The Dangers of Being a Healthy Food Snob
Jennifer MerrittNovember 10, 2009
Sometimes, being a healthy eater can make it feel like you're at war with other diners.
Right now, my future mother-in-law is freaking out because my fiance is bringing me home for Thanksgiving dinner.
"I have no idea what to make a vegetarian for Thanksgiving!" she has said to him numerous times over the last few weeks. "It's fine Mom," I've overheard him say. "She'll eat stuffing and mashed potatoes." "If that," I think to myself, quickly calculating how many hours I'd have to spend at the gym to burn off a meal full of nothing but starches and carbs. Welcome to the inner monologue of a healthy food snob.
Throughout your eating experience, you've likely encountered plain old food snobs who won't eat anything unless it's cooked in truffle oil. But a healthy food snob is an entirely different beast. Healthy food snobs eat food not necessarily because it tastes good, but because it's better for you. Healthy food snobs are the ones at the bar who nibble on the hummus plate while everyone else eats nachos; the people who bring vegan brownies made with prunes instead of butter to a coworker's office birthday party. And let me tell you, it is not an easy existence.
First off, you need a thick skin, since most people will get defensive once they hear what you order. This summer, I vacationed with my fiance and his hometown friends at a lake house in Michigan. After five days of veggie burgers (well, cheeseburgers for everyone else), chips, dip, and one never-ending tray of baked ziti smothered in shredded mozzarella, we decided to go out to dinner. While everyone at the table ordered the house specialty of fried fish and chips, I opted for a soup and salad, and then braced myself. My fiance, also well aware of what was coming next, sighed.
"That's all you're getting?" one of the girls asked me. "After these last few days I just feel like I need some vegetables in me," I replied. "I don't think we ate that badly," she shot back, clearly a little insulted.
Tomato, tomahto, I thought, silently wondering how anyone could think that meals where the only vegetables involved were ones dehydrated in cream cheese could be considered healthy.
I have a reputation among friends as being "the healthy one," a label I don't mind and only feel guilty about after I give in to a plate of (usually someone else's) French fries. (And even then I'm only eating two or three.) When I juxtapose this existence with that of my future husband's friends—who hail from a city with fast-food chains solely devoted to a meal of spaghetti with chili and cheese on top—it's easy to see why my eating habits can be perceived as a bit high-maintenance, if not outright annoying.
But being an annoying dining companion is the least of my worries. People don't understand how hard it is to be a healthy food snob—sometimes it's difficult to even get a cup of coffee. If I'm not near any of my go-to coffee shops, it can take so long for the barista to find soy milk to put in my coffee I worry it may be expired. Faced with a menu full of fried foods and overstuffed meat sandwiches, I once baffled a diner kitchen by asking for a lettuce and tomato sandwich on wheat toast. "No bacon?" the waitress asked suspiciously. (And then later: "The cook wanted me to come back out and make sure I heard you correctly—just lettuce and tomato?" "Yes." "Not even cheese?")
Worse yet, I've been shunned from dinner invites because of my perceived healthy-eating superiority. One friend has stopped going out to dinner with me because she says that the perceived vibe of "you think you're better than me because you eat vegetables" was growing too strong and would ruin our friendship. Tired of meals that consisted of beans and polenta, my fiance once planned a dinner party and told me to find something else to do that night because, as the party consisted of nothing but slabs of meat, there would be "nothing" for me to eat there.
So why do I bother, you ask? Because it's how I like to eat. And believe it or not, I do actually enjoy food. In fact, I think I enjoy food more than the average diner, even more than the plain old food snobs, because I know how hard it is to get a meal that is healthy and tastes good. Being a healthy food snob is not an easy existence, but it's one I'll take if the alternative is a high risk of heart disease, cancer and stroke. There's nothing tomato/tomahto about that.
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Comments
Date: 11/20/2009 - 05:06 pm
I THINK YOU THINK WHAT YOUR EATING IS SO HEALTHY JUST BECAUSE YOU EAT VEGGIES AND NO MEAT YOU LEFT OUT A WHOLE LOT OF STUFF THAT YOU WOULDNT EAT THAT YOU MAY PERCIEVE AS UN HEALTHY THINK AGAIN BEEF IF GRASS FED IS EXTREMLY HEALTHY WITH OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS AND B VITAMINS ZINC AND MAGNESIUM WHICH ARE SCANT ON VEGATARIAN EATING HABITS THERE WAS NO MENTION OF HIGH OMEGA 3 FISH IN YOU SO CALLED HEALTHY DIET MOST VEGANS DONT CONSUME EGGS EITHER WHICH IS THE HEALTHIEST PROTIEN A HUMAN CAN INGEST CHICKEN OR QUAIL ALSO THERE ARE VARIETY OF MEATS LIKE BUFFALO ELK AND OSTRICH THAT ARE GREAT LEAN PROTIENS FOR YOUR BODY. I DIDNT SEE ANY ORGAN MEAT IN YOUR DIET PROBABLY THINK IT IS GROSS BEING A VEGAN WELL LIVER AND KIDNEYS AND HEARTS HAPPEN TO BE SOME OF THE MOST NUTRITOUS FOOD AVAILABLE AS WELL AS BRAINS VERY HIGH IN CQ10 AND OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS AND VERY EASLIY DIGESTED I MIGHT ADD YOUR BODY IS SET UP TO DIGEST FATS NOT CARBS LIKE THE GRAINS YOU VEGANS PILE DOWN GRAINS AND BEANS ARE FULL OF LECHTINS WHICH CAUSE ALLERGIES AND CORRUPT CELLULAR ACTIVITY MOST VEGANS LOOK AND FEEL GREY AND HAVE MENTAL ISSUES FROM DEFICINCY IN THERE DIET SO IT MIGHT NOT BE THAT HEALTH I LOVE VEGETABLES AND FRUITS NUTS AND MEATS AND FISH LIMITING YOUR DIET TO VEGGIES AND CARBS ISNT HEALTHY EAT WHAT YOUR BODY NEEDS PROTIEN AND NUTRITION STAY AWAY FROM GRAINS BEANS POTATOES CHECK OUT PALEO DIET LIFESTYLE
Date: 11/20/2009 - 05:06 pm
I THINK YOU THINK WHAT YOUR EATING IS SO HEALTHY JUST BECAUSE YOU EAT VEGGIES AND NO MEAT YOU LEFT OUT A WHOLE LOT OF STUFF THAT YOU WOULDNT EAT THAT YOU MAY PERCIEVE AS UN HEALTHY THINK AGAIN BEEF IF GRASS FED IS EXTREMLY HEALTHY WITH OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS AND B VITAMINS ZINC AND MAGNESIUM WHICH ARE SCANT ON VEGATARIAN EATING HABITS THERE WAS NO MENTION OF HIGH OMEGA 3 FISH IN YOU SO CALLED HEALTHY DIET MOST VEGANS DONT CONSUME EGGS EITHER WHICH IS THE HEALTHIEST PROTIEN A HUMAN CAN INGEST CHICKEN OR QUAIL ALSO THERE ARE VARIETY OF MEATS LIKE BUFFALO ELK AND OSTRICH THAT ARE GREAT LEAN PROTIENS FOR YOUR BODY. I DIDNT SEE ANY ORGAN MEAT IN YOUR DIET PROBABLY THINK IT IS GROSS BEING A VEGAN WELL LIVER AND KIDNEYS AND HEARTS HAPPEN TO BE SOME OF THE MOST NUTRITOUS FOOD AVAILABLE AS WELL AS BRAINS VERY HIGH IN CQ10 AND OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS AND VERY EASLIY DIGESTED I MIGHT ADD YOUR BODY IS SET UP TO DIGEST FATS NOT CARBS LIKE THE GRAINS YOU VEGANS PILE DOWN GRAINS AND BEANS ARE FULL OF LECHTINS WHICH CAUSE ALLERGIES AND CORRUPT CELLULAR ACTIVITY MOST VEGANS LOOK AND FEEL GREY AND HAVE MENTAL ISSUES FROM DEFICINCY IN THERE DIET SO IT MIGHT NOT BE THAT HEALTH I LOVE VEGETABLES AND FRUITS NUTS AND MEATS AND FISH LIMITING YOUR DIET TO VEGGIES AND CARBS ISNT HEALTHY EAT WHAT YOUR BODY NEEDS PROTIEN AND NUTRITION STAY AWAY FROM GRAINS BEANS POTATOES CHECK OUT PALEO DIET LIFESTYLE
Date: 11/19/2009 - 07:29 am
Great write-up Jennifer!
And I am so glad to see so many persons 'battling' to remain on health-promoting habits against the odds of facing 'normal' people! In my circles, I seem to be only one. Besides 'choosing' what I eat, I also do not eat in between the meals. I just drink small amounts of water quite often.I remember a friend who stopped going out shopping with me because it was 'no fun'! I always offered to go with her to her 'snacking favs' and told her that she was free to eat whatever she wanted... she wouldn't do that! What is the fun of eating alone!
Anyways, I am happy with what I do as this healthy choice of food has helped my get rid of SLE... My blood tests have been normal for more than 17 years now and all this while I have NEVER taken ANY allopathic medicine for anything at all! Does it matter what others think?
Our body IS indeed, what we eat!
Date: 11/19/2009 - 01:44 am
I live in Singapore and your account is no different from the experience I have living in this part of the world. I have get used to having my healthy diet under wraps. Closer friends have branded me a health freak but I sense their admiration of being able to stick to my healthy diet habits so staunchly. It is doubly challenging to keep to a strict diet in Chinese Asian culture which serves an abundance of carbo rich food. With the modernisation and globalisation, Chinese food is no longer as healthy compared to my grandmother era. To overcome and also to compromise, I resort eating a healthier or lighter meals for the rest of the day if I have taken a heavy and fattening meal. I will pick the healthiest choices if I am in a buffet and in the company of friends. If all else fails, I will just limit to a fraction of the serving and savour the sinfully rich food, since I don't take them often. I know for sure my passion in healthy eating has done some subtle influence over my family and friends. I am glad that they have joined in the awareness on the importance of eating right
Date: 11/18/2009 - 05:57 pm
this article made me feel much less alone! im at college and eat "mountains" only. that is, im what they call a "volume eater" and eat lots, but only lots of healthy foods. ie: non-starchy veggies. i pile my plate high becuz i do love to eat and since my college doesn't reali have that many healthy foods, i need to eats lots and lots of the only low-cal, low-filling option they do serve: veggies at the salad bar. but a friend told me recently how i can sometimes appear stuck up. i don't want to be that way, but i'll admit i can't help but feel good about myself for eating the way i do. and avoiding junk like cheese fries and pizza IS different than the norm for college students. and i wonder why others can't/don't want to do what they do. i taught myself too at a young age when i needed to go on a diet, so why can't they learn to eat healthier now? not for diet reasons, but for health reasons? anyway, i think the snob issue originated from my picking eating. thanks again for this! if anyone else wants to keep in touch, my email's petitecutie115@excite.com (made it up in middle school haha). cuz i'd LOOOOOOVE to talk to others with this cuz i reali thought/feared i was one of the only food snobs around!