October 16th was Blog Action Day. The topic was food. People from all over the world blogged or used the social web to communicate about it. Seeing as the topic was food, I thought I should mention it here too.
No matter what we eat, no matter where we live, once we have put that tasty, juicy, dry, bitter, sweet, salty, moldy, decadent morsel into our mouths, it goes through the same process. We all have a digestive system. We all let the food pass through our bodies. We all have something to get rid of on the other end. No matter where we live, we need places to ‘let it out.’ The fact that our bodies all produce waste is a big equalizer. Yet the systems that manage our waste are not equal. They are generally determined by many factors including, but certainly not limited to infrastructure, culture, education, and access to resources. It is amazing to me that something that we all produce everyday (well, hopefully everyday), is often such an ‘untouchable’ topic.
I think that’s why I like to talk about digestive health. It pertains to everyone and yet in many circles it is uncomfortable or awkward to talk about. I enjoy exploring those boundaries because I think there is a lot to learn from the margins. As far as I can figure, we all need to eat, poop, and sleep to live. Such genius in that children’s book Everyone Poops .
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ReplyDeleteLiz,
ReplyDeleteI for one am not uncomfortable talking about our digestive health - this probably has to do with the fact that my family doesn't either, and that I have a very sensitive stomach and love to eat, often foods that my digestive system does not love. So, I'm very grateful you are writing about this all-important topic. I look forward to absorbing only the good stuff;)