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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!petsd!cjh
From: cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Folk Medicine
Message-ID: <615@petsd.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Aug-85 18:29:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: petsd.615
Posted: Thu Aug 15 18:29:46 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 03:15:38 EDT
References: <158@drutx.UUCP>
Reply-To: cjh@petsd.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE)
Organization: Perkin-Elmer DSG, Tinton Falls, N.J.
Lines: 58
Summary: It's a religion (or the remains of one)

[]
In article <158@drutx.UUCP> slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) writes:
[responding to a posting on food faddism]
>This posting was interesting because it was from having roommates who
>were much the same (my ex-husband and his girlfriend--it's a long story)
>that I developed my distaste for such quackery.
>
>It was not the stupid things that they did to their bodies so much (like
>long fasts to "purify the blood" for instance) or even the poor science
>on which they based it that really turned me off--although that was
>part of it.   What really bothered me was the effect of all this stuff
>on their minds.  There were several parts to this:
>
>1. GUILT.  The whole thing seemed to be based on guilt.  
>   ...
>   It reminded me of the 
>   Puritans, who believed that you got sick as punishment for sins. 
>   
I think this is exactly the origin of a lot of food fads.  If
someone is brought up in a religious & puritanical way, (s)he
may lose the religion and keep the puritanical personality...
which then roams around looking for something to be fanatical
about. The outcry against sugar seems to be based more on the
fact that people like sweet tastes than on the genuine bad
consequences (obesity, caries) of eating too much sugar.

...
>3. SENSE OF SUPERIORITY.  
>   ... they considered themselves to be better 
>   because they ate "right".  
>   They tended to judge a person on 
>   what they ate, rather than what they were.
>
Hmm, yes; some people use their religion that way, instead of
their diet.
...
>I think you can eat a balanced diet, use some common sense, and to hell
>with guilt and worry.
Chimpanzees do it.
...
>By the way, some folks that I have known who do some of the same things 
>for religious reasons do not seem to have the same mental problems.  I
>know some religious vegetarians and people who fast for religious reasons
>who do not show the guilt or self-deception.
For further discussion in net.flame & net.religion, I offer
this suggestion:
	a viable religion that includes fasting or dietary
	laws also includes something to keep them in due 
	proportion.  (E. g. faith in a God who is "slow to
	anger and quick to forgive.")
Regards,
Chris

--
Full-Name:  Christopher J. Henrich
UUCP:       ..!(cornell | ariel | ukc | houxz)!vax135!petsd!cjh
US Mail:    MS 313; Perkin-Elmer; 106 Apple St; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Phone:      (201) 758-7288