Diet (n): one’s usual food and drink. — my preferred definition
Healthy is good. Healthy is very satisfactorily good, not just “good enough.” That phrase implies a low, minimum state of existence.

I took a Women’s Studies class a couple of years ago that discussed the representation of women’s bodies in the 17th and 18th Century and one of the things we discussed was the life of Anchoresses. These were women who were physically walled up into churches and only ate scraps that were offered to them from a small window to the outside. The point was that they were secluded and meant to become emaciated to imitated the crucified image of Christ.

These images and practices are certainly linked to the evolving of our social ideas regarding women and food!

As you may know, women’s relationship with food has been historically tense in Western society, where Christianity and Patriarchy very early linked hunger/desire for food with bodily desire, meaning women would starve themselves to be “chaste” and holy.

Things have changed since then, but the Patriarchy is definitely still there!