Dead Wrong, Alton Brown

I actually like Alton Brown, renowned chef, cookbook author and Food Network host. His show is informative and funny. However, I disagree vehemently with his antiquated and pedestrian views on addiction.

In a recent article in Time, (December 14, 2009, pg. 68, The Toughest Diet) Brown talks about his struggles with overeating, how he lost weight and how he now copes with being surrounded by food constantly. He has completely changed his eating routine, which seems to be working for him, and now, instead of snacking on French fries, enjoys sardines, avocados and almonds. I say bully for him. However, Mr. Brown misses the boat when he says by way of analogy, “You don’t cut back on heroin, you don’t cut back on smoking; you either quit or you don’t.”

This is a really helpful and illustrative quote, an excellent example of the unquestioned, unexamined societal attitude I stand firmly against. And I’m not trying to pick on Mr. Brown. He just has the misfortune of publicly saying what everybody else thinks without challenging the notion on any level: a crime we are all guilty of at one time or another.

You can cut back on heroin. You can cut back on smoking, or drinking, or marijuana or cocaine. You can do anything you set your mind to. Is it easier to just quit completely? Of course it is. But each of us is born with will, with volition. We are the masters of our own destiny – at least within the rat maze which is human existence. For someone to say that a given individual has no control of himself is to bestow the dubious gift of abdication of responsibility. If you want to quit your habits completely, do it! I’m with you all the way. But don’t then turn around and say that, because you had to quit, everybody else does too.

And actually, Mr. Brown is the perfect example of my point. He had a problem over eating. Did he quit eating altogether? Of course not. He found a way to work within the confines of his need to eat and find a healthy plan. Which brings me to my final observation. Do we tell recovering sex addicts to cease having sex altogether? Generally, no. Why? Because sex is seen as indispensable to a happy life, something people don’t want to live without. Obviously the same goes for compulsive eaters – they can’t live without sustenance, so they find a way to eat healthier. The same solution can be true for the drug addict and so-called alcoholic. But most people and our social institutions refuse to concede this point.