Food and Health

Listening to the word 'health' can be dangerous to your 'sanity?"  

Health has become an obsession with people.  Politicians regularly tell us what not to do and what to do.  Doctors, the internet, Health professionals, commercials on TV and in publications are bombarding us with "do this, don't do that."  We are constantly being told that this is good for us, this is bad for us and are limited in our choices of what to do and how to do it.


But, for a change I'm not going to write about politics.... although I could and will do a piece on how they are slowly revoking the very freedoms our forefathers fought and died to protect.  However .....


Lets go back a few years to the diet craze.  Back in the olden day (1970's and 1980's) calories we're the factor everyone looked at when trying to diet or lose weight.  Soon, 'science' said that fats were the culprit, so people started going on fat free diets.  New products began popping up in stores, low fat butter, low fat cooking oils, low fat yogurt, low potato chips and more.

However eventually 'science' said that only certain types of fats were bad for you.  They never did say whether weight gain/loss was relevant to fat intake or not, only that our bodies required fat intake to survive.

I remember asking my doctor brother once this question.  "If I was stranded on a dessert island, with enough water to last years, and only a supply of vitamins and protein powder, could I survive very long?"  His answer was simply 'no' ...  Humans need fibre and fat intake to go along with the water, nutrients and protein.  He explained that our bodies have no storage ability for protein, so it gets used or discarded.  The vitamins alone would not sustain life and without fibre and fat in our diet, - well I won't get too gross!!!

The next 'science' news came along about  carbohydrates  - these little guys were the factor in our weight gain/loss, and the low carb diets became the craze.  Apparently if we went without carbohydrates for an extended time, we would lose weight so fast it was like a miracle.  The Atkins diet became the main-stay for hundreds of health conscious individuals whose only goal was to lose weight and become healthier.

Again, a religious-like fever gripped the diet world and soon everyone knew a few people who had started the Atkins diet.  But soon - along came the news that  carbohydrates are a necessity in our diets.   Apparently carbs provide this thing called energy after they are converted! Go figure!

The latest thing in the diet-crazed world is this thing called 'Detox diets'.  While all those other diets said stay away from something that might cause weight gain, this diet says everything is bad and we need to cleanse our bodies of all those poisons.

Wait.... isn't that what our liver and kidney's do?  This is a dangerous diet!  I've been reading some of them and they are very dangerous - in particular for people who may not be in perfect health.  Typically, people looking to lose weight or get healthier are the most gullible for these fads.

The latest of these Detox diets have hundreds of websites claiming no ill health side effects, and massive weight loss, while cleansing your body of stored toxins.  The 'Hollywood' favourite has become the lemon detox diet.  One site claims a 'secret' formula of lemon and special herbs and vitamins for 7-10 days (and no other food) "will cleanse you while providing all the nutrients required for healthy living."

Okay, so our cells require fat to reproduce and our muscles require protein, while our digestive system requires fibre.... and along comes this diet that has no fat in it (website claims this) with no proteins or fibre.  Simply lemon and natural herbs and vitamins.  Sure you will lose weight!  Your living on water for a week!!!

I've learned that the louder a product screams how healthy it is, is exponentially related to how badly they want to sell it, not how good for you it is.  Take potato chips, with their corners covered in labels "trans fat free", "low salt", "low cholesterol", all selling points ... nothing more.

Again when I'm not 100% sure of something medical, I turn to a member of the medical community to get answers.  This time I asked several doctors and nurses and their response was much the same.  "Stay away from this fad - detoxing is never required unless your liver is failing," summarized their collective answers.

Here's what I've been told by my doctor and several others in the profession. "To lose weight - Eat less, stop eating junk food, drink more water, exercise more and be patient.  


Sounds simple? Well - it's not.  But it seems to be the only way to lose weight and ensure that it stays off.  Figure out how many calories a day is required and then intake less until hitting the desired weight.  Add in some extra exercise (cardiovascular - like walking or jogging) and expect to lose about 2 lbs a month.  


Again, I'm not an expert so I suggest you consult your doctors and stay away from fads.