If you wish to keep your diet simple, then take notice of Shakespeare’s warning in Comedy of Errors of using a long spoon if you sup with the devil. In other words, don’t get too close to the food industry.
There are as many obese men, women and children in the world as those who are malnourished. To qualify to be obese you have to be more than 20% overweight for the average body weight for your height. Take myself. I am 181 centimetres (just under six feet). I weigh 68 kilos. Average weight for my height is for a male is around 74 kilos. If I started to become obese, I would have to weigh more than 88 kilos.
If you wish to keep your diet simple, then you have to keep your perception simple.
Here are a couple of examples, past and present, to help consumers make wise choices.
1. We have received advice for years telling us to “eat less red meat.” Simple. Unambiguous.
2. It would be very easy to have a simple traffic light style system for packaged food. The colour red would state high content in terms of sugar, salt and fat. The colour amber would state medium content and the colour greed would state low content in terms of sugar, salt and fat. Simple, unambiguous.
The Food Industry spends millions of Euros, £££, $$$ to lobby governments to ensure that consumers are confused, ill informed or require scientific knowledge about what they bu to eat.. We are digging our graves with our forks, spoons and knives due to the addictive substances in food, as well as alcohol and tobacco.
Take Example 1. Under pressure from the Meat Industry, the US government changed the simple statement to: “Choose meats that will reduce your saturated fat intake.” Truly obscure advice.
Take Example 2. Under pressure from the food industry, the European Parliament this month rejected the simple traffic light approach and instead endorsed more labelling of what is in the food. So consumers won’t know what’s high, medium or low in sugar, salt and fat. Breakfast cereals, including so called health options, undermine your health. We would be healthier to eat a a bowlful of potato crisps for breakfast as there is less salt and sugar than in breakfast cereals. Including granola with fruit and nuts.
There was some spiritual truth in the past there it was more important to be mindful of what came out of our mouth than what we put into it. Jesus and Buddha made that clear in criticising kosher food and ideology of Brahmin diet. Times have changed. We have the food industry destroying the well being of consumers. Our ancestors didn’t have supermarkets with countless shelves of junk food. We need a healthy cynicism about nutritional scientists and the TV stars who promote food.
When we go and buy low fat foods, the chances the industry deceives us. In the collective anxiety, we have about our weight, we have grasped onto low fat foods. Take yogurt. Low fact yogurt often has more sugar, and thus more calories, than full fat yogurt. Check is out. Food is not a medicine such as the massive campaign to get us to eat daily probiotics.
Here are simple and general guidelines. There are exceptions, of course
- If the food is advertised, especially on television, don’t buy it!
- If a food has more than five products, don’t buy it!
- Buy as much food as possible that does not require packaging.
- Use your local outdoor market.
Stay healthy. Stay happy.