Capitalism and Our Eating Habits

We all know that we live in a capitalist society. When we think of capitalism we usually think money but there's more to the concept than money. The key element of the meaning of the word is the key to why we all overeat. It's also the reason why we sometimes eat so horribly. A lot of us can't really help it. We're drawn to food like a drug but maybe it's because of the way we're brought up. Now that we know more about our motivations, it's time to change some of our thought processes.

Capitalism is usually associated with money. We associate the word with making big dollars and huge corporations but really it's all about profit. Our understanding of profit doesn't always have to extend to money. Sometimes profit can be an abundance of things like material items, services and yes even food.

We want to have as much as possible because that's the human side of us. This is especially the case with food. Since the early days of humans we've been foraging for food because we know it can become a scarcity. We figured out ways of storing the food and making it last longer. We never want to run out of it and we feel safe knowing that there's an abundance of it in our homes.

This old way of thought has been carried down from generation to generation. We have to make money to put food on the table. That's the real reason why we're supposed to be going out to find work and make money.

When we finally get the food on the table we look at it differently than how we should be looking at it. We look at it as if it is a scarcity when it isn't. We don't have to forage for food anymore. Everything is available in the grocery stores. People don't normally go days on end starving because there's a scarcity of food. Of course, I am talking about the fortunate ones that are able to afford food in the first place.

Still we have a fear that food will run out so when we go buying things we want to buy more for less. We're always looking for the best possible deal. There's cases where people will buy large amounts of food just because it's on sale. The person might not even have clued in that there might be too much food for them to consume in the first place.

Worse is that the companies are trying to profit off buyers by making things last longer. They put in the preservatives to sustain the food a lot longer to increase their own profits. We don't mind because we want the food items to last longer on our own shelves not thinking of the repercussions of these byproducts.

We continually consume and purchase more because it makes us feel safer. Yes it's a capitalist way of thought but it's also kind of innate as well as we suffered in Neolithic ages with this same mode of thought. You'd think we'd wise up, knowing that we don't live in those times anymore.

Our daily lives are also affected by this false sense of security. We think we're going to get hungry even though we know we're going to eat in a few hours. People tend to eat more to compensate for the fact that they know that they're not going to eat for a while. Sometimes they'll overeat because they haven't had anything for a while and their brain just makes them feel really hungry and we just don't stop ourselves. Still we gain that comfort with indulgence of food.

We can't help it. We grew up this way especially families of lower income. They know that sometimes there are times where food might be scarce because of a lack of money. They'll force-feed their children and their children will be imprinted with this knowledge from their past to pass it on to their children. The fear of scarcity will harm generations of families into overeating or eating unhealthy diets.

Having the sense of comfort of having an abundance of food is like a drug. It's a sense of security that everyone can relate to. Don't worry everyone at least one point in their lives have had binge moments where they're just wolfing down food and they don't know why.

I'm saying that we live in a different time now. We should all be aware of the capitalism of our eating habits. Being aware of this we should know that we don't have to buy things when they're on sale. There's no need to buy massive amounts of food even during the pandemic that we're living through right now. North America is rife with food and we should really pay attention to what we're eating.

Sometimes paying the extra price for quality foods and ingredients is worth it in the end. In capitalism we forget what the rich do. They invest in themselves to continue to grow their brand. Our brand is ourselves. We have to invest in better foods to make ourselves better. It's tough because it's going to take relearning a lifetime of lessons in your brain. We can do it now because this generation is smarter and more aware than ever.