FOOD IS NOT ENOUGH
The beautiful absurdity of consumerism
Capitalism sucks for many reasons, but one of the reasons I like to scream about most is capitalism’s intrinsic connection to consumerism.
Consumerism also sucks for many reasons, and the reason that most consistently enrages me is the false premise that we are only one product away from being the best version of ourselves we can possibly be. Especially when the product promising you transcendence allegedly will fix a problem you didn’t know you had until the brand or company told you you had it.
YES without an adequately brightly colored COOLER, you will not be as bright a mother as you might otherwise be (and you should 100% be losing sleep about being as bright a mother as possible because to be a good mother is paramount, and sure, the goalposts for “good motherhood” are arbitrary, misogynistic, and always changing, but you absolutely should devote as much time, money, and existential despair as possible to attaining an impossible-to-achieve maternal ideal!)
And YES, without the right pro and prebiotics, you will feel listless and bloated even if you had hitherto been living a life blissfully unburdened by anxiety about bloating or listlessness.
And YES OF COURSE if you’re nine, you need a 10-step skincare regime because the sooner you link your appearance to your wellbeing the better (for your success as a consumer in white supremacist patriarchal capitalism!)
And YES YES YES, you (theoretically) are a member of the human species which means (allegedly) that you have (up until this point) sustained your life by means of water and food, but to assume that FOOD IS ENOUGH would be a gross error in judgement.
[Drumroll please.]
I’ve somehow physically survived the last 40 years by eating food and drinking water, and naively assumed the whole “food and water as sustenance” thing was adequate, but SILLY ME. Luckily, I’m always one step away from learning about some dire need I must meet by means of buying this or that product. Sadly, I was not riding the subway where this ad for Solaray Vitamin C with Rose Hip and Acerola was seen, but one of you beautiful readers got to experience this shit IRL, and what can I say? I’m jealous.
.
Obviously I went to the website. Here are some quotes of interest.
Today’s Standard American Diet (SAD) simply does not provide all the nutrition we need.
NEED. I. DRAW. ATTENTION. TO. THE. FAKE. ACRONYM.
Formulated to brighten your beginnings, fresh starts, and new freedoms through open doors, on open roads – these are the moments that fill us with life.
WORD SALAD (also: does our favorite father of hogs have a ghostwriting side hustle??)
Our very name is rooted in light -- to help you see a vision of your better self and to be your personal concierge on the path toward optimizing wellness.
ANOTHER WORD SALAD.
Solaray is based in Utah, which boasts the most MLMs per capita in the country. Just saying 🎶
Radiate wellness from the inside out.
Solaray claims to be on an altruistic mission to “better support wellness so you can reach your highest heights,” but reaching “your highest heights” means looking hot.
Solaray Vitamin C is designed to support normal, healthy collagen synthesis, cartilage and bone development, central nervous system, immune system, antioxidant activity, and blood vessel support.
Shit like “healthy collagen synthesis” seems rather complex (and like something the human body does ALL BY ITSELF), and it’s entirely unclear how a Vitamin C supplement would “support” a “normal” process, but Solaray isn’t in the business of clarifying why something might work (or why you might need it), it’s in the business of debunking the silly notion that food might BE ENOUGH.
Solaray is “science-based” but when I clicked on “further details about our sustainable labs,” I ended up here 👇
Despite Solaray’s website copy telling me that their “testing protocols inspire confidence in our discerning customers as they make product decisions they can depend on,” the only indisputable fact to inspire confidence in this discerning consumer appeared in tiny print at the very bottom of Solary’s website.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
DISCLAIMER! I have no desire (or right!) to make judgements about what people buy or what they eat or why and I have totally taken Vitamin C supplements! This is not an anti-supplement, anti-vitamin screed but an analysis of the sometimes absurd lengths ad campaigns go to to convince consumers we need this or that. It’s also meant to be funny! So yeah. Judgement free zone!
ONE MORE THING
Please please please be like the much appreciated subway-riding reader who learned that (despite years of evidence to the contrary) FOOD IS NOT ENOUGH, and kindly shared her newly gained wisdom with me so I could share it with all of you - email me or DM me with the WTFs you see out there in the wild! It takes a village, folks. It takes a village. 💃
Gotta include this excellent DM from Laura Thomas, PhD, RNutr, I received this morning! I'll link to Laura's Instagram at the end of the comment.
Sara, your newsletter today reminded me of this atrocity against food:
https://uk.yfood.eu/products/yfood-500ml-meal-replacement
Like no, this is not food. This is your mum’s Slimfast with a tech bro glow up.
“Stay full for 3-5 hours without a midday slump”
Guess what also does that - ACTUAL FOOD. The reason you’re getting a midday slump in the first place is because diet culture has indoctrinated you into thinking that you can subsist on coffee all morning.
Also in the crimes against food cannon. You can 10000% get all the vitamin C you need from food (obviously) but what they don’t say is that *too much* vitamin C irritates the gut lining and give you the shits.
Scurvy is not an issue for like 99% of the population and the people it does impact probably can’t buy these expensive ass supplements.
Here's Laura's Insta - https://www.instagram.com/laurathomasnutrition/?hl=en
Does the Mormon church teach about the cleansing power that buckets of light imbue? How is a bucket of light measured? By it's reflection off the buckets of money you make for the Mormon church? The buckets of apple-cheeked children you can fit into your electric bucket bike?
The first comment here reminded me of Sourdough by Robin Sloan where the office characters drink boxed vitamins. In that book, the sourdough sets you free. At Ballerinafarm, the sourdough is the comfortable jail cell.
Good article again, Sara!