Michele Payn's Blog, page 10

Can the way you buy food reduce hunger?

Did you know the way you shop can help reduce hunger in our country? In this episode of the Food Bullying Podcast, Diane Sullivan explains the relationship between shopping and hunger-reduction. Diane is a mother and a grandmother with lived experience and hunger and is currently a SNAP recipient. She is an anti-hunger advocate focused on food affordability working to ensure everyone has access to safe, affordable, nutritious food or regardless of income.

According to this Food Bullying Podcast guest, this time of the year helps us reflect and be grateful for all the blessings we have and those who do not have access to these things like food.

Fear-mongering is one of the reasons why our food costs have gone up. Misleading food labels have swayed the market and have driven up food prices. Diane thinks it’s time we start shopping from our wallets and ignore the misleading labels.

Key Points:

Food traditions around Thanksgiving
How we can reduce hunger
Food bullying and how we can fight it
What does hunger look like in our country?

 The Conversation:

 (01:31): Food traditions around thanksgiving

 (05:54): How can we reduce hunger in our country?

 (12:44): Advice to people living with food insecurity

 (13:28): The dirty dozen list

(18:01): Has bullying changed the social justice of food?

 (23:52): Tips to avoid food bullying

Fabulous Quotes from the Episode:

“Shop with your wallet and spread the word on why you’re doing that”

“The best of intended policies often have unintended consequences, and those are most often born by those of us with lived experience in, in poverty, hunger, homelessness.” 

“Conventional is just as nutritious as organic.”

“We are trained to think that if something is going to cost us more, there must be more value in it.”  

Links:

Diane’s Twitter
Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying BS by Michele Payn
Embrace your Heart: Eliz Greene

Will you be part of creating a better food story?

Our lives are comprised of many overlapping stories, big
and small. You get to choose what stories matter most in your life, but beware
of how a single story can limit your thinking. Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie discovered this after she
was welcomed by her American college roommate with pity and expectations that
Adichie would love tribal music and be unable to speak English or even use a
stove. The roommate had clearly developed a stereotype of Adichie based on very
limited information about African history and culture.

Adichie’s Ted Talk, “The danger of a single story,” is a powerful example of how we often judge others based on a single story when, in fact, she had more similarities to than differences with her college roommate. Adichie talked about how impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story—and how believing a single story takes away the possibility of building human connections. She suggests we “reject a single story” while also providing examples of single stories leading to false assumptions and even disconnect.

The same is true with food. When you believe a single
story, it becomes the only story. You stereotype food and farming based on very
limited information. You reject the opportunity to understand new stories and
leave yourself open to bullying.

As Adichie also wrote, “Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.” What is the power of the food story you choose to believe?

Life lessons with the author’s first heifer, Bambi.

A farm girl’s story grows

I grew up thinking that food had
only one story—and that was the story found on the magical place known as our
family farm, with pretty black and white cattle as the center of my universe.
My story involved working 365 days a year with my family caring for those
creatures, learning tough lessons in entrepreneurship, perseverance,
compassion, and work ethic. I am thankful to be able to raise my daughter on a
farm so she, too, can learn these lessons.

When I started my career, the
world literally opened up while I worked internationally. I discovered the
power of other cultures’ stories and the vast food needs of a world outside of
America. My story again diversified when I began speaking and writing to help
people understand where food comes from. As I started working with people around
the food plate, I realized my belief in a single story, forged during
childhood, had limited my perspective and connections.

A few years later, when I
became a mom, I questioned the story I had always thought to be true about food
because I was so worried about making the “right” choice for my family. I found
mothers with vastly different opinions than mine, books which informed me that
I should only purchase one kind of food, and more ‘mom judgment’ than I had
ever imagined. My early parenting experiences not only deepened my
understanding about food, but caused me to research and determine my own
standards for food. Those standards, continually evolving and adapting as I
learn more about the science, source, and system of our food, have served as a
solid guidepost on the chaotic playground of food marketing.

But I must say that writing Food Bullying has added more depth to the story than I would have imagined. Listening to a formerly homeless woman share her struggles in finding affordable food for her toddler, researching the many effects of false food labels, interviewing neuroscientists, and researching psychology brought mind-stretching dimensions. Pulling together the research for Food Bullying helped solidify the reality that we so often believe only one story about food—and become uncomfortable when encountering stories different than our own. Over time, we define our nutrition and, sometimes ourselves, by that one story. Yet, food done well is an amazing synthesis of both ingredients and stories.

Find the real stories and ingredients

The ingredients of food are
likely more well-known than the real stories of how food is grown. The stories
of people who care for animals in the middle of the night, the stories of a
little girl who stands in her father’s shadow hoping to someday take over
decisions for land her great-grandpa once farmed, the stories of families who
risk millions of dollars to produce food for a society who often questions
them. I would ask that you consider the authentic stories of how your food is
raised as a fundamental part of creating your own food story.

Like everyone, I don’t have
all the answers, but I do believe the experts consulted and evidence provided
in Food Bullying include the ingredients of a recipe for creating a
better food story to stop bullying. I realize you may have never heard of food
bullying before I started writing about it. It’s a new concept, but one of the
most challenging trends in food, nutrition, and farming today. Rest assured,
the food bullying playground will become larger and more chaotic if we don’t
address the issue head-on. Now.

If we can stop bullying, we have the opportunity to return food to its rightful place of celebration. I challenge you to find a broader, deeper story for yourself and stop the judgment around food. My hope is that the tools and ideas found in Food Bullying help you understand how you’ve been manipulated in your eating choices, the importance of stopping the B.S., and what you can do about it, beginning TODAY.*

This excerpt from Food Bullying may be printed with attribution to the book title and author Michele Payn. Food Bullying was released November 5, 2019.

How do you feed a vegan NFL player & a carnivore ballerina?

What should athletes eat to optimize every aspect of their health? How can nutrition give you a competitive advantage? Why do we attach an emotional value to food? How can you eat more produce? The first guest of season 2 of the Food Bullying podcast can help.

Leslie Bonci is a registered dietitian and a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics. She is the nutrition consultant for the Kansas City Chiefs, Carnegie Mellon University athletics, and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre – and helps power a wide variety of athletes with smart nutrition.  Listen in, and learn how Leslie’s food insight can help you make smart eating choices. 

Key Points:

Who is a sports dietitian?
How do we find common ground when it comes to food?
Dealing with the boredom factor
Is canned or frozen food good?
Why do we attach emotional values to food?
Plant-based diet for athletes
Food waste
Common food labels
Tips to overcoming food bullying

The Conversation:

 (01:55): Leslie’s introduction

 (02:51): Who is a sports dietitian?

 (05:55): Finding common ground with food

 (07:32): Preventing boredom factor

 (10:11): Canned and frozen food

 (11:41): Why do we attach emotional value to food?

 (15:51): Food wastage

 (19:36): How long should we keep food in the freezer?

 (20:51): Common food labels

 (25:40): Tips to overcoming food bullying

 Fabulous Quotes:

“Take the fright out of your bite.”
“All of us can manufacture enough guilt in the course of any given day. It certainly doesn’t have to be derived from the foods that we’re eating.”
“Take advantage of the freezer. That why it’s there.”
“It is time for all of us to get back to the idea of nourish, not torture.”
“As long as you’re eating the produce, that’s what matters at the end of the day.”
“People always say they want variety, but the reality is that most people have a fairly narrow circle of their go-to foods.”

Links:

USDA
Leslie’s website
Leslie’ LinkedIn
Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying BS by Michele Payn
Embrace your Heart with Eliz Greene

What do Michele & Eliz really think about food bullying, stress, and each others’ food choices?

Two moms with unique insight on food and health. Michele Payn & Eliz Greene are both authors and professional speakers, but come from very different backgrounds – and like to debate. Tune in to the final episode of Food Bullying podcast season one for a candid conversation about their work in health, agriculture, and nutrition.

 Michele Payn

Known as one of the leading voices in connecting farm and food, Michele helps you simplify safe food choices while understanding food bullying. An international award winning author, she brings common sense to the overly emotional food conversation and gets perspective from the cows in her front yard. Michele is a mom who is tired of the guilt trips around food, so she wrote Food Bullying: How to Avoiding Buying B.S. She’s also a kick boxing professional speaker who has helped thousands of people understand the real story behind food. Michele’s work has appeared in USA Today, Food Insight, CNN, Food & NutritionMagazine, NPR and many other media outlets. Armed with science, compelling stories, and a lifetime on the farm, Michele will upend the way you think about food. She is also the author of No More Food Fights! and Food Truths from Farm to Table, an IPPY award winner in health, medicine and nutrition. 

Eliz Greene

Surviving a heart attack at age 35 while seven months pregnant with twins propelled Eliz Greene on a mission to share her story to inspire other busy people to pay attention to their health. As a professional speaker, she shares down-to-earth strategies on wellness, leadership, and stress management. Recognizing stress as an essential and often under-addressed risk factor, Eliz conducted a research study on job stress and is writing Stress-Proof Your Life.  She was named as a Top Online Influencer on Stress and Heart Health. She’s been seen on CNN, PBS, Lifetime, TNT, and many national and local news programs. A national spokesperson and advocate for the American Heart Association, Eliz received the Heart Hero Award in 2010.  More recently, she has partnered on the Take Cholesterol To Heart campaign. Eliz writes a Top Health and Wellness Blog and has also authored Stress-Proof Your Heart and Busy Women’s Guide to a Healthy Heart. 

Links
Eliz’s website: https://embraceyourheart.com/

Michele’s website: https://causematters.com

What is the answer to food bullying and B.S. food?

Why I wrote “Food Bullying”

Many people will tell you a beautiful story about how food is raised on perfect farms by wonderful people, making you feel good about your eating choices. However, truth in food matters more to me than simply helping you feel good. It’s more important to me that you understand where food comes from and how you’ve likely fallen for B.S. (Bull Speak) food in pursuit of a perfect story.

I see my friends confused, people questioning what has happened to food, and the bullying getting increasingly out of hand after 18 years of working to connect farm and food. I also know how the chaos around food has hurt family farms and want to do something to help people who are raising our food. It’s tiring. I’ve watched that bullying cycle continue in restaurants and across the grocery store, from meat to milk to eggs to produce to grains. It’s time for food bullying to stop—and that’s why I wrote Food Bullying, which launches into the world today.

Five ways to avoid buying B.S.
food

Here’s a handful of quick tips to overcome food bullying, which are covered throughout the new book.

1.    
Ignore empty food claims. Just as you don’t want food with
empty calories, avoid food with empty label claims such as “____-free,”
“all-natural,” “farm-raised,” or “sustainable.” For example, all
milk in the grocery store is non-GMO, gluten-free, and antibiotic-free. Those
labels are not measurable or meaningful but are used to make one product seem
more attractive than another. If you want to know facts—not B.S., flip the
package over, and read the Nutrition Facts Label, which is scientifically true.

2.    
Understand the journey. The journey of your food is an
amazing story—and usually not the negative, sensationalized claims you saw on
YouTube or Netflix. Sometimes, many hands are involved in producing your
food. In other cases, such as a bag of apples, the last hand to touch the
apple was the one that picked it from the tree. In every case, rules are
in place for proper food handling to ensure it is safe and nutritious when it
reaches your table. Rather than buying B.S., get to know the rigorous system
and science in place to protect your food safety.

3.     Stand up to the bullies. Often a food claim is communicated in a way designed to create an extreme emotional response. People become scared; even well-intentioned neighbors and friends can pressure you to change your eating and buying habits. Celebrities, wellness gurus, or gym nutritionists often proclaim their way is the only right way. Who are they to say your food isn’t good enough? Your family’s nutrition is your business. Just as bullying is a real threat in our schools, food bullying is getting out of hand and takes advantage of insecurity. Make your food decisions based on science and find experts with firsthand experience to help you, such as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), food scientist, or farmer.

4.     Get to know the people. Have you watched a documentary on farmers abusing animals, damaging the environment, or operating huge factory farms? In reality, 96% of today’s U.S. farms and ranches are still run by families; they are the people who can give you the real story about how food is raised, without the B.S. Seven out of 10 Americans believe it’s important to know the farmers who produce their food. And yet, in the earlier chicken meat case example, a common question is: “Why are farmers pumping antibiotics into chicken?” If you talk with a farmer, you’ll find that it’s often cruel to withhold medicine when chickens are sick and, even then, the dosage is strictly regulated by federal policies. That poultry farmer can also explain the many steps he takes, under federal requirement, to be sure all your chicken isn’t chocked full of antibiotics—even the meat in the packages without an “antibiotic-free” label.

5.     Make your own decisions. Have you felt pressured by groupthink? Define your own health, ethical, environmental, and social standards when it comes to food. And measure all claims against YOUR OWN standards rather than falling prey to B.S. claims and behaviors.

Why this book?

After a lifetime on a farm and, more recently, writing two
other books about food, I’ve come to realize that I am confident in my
standards because of my firsthand understanding of the science, source, and
system behind food. I hope to share enough of that in Food Bullying with
you to help you become as equally as clear about your own standards. Those standards
and knowing your own food story, are your answer to bullying.

In short, the fascination for finding the “perfect” food
story that makes the “right” social statement has led to an inability to
discern B.S. from meaningful information. I wrote this book to equip you to
find the signposts of food bullying, make more rational decisions, and avoid
buying B.S. on the chaotic food playground.

Food is a basic necessity, not an opportunity for manipulation. It is time to elevate the food conversation above B.S. so you can avoid frustration and anxiety the next time you are making eating choices. Hopefully, Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying B.S. , will help you do just that! 

This is an excerpt is from the introduction of this new book, releasing November 5, 2019, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters Indigo, Books-A-Million, and other bookstores. 

The side effects of weenie water & 5 million Google results

Cycle of Bullying

$28
for a bottle of hot dog water. Found at a festival in Vancouver, Canada, the
water with a floating weenie racked up $1,500 in sales. It was marketed as a
miracle which “can help you look younger, reduce inflammation, and increase
your brain function.” It was also “keto-compatible and gluten-free.”

Really.

Weenie water and psychology

“Hot dog water, in its absurdity, hopes to encourage
critical thinking related to product marketing and the significant role it can
play in our purchasing choices,” said Douglas Bevans, the Hot Dog Water CEO.

It’s an interesting look at the need to critically think
about the food you’re buying—or not buying. Hot dog water, along with its
complementary products of breath spray, lip balm, and body fragrance, was a
study in human behavior

“Global News reported that Bevans is actually
a tour operator and an artist, and he created Hot Dog Water as a commentary on
the “snake oil salesmen” of health and wellness marketing. Psychology Today
cites a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research that
calls this phenomenon affective conditioning, which is a transfer of feelings
from one set of items to another.”

Fear trumps truth in food

This neuromarketing is a subtle bullying technique to
influence our brains’ emotional decisions while making food choices.As a result
of psychological maneuvering like this, the trust around food degrades, and the
conversation often turns highly emotional. “Fear based marketing. Clouded with
confusion. Fear trumps reason. Noisy minority agitates. Amazing technology
misunderstood. Best intentions misconstrued.” These are the typical descriptors
offered by my Twitter community when asked to describe the climate around food.

“Food is safe, nutritious and wholesome,” says Jennifer
Schmidt, a dietitian and farmer in Maryland. “The climate around food is fear
and falsehoods—a food fight.” She’s right. Little did I know when I wrote No
More Food Fights! in 2013 that people would be buying weenie water five
years later. Simply put, the side effects of food bullying are far-reaching,
and the continued growth in food bullying has reached a point of needing
national attention.

An obsession with healthy food

Have you heard of orthorexia? It’s an obsession with
eating foods one considers healthy. A person who suffers from this medical and
psychological condition avoids specific foods in the belief that they are
harmful. Even though people are eating healthy foods, it has detrimental health
effects because of the limited food selection.

Social media posts and photos about meal preparation,
including arrays of fruits and vegetables in colorful presentations, may
increase orthorexia and malnutrition, according to nutrition experts and people
who have experienced the eating disorder. RDN Christy Harrison says these
images may convince people that is the right way to eat, but “we can’t live off
fruits and vegetables alone.”

Negative eating emotions have consequences

What if we enjoyed food instead of guilting others about
eating choices and destroying relationships because of differences of opinion
around nutrition? One of the dietary directives in Japan is to “enjoy your
meals.”

 “There is a slew of
evidence that eating-related pleasure, satisfaction, and enjoyment are
important components of a healthy diet. At the same time, negative
emotions related to eating like guilt, fear, shame, and judgment have real
consequences for our health and well-being—and not just for social
reasons.”

As I extensively wrote
about in Food Truths from Farm to Table, food should be about
celebration, nourishment, and family tradition. There’s a downside to making
people feel guilty, confused, and fearful of food—it shows up in your
health and well-being. Keep that in mind as you make eating choices – don’t let
food bullying impact your wellness.

The
chaos of 5 million Google results

Google brings up five million results for “understanding
food labels.” How can you sort through that chaos? Look for meaningful and
measurable labels. There is no easy answer, particularly given all the players
involved in food bullying—but I do suggest truth simplifies food.
Confusion, guilt, distrust, higher priced food, malnourishment, a growing
disconnect from the farm, and overall stress are just a few of the side effects
of bullying.

This excerpt
of Food Bullying gives readers an inside look at the side effects of the food
bullying epidemic. This new book releases November 5 – please share www.foodbullying.com with your
community. 

How do you deal with food bullies in social media and protect your wellness?

Today on the Food Bullying podcast, Michele & Eliz talk about an interesting topic that many people have different views on, weight loss.  Lisa Baker-King shares her health and wellness journey.

She has worked at the intersection of sales, marketing and operations for over 25 years. She’s a self-described rule-breaker. Lisa began a fitness journey in 2015 after the publication of her children’s book “The Zealous, Zealous Zix.” Seeing herself living large on the national TV screen was the kick in the butt she needed to transform her life from inside out and she did. Lisa tells us all about her weight loss journey, how she experienced food bullying, and shares some pointers.

Our bodies are different and you don’t have to follow a particular weight loss journey just because it works for someone else. It’s important to go with what works for you and your body.

Key points:

Lessons from a health & wellness journey
Popular myths people that people believe in weight loss & fitness
How a tribe can change as a person changes

The conversation:

02:38: Lisa’s introduction

04:15: Lisa’s turning point

05:52: The health scare

08:40: The Facebook troll

13:21: Making the hard decisions

22:59: Lisa’s view on GMOs

Fabulous quotes:

“Don’t let the stress about having the right food ruin your health.”
“Don’t assign an emotional value to the scale or to the food that you’re eating.”
“Our bodies are all different. We’re not cookie cutter versions of the same exact person.”
“Sometimes subtle pushback you get when you make a decision to transform. “
“Don’t go for labels, unless they are on sale.”

Links to Check Out:

Lisa’s email: lisa@yourghostmarketer.com

Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying BS by Michele Payn

Who are the victims of food bullying?

Bullying: emotional, social, verbal, and cyber

Whether feeling guilty about what’s in your grocery cart,
being told your restaurant food choice is “wrong,” or the pressure you feel
from an overly opinionated work colleague to make the “right” eating choice at
dinner, food bullying impacts all of us negatively.

Exclusion, social manipulation, humiliation, and rumor
mongering are all examples of emotional or social bullying. For example, the
co-worker who decides you should not be in charge of snacks for your team
anymore because you don’t bring the “right” labels. Or the one who snubs you
for going on a pre-packaged meal plan to lose weight?

On a larger, corporate scale, I would also describe many B.S. label claims, such as all-natural, sustainable, and farm-raised as emotional or social bullying on the food playground.

Verbal bullying is easier to identify; it includes
spreading rumors, making jokes about someone’s difference, teasing, name
calling, intimidating, threatening, and slandering. The most egregious example
are animal rights activists who are known for threatening farmers and even
breaking into their farms and damaging personal property. Activists publicly
slander the farm families for raising food, calling them names such as
murderers and rapists. These disgusting bullying tactics are extremely hurtful
to the families involved who consider it a privilege to take care of animals so
they can provide us with food.

The National Bullying Prevention Center describes cyberbullying well. “The internet has become the new bathroom wall. Cyberbullying is when the internet, cell phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person.” Examples include threats online, hate speech, ridiculing someone publicly in online forums, threats and posting lies, rumors, or gossip about the target, and encouraging others to distribute that information. I call these “keyboard cowards”. 

One of the case studies in Food Bullying shows how health/dietetic students are being educated with anti-GMO propaganda. Whether you love or hate GMOs, this type of bias showcases the lack of science-based information about how food is raised. Inaccuracy and imbalanced information are the common denominators across the entire spectrum of food bullying.

·      Food waste: 40% of food is wasted in the U.S. Apples and potatoes, modified to eliminate browning, have the potential to significantly reduce food thrown out. Yet, both were immediately rejected by McDonalds and other restaurants because of concerns around consumer backlash.

·      Food costs: Consumer food costs are increased by marketing moves and activist pressure that result in more regulation. For example, each family in Canada is expected to pay $400 more for groceries in 2019 as compared to 2018. The price of food in the States has risen 26.8% over the last 10 years. We talked to a formerly homeless mom about the cost of bullying.

·      Farmer mental health crisis: Farmer suicide rates have increased dramatically and gained national recognition in both the U.S. and Canada. Much of the farm mental health crisis is due to the economic hardships and inability to continue farming. For many farmers, “being a farmer” defines who they are, and when they can no longer afford to farm, it is emotionally excruciating. More perspective from a farmer mental health advocate here.

Food bullies also pressure brands: Have you considered that your favorite brands have also been bullied? Rather than relying on experts who are involved in producing food or scientific proof about what is best for the animals, environment, or consumers, companies are increasingly being publicly pressured by activists.

The
victims of food bullying span all income levels and generations, individually
and corporately. The effects of group thinking are far-reaching on a chaotic
playground of food bullying. Remember, if you’re being pushed into groupthink,
you are a victim of food bullying. 

Is it safe and environmentally acceptable to eat meat?

What food safety should you practice at home? In this episode of Food Bullying, we talk to a meat scientist, Jennie Hodgen. She spills the beans all about meat science and enlightens listeners about some scientific issues that people have some wrong perceptions on. Jennie is a mom, scientist, cattle raiser, and  lifelong learner.

When did you last grill some meat at home? Did you use a meat thermometer to tell if it is ready? It’s key to keeping your family safe. Have you heard of the myth that says that grass-fed cattle produce better meat than corn feed cattle? There might be slight nutritional differences, but one is not better than the other.

What about GMOs? How many times have you condemned GMO food? Do you have your facts right?

Are you worried about the food you buy from the grocery stores? Worry no more. Food in the United States is safe. The test protocols it goes through assure you of its safety. What should be of concern to you is how you handle the food at home. 

The Conversation:

00:49 What food safety do you practice at home?

05:33  Are grass fed cattle healthier than corn fed is?  

10:23  Did you know that areas with cattle farming have dropped their greenhouse gas emissions by 11% since 1961?

15:19 Everything you should know about GMO food

24:35 Keep away from adjectives. They are just on the packaging.

Fabulous quotes:

“Don’t pay for adjectives on food packages.”

“Stay away from the adjectives or at least don’t let yourself be swayed by the adjectives that are on the package.”

“GMO is bred so that you can use less pesticide.”

Links:

Connect with Jennie

Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying BS by Michele Payn

Different levels of food bullying, same answer: “you can’t have that!”

Bullying doesn’t happen
without fear—and there’s a whole lot of fear in food today! Food bullying
literally takes food out of someone’s hand—by removing choice, creating
emotion, or forcing an individual into groupthink mentality. Food bullying
means a homeless mom can’t afford eggs for her child, a farmer can’t use a
needed product, or a senior citizen guilted into buying food that’s too
expensive for her fixed income.

What does food bullying
mean to you? It’s likely different for everyone, but bullying typically appeals
to esteem or belonging needs, which is detailed in Chapter 9 of Food
Bullying. It can be done with the best of intentions, or to change your
buying behavior.

Source: Food Bullying Book, Michele Payn

A California friend said
“Food advice, while possibly meant well, is not welcome when delivered with an
air of superiority.” That scenario seems especially true with mothers snubbing
other mothers because of their food choices. It’s not the “right” brand on the
bag, the label has the “wrong” claims, there is a “bad” ingredient, or the “right”
certification is missing. The result is B.S. behavior. As Beth Moore said, the
hardest thing about being a woman is often other women.

Food bullying levels

Food bullying levels vary
from a zealot stripping a mom of cereal in the store to those who judge others’
food choices to evangelizers dumping unsolicited information to those who taunt
by embarrassing others to shaming to the
full-fledged bully. Based on research and years of studying food conversations,
I’ve outlined six general levels of bullying in this graphic.

Judging others on food

How do you treat others
about their food choices? Are you judging people if they make different eating
choices? Several dietitians point to those who are yelling—and, consequently,
judging—about a certain diet or ideology as the only correct way to eat, such
as Paleo, Keto, low carb, high fat, and veganism. Judging happens across the
spectrum.

Let me just pause to remind
you—your eating choices are yours—and yours alone. You may be passionate about
your way of eating, but can you guarantee it will work for someone else? Likely
not. There are as many choices in how to eat as there are in what to eat—and no
singular right answer.

Taunting around the
food plate

Bullying online has moved
society to a new low, thanks to keyboard cowards. A small business owner
recently shared a Facebook bullying episode. “I was called a murderer yesterday
because I’m not vegan, and they said beef and dairy businesses were a ‘horror
show.’ He also commented about my cat profile pic. I asked if I should have my
cat arrested because he eats meat and must be a murderer, too.” She then
deleted the whole thread because she found it so upsetting.

On the flip side, not all
vegans are rabid activists and some simply want to be free to make their own
eating choices. If you’re one of those people who have slipped meat into a
vegan’s dish as a joke, you’re as guilty of taunting as the keyboard cowards
above. Both are examples of food bullying. Let’s respect choice, even when it’s
different than your own.

This also means we have to
be more sensitive to those with food allergies. After explaining her severe
food allergies, including the common allergy to peanuts, one woman shared her
bullying experience. “I have had a co-worker place an open jar of peanuts on
her desk every time that I was planning to meet with her in her office. The
open peanuts meant I couldn’t enter due to risk of severe reaction. Human
resources staff and two of my superiors laughed it off saying they couldn’t
believe she would do that. Yet, she continued. It made work miserable.”
Taunting in a different form.

“I happily eat high fat,
low carb and don’t expect another soul to eat that way. It’s my choice, and I
don’t need to be taunted by others,” a mom in Texas summed it up perfectly.

Let’s take a step back. Food is food. It’s a basic necessity. Eating choices are personal. The food you choose to eat is personal. That is no reason for any level of bullying. There is irrefutable evidence about our eating choices, yet food continues to be highly emotional on the chaotic playground described in Food Bullying.

Food shaming

As humans, we are driven
towards social acceptance, and being excluded leads to fear. For example, a mom
group determines it is necessary to purchase only organic products to be a
“good” mom. Any mom not conforming to the “groupthink” will be questioned,
shamed and then bullied into providing “acceptable” food or face social
exclusion. Food shaming has become increasingly common in parenting groups;
it’s important to recognize that exclusion, social manipulation, and
humiliation are all signs of bullying on the playground.

Creating doubt through
marketing is another bullying behavior that encourages groupthink. This
technique is seen in absence claims on food, claims such as hormone-free
chicken. Imagine Chris, the consumer, in the grocery store, trying to quickly
grab some chicken for dinner after a hectic day at work. “This package says no
hormones. I saw on Facebook that chickens have bigger breasts because of
hormones.” A quick moment of confusion follows and doubt sets in. “Yikes,
hormones can’t be good. I’d better buy the package that says no hormones even
if it costs more.”

How is this bullying and
B.S.? There are hormones in all food, unless you’re having salt for a meal.
Vegetables, maple syrup, and meat have hormones, just like every other piece of
food on your fork. There are no hormones on the market to give to chickens.
None. They have been illegal since the 1950s. Hormones have not made Dolly
Parton chickens; they have larger breasts because that’s what consumers have
demanded. In other words, farmers have bred chickens with larger breasts
because of eating choices. Marketing and groupthink tell you otherwise, but do
not fall for hormone claims on poultry or you are being bullied.

Shaming around food is very
real and increasingly common. One young mom told me, “My mom even did it to me
without knowing it. I had to point it out to her; she didn’t mean anything bad
by it but made me feel bad for feeding my kids fruit snacks.” Bullying can be
done without words. “Food bullying means others shaming me, even with their
eyes, over my personal food choices. Some of us are just doing the best we can,”
said another parent in a wealthy suburb.

You can’t have that!

The playground of food bullying is crowded and includes different levels of bullies. The first step in avoiding B.S. food is to acknowledge the bad behaviors, misleading or false label claims, marketing half-truths, and other unnecessary drama on the playground of food bullying. All of these bullying behaviors have resulted in a “you can’t have that” mentality because of food bullies. Read more in the brand new Food Bullying book!