Choices about food...

This is a little different to my usual blog, but I hope its still interesting, and it is linked to disability...


5 weeks or so ago I ate whatever and whenever I liked. I knew, and accepted that I was overweight, but didnt really know what to do about it, or even if I wanted to, after all there was no harm in it right? I thought I was doing alright and that it was a choice that I was making to not really worry too much about food, or my lifestyle. That the reasons lay completely with me and the choices I made.

And then, I joined up to this slimming group, and it shocked me, and continues to shock me how hard it actually is to choose to eat healthy food, both indoors and especially when I am out. I have now got some control over what I eat and the choices I make, but it is really hard to do so.

Take for example mc donalds. I can still go in there, but am restricted to either a chicken nugget happy meal and diet drink (but then I have to be careful what I eat the rest of the day) or a salad, which is still not perfect. Its the same everywhere, even down to places like a sushi bar that tend to cook their stuff in the deep fat fryer. Sandwich shops that use mayo and butter etc etc.

Isn't it scary when even a kids meal from a fast food outlet is too high in bad stuff for a proper balanced diet? And its not like its hard to be healthy when I'm doing it myself. I can still have burgers and chips (cooked with cooking spray that is) and lasagne and pizza and even chocolate (little bits of that though :) There are alternatives to everything unhealthy, which makes them really healthy.

So, what is it then? If I can't go into town without having a meal in my bag ready prepared to keep myself from eating junk, then surely it can't be totally my fault as to how I used to eat so badly?

All this questioning and searching reminded me of something else that I know a lot about. The social model of disability. Basically stating that it is society disables us and that disability can be significantly reduced by adapting and changing the environment etc. All of a sudden the problem (and the solution) didn't actually come from disabled people themselves, but from wider societies deficit and inability to intergrate and include everyone.

So, relating the social model of disability to the bad food choices that are on offer in a typical town, then surely it isn't actually the people themselves but the environment and societies expectations and structures that are at fault? If Mcdonalds started providing healthy alternatives to their menu, or changed their cooking styles to reflect the need to be healthy then would things start to change?

People will still have the ability to make bad food choices, but by providing good food choices then it no longer becomes a restricted environment for healthy eaters. If the social model of disability has encouraged a change in societies attitudes to disabled people, then surely thinking about obesity in the same context would also encourage a shift in attitudes towards food and lifestyle?