I recently Googled "healthiest foods" to discover where people are led when they're looking to eat better, and what I found was disappointing.
As expected, Google listed a group of foods associated with healthy eating: dark green veggies, whole grains, beans, lentils, flaxseeds, soy, almonds, fish, chia seeds, and quinoa.
Sounds appetizing, huh?
Lists like these are agitating to me. Not that these foods aren't healthy-ish, but it's frustrating because these food lists fail to generate healthy eating. They don't stimulate transformation.
Before a life of running on butter, I'd graze such lists and think, interesting, then do nothing to change my eating habits. Back to the protein bars and peanut butter and jelly, it was.
Packaged differently, we receive the same message from our healthcare practitioners: Eat more greens. Cut the red meat. Implement more veggies. Switch to plant-based.
And yet, our dietary habits are getting worse. Food facts are not arousing healthy eating.
A Different Approach
When I took piano lessons as a child, I didn't care much for classical music. The classical music scene was uptight, and the pieces I played were written hundreds of years before my life.
I went to lessons, practiced consistently, competed at competitions, and performed at recitals. Yet, I didn't love classical piano. Playing the melodies of Mozart or Bach, my fingers stroked the ivory with little enjoyment and no passion.
I felt disconnected from the music.
The music I gravitated towards was jazz and all its wonderful 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th chords. Jazz was colorful and unpredictable; classical music was stifling. At least, that's what I supposed.
But in high school, I began lessons with a new teacher, Jennifer Bowman. Knowing I favored Duke Ellington tunes more than Chopin pieces, Jennifer encouraged me to play jazz along with my classical repertoire.
I thought I was getting away with playing less classical music. Jennifer, however, leveraged my love for jazz to get me to appreciate classical music. It was quite a conniving plan, really.
She showed me that jazz music would be nonexistent without classical music and that Bach was the originator of the jazz chords I'd play repeatedly. This piqued me.
Because of Jennifer's clever tactics, the brilliant world of classical music was finally unveiled to me. I'd realized that classical music was something worth listening to and playing.
Classical music was always alive and vibrant. It was my gloomy outlook that created a distaste for classical music.
Jennifer gave me the lens to see that classical music was music at its finest.
Our View of Healthy Eating Must Change
Much like how I perceived classical music to be stale, our nation believes healthy eating is a concession to a flavorless life.
According to our healthcare system and popular culture, healthy food is bleak, queer, and unimaginative.
We accept that a life of healthy choices is a life of missed opportunities.
This is a shameful portrayal of healthy eating. To call it inaccurate would be an understatement. This portrayal is a lie.
A life of healthy eating is the fullest, most abundant life. It's colorful and hopeful. It's ever-changing and endlessly exciting. It's genuinely rewarding and wholly fulfilling.
Healthy eating nullifies chronic disease and fosters strength. It unclutters our minds and provides lasting energy.
A life of healthy eating is the life we were created to live, and it's the lifestyle we're called to promote.
Nutritional facts are interesting and sometimes even provoking. But they fail to galvanize change because facts don't give us a vision. They simply tell us what reality is, but not what it could be.
Like how Jennifer gave me a vision of classical music's beauty, I hope Running On Butter serves you similarly. I want to help you see the beauty of healthy eating.
I want you to know and believe this: healthy eating is not a sacrifice; it is an acquisition that upgrades your life.