The propaganda of normalising toxicity
Becca Crawford
I’m often surprised and puzzled when people refer to my diet and lifestyle choices as “extreme”. After all I’m just advocating a biologically congruent or species appropriate diet. How can that on any measure be considered extreme? How can anyone accuse a lion on the savanna of Africa eating meat or a rabbit eating carrots or a cow eating grass or a bird eating seeds of being extreme? If those animals ate anything other than what they have evolved to eat then yes that would be cause to call them “extreme” (defined as “not usual; exceptional” or “further from the centre”).
For kids and teens, the desire to ‘fit in’ and be part of the tribe is so strong in their hierarchy of needs, that it completely overrides the need to be healthy. Thanks to the slick, sexy and clever marketing and deep pockets of Big Food, Big Ag, and Big Pharma, our kids are sent powerful subliminal and overt messages that processed “foods” and “drinks” and artificial substances are not only ok for them but are totally normal, cool and beneficial. And once something becomes ubiquitous, it becomes entrenched in the very fabric of society and normalised as safe.
Conscious consumers understand that everything is information and affects our body at a cellular level, switching genes on and off for better or for worse. We understand that processed crap sold as “food” has deleterious effects on physical, mental and emotional health leading to gut, behavioural, skin and learning issues.
As parents we only want the best for our children and want them to be the brightest, healthiest, and happiest versions of themselves.
On this planet of free will, once your kids hit a certain age and have the power and freedom to buy and eat what they want, it is difficult as a conscious parent to sit back and watch them make choices that undermine their health driven by the need to “fit in” and also in part to rebel against their parents as a way of defining their own independence.
All we can do is to drop the issue, lead by example, be a role model, surrender to what is, hope that they will at some stage tune into their body to appreciate the effect that their choices have on their physical and emotional health and trust that one day they will, like we did, choose a more vibrant path. The hope is that they too will come to the poignant realisation that just because something is allowed to be sold or is ubiquitously consumed in society or by their circle of friends, that doesn’t make it safe. The hope is that they are conscious and courageous enough to choose a different, more nourishing path, that better aligns with who they truly are.
“Sometimes we have to lose ourselves to find ourselves.
Sometimes we need to travel to the extremes (junk) to come back to centre (nourishment). ”
Whether it is a pipe dream or the inevitable shift in our conscious evolution as a species, I do look forward to the day when the tables are turned so that natural becomes the normal, and toxic becomes the extreme.
