Tongue trails tongue

Researchers in the area of behavioural science and space exploration have inferred that language (tongue) could hold the key to encourage healthy eating (tongue). Coaxing people, rather than coercion helps, the scientists have opined. One study, according to reports published in scientific journals, has brought out that in situations with options, words matter. Even as researchers present their findings aided by charts, tables, graphs as well as visuals, they have conceded that one can’t just yell facts at people to convince them about foods that sustain their health, sidelining the factors of taste and preferences, habits being hard to change. Prescriptions of nutritionists as well as elucidation on the calorie angle seem to be nuances that don’t have many takers among lay people. Even using fanciful names to familiar foods may lead to change of mindset for better, but the effect most likely wears out overtime. Familiarity breeds contempt even in case of food.

Psychological eating disorders, often neglected even by the literati, have to be addressed with finesse that needs skill of a high quality. Life-threatening fear of either weight-gain or loss of weight is attributed to distorted body image. The feature is to be traced to the childhood days.

People bugged by the eating disorder called Anorexia nervosa restrict the amount of food they eat to the point of starving. The other eating disorder called Bulimia nervosa, common in the circles of gourmets, marked by eating large amounts of food in a short span of time leading to many undesirable health issues that require medical attention. Doting mothers have to take the blame for over-indulgence in the matter of feeding their children in early stages, unmindful of either of the two aforementioned disorders manifesting in later stages of life. The idiomatic expression ‘you can’t put the clock back’ many only serve to feel regretful about unhealthy eating in early life.

Advisory about the do’s and don’ts in the matter of eating discreetly sourced to knowledgeable circles seems to be stumped by modern glitzy ads by the players in the modern food processing industry. To eat is human, but to digest is divine, as the famed humorist Mark Twain says.