Avoiding Prepackaged Foods That Cause Eating Disorders – Fainted About It?

Essay by Eric Worrall

East Anglia has a new counseling program to help students who are struggling to remove plastic packaging and cook their own food, as well as other concerns related to the environment.

Climate change: Don’t let victory perish, project tells worried people

By Georgina Rannard
BBC News Climate & Science

A new project has been launched to address growing climate anxiety among students at the University of East Anglia.

At the opening ceremony in Norwich, students told BBC News they felt hopeless, angry and desperate about climate change.

They worry about what it will be like to live in a world with unpredictable climates and the destruction of nature.

On Thursday, a new survey found 45% of UK students worry about climate change once a week or more.

Literature student Meg Watts, 22, says she experienced depression after being overwhelmed by the scale of problems facing the planet. And she sought therapy after developing an eating disorder trying to cut food packaged in plastic.

The new program was developed with mental health charities Norfolk and Waveney Mind, who have recognized that young people are coming in for advice about their fears about climate change.

Ruth Taylor from Mind explains common worries are about food security and whether to have children. “Young people are trying to get ready for what is to come,” she suggests.

…

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-enosystem-61218933

I experience real WTF reactions when I read things like this.

For example, these environmentally-conscious students can grow their own green foods if they want to avoid plastic.

England has a allocation system, in which the local government leases a large garden to the poor to grow vegetables. Rent is very affordable, from just £8 (US$10)/year.

The plots are usually about 250 square meters in area. This may not sound like much, but England has some of the most fertile land in the world. I’m no expert in gardening, but I planted 100 square meters of vegetables in 2002 in the UK and I didn’t have to buy any greens from the supermarket for 3 months. Half of the tomatoes I planted went to waste because I couldn’t eat them all. Another year, I planted several rows of potatoes and pulled at least 20lbs of potatoes out of the ground.

However, one of the students cited by the BBC couldn’t even switch from prepackaged food to having to prepare her own meals.

I mean, how difficult and time consuming is it to prepare your own meals? She can’t just chop up some vegetables and some cheap steak, grab a handful of barley or oats, and throw it all in a cheap electric slow cooker with some water and a block of braised meat in the morning. shining. 5 minutes of prep and you have a delicious meal at the end of the day, just waiting for you to eat. She feels hungry, instead of spending 5 minutes a day preparing healthy food without plastic wrap.

On the one hand, I believe that the suffering and in some cases of mental illness experienced is real, and I feel for anyone experiencing such problems, even if the cause of the grief Their suffering is purely imaginary. But someone who has an eating disorder because they can’t cope with having to prepare their own food, I mean these people are supposed to be young adults, right?