy to wake up in the morning to eat. I find joy at 4:30, because I know that's when the Cafeteria opens. I even glow at 11:25, because I know that I have 5 minutes until the Wolverine stop closes. Why is that? Why do unconsciously and consciously connect food to happiness? It's because I was conditioned to see food as the universal problem solver. How can this be? Who has conditioned me to think and feel this way?
We were all brought up on this classical conditioning. In the summer, you cannot say the word "Cookout" without tasting hotdogs, hamburgers, and carbonated drinks. Family gatherings are no longer about family, they are about food and whether food will make its wonderful appearance at our function. If food will not be served, then one should not expect a big turn out. When everyone arrives, no one can have a quality conversation or even focus until they grab a plate and fill it with carbohydrates, grains, and fat-filled proteins.
This is not a family-bashing article, because I am sure there are other families and cultures who cannot congregate without food being present. When it comes to events where it's supposed to be about the company, it's about food. Once the food is eaten then we tend to show more compassion for our loved ones. We have consumed our happiness, so now we can focus on our family members.
This conditioning was done most thoroughly through holidays like Thanksgiving, Easter and Halloween. Some people may say that finding happiness in food is a good thing, but for people on shows like "My 600-pound life," it's seen as a sickness to eat this way. Diabetes, certain types of cancers, high blood pressure and hypertension are evidence that American culture needs to stop glorifying food as a way of making people happy.
Other animals in the wild don't face the physical health problems humans face when it comes to gluttony. A wolf, a lion, a tiger and bear kills what it needs to eat and nothing more. Humans are the only animal that has to eat and drink more that their body needs to survive.
In conclusion, food is not the enemy. It's why you eat that causes problems. Getting over a whole life's worth of classical conditioning is not easy but possible. To avoid this dilemma for the future, kids should be raised on the right organic food. That way if they are conditioned to believe healthy food is the key to happiness, then they won't face health problems.
