You are What You Eat, and Some People are Rude

The VLV has a (possibly hazardous*) habit of checking her email on her walk to work. This is why, on Wednesday, she walked in to the office in a sour mood: the first thing she read, bleary eyed and at the corner of University and 17th, was an accusing link, emailed by, well, someone. No greeting, subject, or explanatory prose.

Simply this: teen vegetarianism is linked to eating disorders. And apparently,

“Many young "vegetarians" continue to eat the white meat of defenseless chickens (25% in the current study) as well as the flesh of those adorable animals known as fish (46%), even when they are butchered and served up raw as sushi.”

(Side note: fish are not cute, except for Nemo, and no one can eat him, for obvious reasons.)

In a very thoughtful change.org post responding to the study, Julie Neumann brought up the following subtle, and crucial point:

“In a society that encourages inhaling mass-produced junk food on a daily basis, conscious eating is rare. Very few people actually contemplate what they put in their mouth or how it will affect their body. Such blind consumption contributes to a slew of health issues, including an obesity, heart disease and diabetes. To be aware of where your food came from, to consider the impact it will have on your body, is exceptional. At its best, this attitude leads people to adopt a vegetarian diet. At its worst, this awareness contributes to a destructive mental illness.”

Food for thought. After all, we literally are what we eat.

*The VLV had a college professor (also here,) who claimed that the best way clear a path for oneself and avoid the dodging, we-both-move-left, we-both-move-right game when walking through crowds of oncoming strangers is to not make eye contact. The on comers, invested in not slamming into an oblivious person who walk around looking at their toes, will then steer to one side allowing the toe-gazer to continue straight along her charted course.

Of note for those who want to try this at home: at the time of this lecture, the professor in question was 6+ feet tall, and had a clown’s fro of gray curls.

Also of note: To minimize hazard and the ever-present bruises on her legs, the VLV asks you to please not try this in Union Square between the times of 8am and 9am on week days, as she will be walking through and checking her email. The hazard-free success of the no-eye contact strategy depends on one party (you) trying to make eye contact.