Page 250 - How to Be a Conscious Eater - Making Food Choices That Are Good for You

Third, commensality. That is, the deeply human experience of
breaking bread together. This last caution about food aversions
is the potential increase in eating alone. Copious research
shows that Americans are already in dire straits in terms
of widespread loss of social ties, and personalized nutrition
doesn’t help the situation. Each of us fixated on our individual
litany of banishments makes it awfully hard to convene over
something as simple as a lunch date or convivial cocktail. In
fact, a 2019 survey found that nearly half of Americans follow-
ing an exclusion diet of some kind admit it impairs their social
life. So, although personalized nutrition makes a lot of sense,
keep in mind this potential irony: Despite going down these
roads of rejection in the search for long-term well-being, one
of the greatest predictors of longevity is actually social con-
nectedness. Rather than focusing on optimizing our unique
macronutrient ratios, we’ll likely live longer by embracing food
as a social act.

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