Food, Health & Enjoyment, Part I (#59)

Food, Health & Enjoyment, Part I (#59) Health & Enjoyment To make sense out of food, we must think about health and enjoyment. Our body is not a machine that just injects something to survive. Health and enjoyment should go hand in hand to foster a happy life. With some moderation and balance, there is no reason that we cannot achieve both through what we eat. There is no need to force-feed your body with something that somebody says is good. On the other hand, you should be prepared to modify your eating habit if it can enhance your life. Cultural Influence The kind of food we eat is largely influenced by culture. People from different places like to eat what they used to eat as a cultural habit. There is nothing right or wrong, good or bad with that. One cannot apply ones personal bias or limited knowledge to assess the food of a particular culture, even your own. However, due to the big differences in eating habits, we find that some cultures are prone to produce more obesity, higher cholesterol, or higher sugar content in blood, which are the objective yardsticks commonly employed to measure health. The diversity of Chinese food has prompted some humorous comments. It is said that the Chinese eat anything that has four legs except a table, and also anything that flies except an airplane. While this is partly true, I wish to remind the critics that they dont know what they are missing. Geographic Influence Geography plays an important role in the food we eat. For …