The recent call to “Make America Healthy Again” is a welcome message amid mass food production, increases in heart disease and various forms of cancer, and a generally sedentary lifestyle. tucker carlson recent episodes podcast It focused on the current state of health in America, particularly the rise in chronic diseases and the insistence of medical institutions to treat sick Americans with prescription drugs, injections, and unnecessary surgeries. Rather, as Tucker and his guests argued, we should be asking what Americans are eating and what we can do collectively and individually to heal ourselves. be.
Many factors influence this debate, including Big Pharma, Big Agriculture, the medical establishment, and proper environmental management without climate change ideology. To call corruption “endemic” in all these areas would be an understatement.
How do we define moderation in a society rife with imbalance in almost every area of life?
Other important factors are often overlooked in discussions about health. How we care for our bodies and minds is closely tied to Aristotle's moderation and a food culture that fosters lasting connections with others.
A tunnel-vision focus on “getting healthy” can create an obsession that has a seriously negative impact on relationships with friends and family. This phenomenon even has a name. orthorexia nervosa. Unlike other eating disorders, and while it may stem from good intentions, counting calories can lead to an obsession with having complete control over food selection and preparation. This obsession is not necessarily about weight, but about finding the purest ingredients, turning food and eating into a matter of metrics, chemistry, and constant body monitoring.
Holiday meals and celebrations were ruined by family members who insisted that any food other than what they chose was poisonous and poisonous. They claim they have allergies, are on a forever diet, or “I'm just not that hungry.” They sit at the dinner table, staring at their clean plates, perhaps a little bewildered, but mostly exasperated about their own dysfunction.
Such people are essentially alienated from a sense of community and connection with others. They often cause such neuroses in their children. One wonders what happens to children who grow up on a constant diet of joy and fear.
Refusing fruit from friends and family because you're not sure if it's organic is just as dysfunctional as overeating and thinking that processed foods have no effect on your health. What happened to moderation? More importantly, how can we define moderation in a society rife with imbalance in almost every area of life?
Aristotle believes that moderation is one of the moral virtues, and any kind of excess will necessarily destroy that virtue. This includes our physical health, which for Aristotle is necessarily linked to the concept of excellence.
In Book 2 of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes, “Human excellence is the disposition that makes him a good person and enables him to perform his functions well.'' In other words, to be human is to recognize the meaning of life itself and the potential greatness for which we are born. The concept of teleology is essential to understanding virtue. We are creatures that should move toward harmony and order, not haphazard chaos.
According to Aristotle, both excess and deficiency lead us away from the possibility of greatness and order, and this also applies to our physical health. It is not enough to simply measure the amount of food we eat, but we must understand that moderation in food and health is a matter of morality, not just science. In other words, the decisions we make to avoid excess and scarcity reveal our character.
Another element that is unfortunately missing from this discussion has to do with food culture. Ideally, it's sharing a meal with someone, the figurative or literal breaking of bread. There is a divine aspect to all this. The enjoyment of food is not just based on appetite, but on pleasure.And be grateful to those around you.
It reminds me of a short story by Isaac Dinesen.Babette's Feast” embodies the joy and gratitude of eating and sharing a meal with someone. Babette Helsin is a French refugee living in 19th century Denmark, working as a housekeeper for two unmarried sisters. Babette wins the lottery and instead of returning to France, she decides to cook a feast for her sisters and their guests as a thank you for being at home.
The sisters lead an ascetic life, and Babette's food awakens their senses. They enjoy not only eating, but also interacting with the guests at the table. Rather than ascetic moralism, the sisters begin to show a weakness that opens up the possibility of a deeper relationship with Babette.
One of the guests, ColonelLöwenhilm was completely enchanted by the feast and decided to toast this rich and beautiful creation. “My friend, humans are weak and stupid,'' says the Colonel. But because of human stupidity and shortsightedness, we imagine that God's grace is finite. That's why we tremble. …But there will come a moment when our eyes will be opened, and we will see and understand that our eyes are open, and we will see and understand that grace is infinite. ”
This moment can only come through true human connection, not through overeating or overeating. orthorexiawhich inevitably leads to alienation and atomization.
Self-governance in all things – resisting the influence of governments, Big Pharma, and other corrupt organizations that seek to change our behavior and nature – is at the heart of personal freedom. But this depends on one important factor: virtue. When virtues, especially moderation, are present and combined with joy and gratitude, food and health become more than mere statistics and become a path to human greatness.
Editor's note: A version of this article was originally published at: american mind.
