How is adherence to diets similar to … religious faith? Religious Explanations.
In adherence to diets, there is a similarity with religious faith. This conclusion was made by religious scholar Alan Levinovitz, author of The Gluten Lie.1. He drew attention to the fact that a fanatical belief in the benefits of certain dietary rules (even if they are illogical and unscientific) affects a person’s thinking in the same way as blind adherence to the dogmas of faith. In both cases, our behavior is based on an unconscious desire to drown out feelings of anxiety and fear with the help of ritual actions. When something threatens our health, we feel especially vulnerable and cling to simple ways that promise us protection, explains Alan Levinovich. The stronger the sense of danger, the greater the risk that we will begin to perceive the rules of the diet as sacred and immutable rituals, and we will divide those around us into “clean” and “impure”, initiated and uninitiated. A familiar picture?
1. A. Levinovitz «The Gluten Lie And Other Myths About What You Eat» (Regan Arts, 2015).