Saturday 15 July 2023
Healthy Eating
Dr Baz Broxtowe of Fradley University has recently embarked on a series of lectures about diet and what people should consider when they shop for food. I managed to catch up with him over a morning coffee shortly before the lecture I was due to attend.
“It’s fundamentally simple,” Dr Baz told, sipping his favourite coffee with three shots of coffee, whipped cream, cinnamon syrup and a sprinkling of pickled pistachios.
“Yet all the experts manage to make it so complicated,” was my immediate reaction. “Fats, proteins, carbs, minerals and vitamins only seem to be the start of it.”
“All those things matter,” Dr Baz replied, “but fundamentally eating is good for you while not eating leads to all kinds of disadvantageous health issues.”
“Eating as opposed to not eating?”
“Yes.”
“But surely,” I protested, “surely dietary advice is not about eating or not eating, it’s about the nutritional quality, additives and long term health aspects of what we eat.”
“Have you waded through millions and millions of pages what is supposedly expert dietary advice?” asked Dr Baz.
“Well no - there is so much of it – “
“Exactly. Wade through that lot and you wouldn’t want to eat anything. My advice is eat something rather than nothing and it may as well be what you enjoy. That’s all there is to it.”
“So the lectures must be really short?”
“In a way they are. I just leave a note on the lecture room door telling people to eat whatever suits them. Adults shouldn’t need telling what to eat.”
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6 comments:
Eat a mixed diet, one that contains plenty of fish; be leery of pasta.
That was pretty much my mother's wisdom which means she was a darn sight better advisor than the medical trades with their endless tergiversations.
Their latest ramp is aimed at ultra-processed foods. I suppose that means that the chumps who used to urge us to avoid butter and eat margarine have now reversed their advice.
But what does "ultra-processed" mean scientiifically? Can you buy an ultra-processedometer? No more than you can but a junkfoodometer.
Dr. Baz … interesting moniker.
Dearieme:
Yes, "ultraprocessed" would definitely seem to include most things lauded as "health foods". That tofu and wholemeal bread doesn't make itself.
dearieme - some years ago there was an entertaining butter ad which went through all the processing steps required to make margarine. At the end was the comment "Yum". We have a mixed diet with lots of fish and we went back to butter some years ago.
James - he's my general purpose spoof academic. Unpaid too (:
Sam - and Sainsbury's veggie meals seem to be "ultraprocessed" by any standard. We don't buy them but I like to read the ingredient labels.
But how are people to know what 'suits them' without proper scientific advice? What they like to eat may not be what suits them - as the numbers of fatties at any supermarket checkout or patients with diet-related diseases at any hospital will confirm.
Vatsmith - I don't think scientific advice makes much difference. An example would be fatties tucking into huge portions of fish and chips. If they can't judge portion sizes in relation to their own weight there is a more fundamental problem.
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