A Vegetarian Diet

In theory, the English word "diet" means "the set of things someone eats"* (sort of the climate to the weather of each day's menu). It functions fine in that capacity when we stick a modifier on it -- "low-sodium diet," "liquid diet," "standard American diet." But left unadorned, "diet" is assumed to mean "weight loss diet." This is symptomatic of how our culture understands food. The primary question that springs up whenever the choice of what food to eat is raised, is whether that food is slimming or fattening.

We can see some of this tendency at work in the AP's article** on a new survey of child vegetarians and vegans. A substantial part of the story is taken up with the question of plant-based diets and weight. The article says the right things about these topics -- that few people go veg as a way to lose weight, and giving up animals isn't any guarantee of weight loss***. What interests me is that this topic had to be addressed at such length. For example, the issue of motivation is introduced not simply with the statement that most do it for ethical reasons, but with the denial of the presumably-otherwise-assumed idea that it's done for health (which, as is typical, is conflated with weight).

*It also means "decision-making assembly," which was a disappointing discovery when, as a young person, I went to find out more about Martin Luther and the Diet of Worms.

**If anyone wonders why I post about AP articles so much, it's because I get paid to read the AP wire and pick which stories should go in the newspaper.

***A college friend recently expressed shock at my current eating choices in light of how scrawny she remembered me being back in my undergrad days. I replied "French fries are vegan." I was actually skinnier as an omnivore, though I attribute the change to aging and a lack of opportunities to walk for my errands in Arizona.