Food attractions in the Western world

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In my early twenties I noticed some unexpected deteriorations in my body, and I put this down to lifestyle abuses, particularly my crap diet, specifically my use of animal products.  I began to follow my instincts, which proved, forty years later, to be spot on.  At the time I couldn’t admit it, that my eating habits could so badly cloud my judgement, but now I see they did.  I first stumbled across macrobiotics which led me away from crap food.  And that drew me on, towards a plant-based regime.  My taste for this sort of food grew, particularly when I found out about how extensive was the cruelty to animals on farms.  

As I got over my cravings for ‘nursery teas’ and rich dinners and snack treats I became grateful for having ‘stumbled’ on a more intelligent food regime, and at a relatively early age.  These days many younger people are introduced to plant-based regimes and there are even kids who’ve been vegan from birth.  I’m glad I didn’t leave it too late to realise that something of my vitality and sharpness was always going to be affected by the ‘ageing process’.  Alarm!! 

         

When I was much younger, I’d been school-teaching and noticed that many of the kids came from overseas, and two things struck me, two things seemed to be linked - many of them suffered from some level of malnutrition and many of them had lost self-confidence because they were so weedy and unhealthy.  In their new country there was plenty of food, but I saw their condition take on a new alarming dimension, since they were now being poisoned by crap Western food, and too much of it.  When their bodies bloated out it was another blow to their self-confidence.  Then, as they learnt about animals on prison farms, I suppose it added to their sense of shame.  In a short space of time I saw children, honourable souls, go downhill - and all because they wanted to be part of their new Western world, by eating our crappiest foods.

         

Because of our attachment to animal-based food, and for generation after generation of growing accustomed to using it, we’ve developed into unhealthy and hard-hearted adults.  In the flush of becoming an independent adult, we’ve grown accustomed to our own indifference to the animals we’re eating and the food-addictions we are  developing.