This was originally a facebook post that started to get long so I decided to post here instead – hooray for using my blog for more than one vacation a year!

Someone on facebook posted this article: The Undeniable Facts about the safety of Diet Coke.

I skimmed the article at first, picked up the basics of ‘yeah yeah, don’t judge people by what they eat, personal choice, etc etc.’ Sure, I’m not perfect with what I eat/drink (hello, I spent the 4th of July trying to recreate one of my favorite cocktails from a bar in Oklahoma*), but I do try to make good choices, and I’m slowly getting better at it. And I’ll agree that we spend far too much time judging others for every little thing they do, rather than working to make ourselves better.

But then I read the article again and I started to get a headache as I pieced together the general thought/idea of the post.

The author writes: “I don’t know if you’ve ever bothered to talk to someone who’s really old and had to do some of that live-off-the-land stuff, but you ask them if they want to go back to doing things by hand and they, like my grandma told me once when I asked if she missed the “good old days”, are probably going to come out in favor of automatic dishwashers, cake mixes, and Crisco. It’s called progress, because it is.”

…and pretty much uses it to justify why she enjoys a can of Diet Coke – carbonated water, colour (caramel E150d), sweeteners (aspartame, acesulfame-K), flavourings (including caffeine), phosphoric acid, citric acid.

How you even jump from automatic dishwashers to diet coke? And how is that progress?

Everyone is entitled to enjoy whatever (and we’ll all deal with the consequences when/if they happen), but how is it ‘progress’ to enjoy a can of chemicals and essentially make a mockery of people trying to eat healthily?  “It ends up being an us-against-them battle waged against supermarkets, farmers, and anyone not making that gross runny organic yogurt that makes me throw up in my mouth…”

It then goes to fear. “Out of the fear industry, many things have developed. Like being afraid of our food.” Well, maybe we should be. Look at these common foods/brands. Living in Denmark, I found most of these things on the shelves at the grocery store, but did you know that they have to be reformulated to be able to sell them overseas? Because stuff in the American versions is banned due to health concerns. And it all tastes the same too. So it’s not good enough for Europeans, but it’s fine for us? Remind me who has a higher rate of pretty much everything deadly? Oh, right. #murica

She continues into making it a poverty thing… is she ‘too good’ for the ‘regular stuff’ because she can afford the good stuff while poor people digging through dumpsters in Nicaragua don’t have enough to eat? She feels so bad, she has to pick the pile of non-organic strawberries that she finds at the grocery store instead? How about saying,’wow… that sucks to be poor in Nicaragua, but I’m gonna support those local, organic places because I can, and hope the whole trend picks up so that more and more will be organic and not come with built in pesticide. Maybe costs will come down and yeah… HEALTH FOR EVERYONE!’

“How does it work, that having a bountiful supply of food before me is seen as the enemy instead of a blessing?” Um… because last I checked, a can of chemicals isn’t food. That’s how that works.

Dear Julie (the author),
I get that you’re all about ‘things in moderation’and ‘don’t judge’ (because we shouldn’t), and that you support healthy eating too, but the article just comes across as so snarky and defensive over your poor habit. Those friends you mentioned? The ones to point out the negatives of your coke? Did you maybe think that they bring those things up because they care about you? Your article is embarrassing and so misinformed. But sure… enjoy your diet coke.

Oh, and those people that grew up living off the land..? The people that pay extra for organic produce? They know what a real tomato tastes like.

 

 

*The Flint Martini – Sailor Jerry Rum, Passion Fruit Juice, Cranberry juice and Serrano pepper. You’re welcome.