Food And Gift Ideas

Most books on nutrition assume everybody is the same. But it ain’t so. We’re all different. Yet we are told to avoid fat and eat fruits and vegetables as if there’s no difference between us.

Fat gets the blame for everything these days. Cancer. Heart Disease. Obesity. Rising fuel prices. Whatever. We should cut the fat and switch to carbohydrates like whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Fat Is A Good Guy

There’s a medically approved diet for certain children. Fat makes up 90% of the calories of this diet. I kid you not. And yet these children grow normally, are of normal weight and their cholesterol levels are only slightly higher than usual. What these children have is epilepsy. Their seizures are controlled by this diet.

A typical meal of chicken, carrots, double cream and butter might turn your stomach. But to these kids and their families, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

What, you’re not convinced? It’s a special case you’re thinking. It doesn’t apply to the general population. For the rest of us, fats are bad, vegetables and fruits are good.

Not really! Some nutritionists believe our most common nutritional deficiency is …. fat.

Saturated fat is often portrayed as the great enemy. The reality is that while it may not be the best type of fat to eat, humans are adapted to eat it. The real enemy are the fats that come from food processing. These foods give us far too much of the omega 6 and trans fats and far too little omega 3 fats from fish oils.

When Vegetables Are Bad

Glasgow University professor Kenneth McColl has given a warning that vegetable consumption could be behind the UK’s fastest growing cancer. He and his 10-strong research team believe that the three fold increase in throat cancers over the last 20 years could be down to nitrate fertilisers.

Buying organic vegetables is not the answer. The also contain a great deal of nitrate.

I could also talk about al the toxins, carcinogens and mutagens that occur naturally in fruits and vegetables. But I’ll leave that for now.

I could also mention those people that are especially sensitive to carbs. They need to limit how much fruit and vegetables they eat because they effect their blood sugar levels. But we’ll leave that alone as well.

I might even mention the many people who have a toxic reaction to certain foods. Even ‘healthy’ foods, like grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes, onions.

I could even point to people who have an allergy to aspirin. The chemical found in aspirin (salicylate) is also high in fruits and vegetables.

Am I seriously telling you to avoid fruits and vegetables and eat fatty foods instead? No, certainly not. For most people this is excellent advice. The point I’m making is that you are an individual. You have your own dietary requirements and needs. There is nobody on earth like you, so don’t let anybody else tell you what to eat. Get to know your own body’s needs. Listen to what it is trying to tell you.

Listen to your body, not to nutrition ‘experts’.