The ‘paranoid’ battle over nutrition

If you believe the experts (and boy, they are all coming out of the woodwork), keeping in mind the continuing differing of opinion on nutrition, you might as well sit on a mountain and never face food again.

It seems like a better option than being constantly overwhelmed by the nutritionists who act like doomsday prophets, warning of pending disaster if you accidentally eat a fruit snack.

Last time I checked, food was supposed to be for enjoyment, and for many, some sort of comfort (always keeping a balance), but these days when you speak about good and bad foods it conjures up hellish images, enough to to cause misery to one’s psyche.

If you pay attention to the overload of information regarding nutrition, one is at risk of suffering an acute attack of guilt if you accidentally consume a hamburger, while you may find yourself fleeing wild-eyed from coffee, or shrieking uncontrollably when you are handed a high-carb meal or even face a nervous breakdown when something contains “bad” fat.

Good grief, for thousands of years people on this planet did not know about saturated and unsaturated fat, about complex carbohydrates, about blood groups craving different diets, yet people were content and still conquered the world while coming up with incredible inventions.

A lot of the great geniuses funny enough lived on wine, or just bread and water!

They say ignorance is bliss, but maybe all these “experts” have created a culture of extreme paranoia, causing people to be psychologically scared about what they eat.

Is it possible that people have become so depressed about all the negativity about nutrition, trying to figure out the difference between free range and organic, they are actually eating more to comfort themselves!

It may sound bizarre, but the multitude of diets and all the expert advice has reached epic proportions bordering on insanity.

Think about it – this world has been in existence for thousands of years, have we now gotten to a point of becoming so obsessed by clean and unclean foods that we are driving ourselves nuts (excuse the pun)?

By the way, the jury is still out if nuts are good for you (sorry for all those who love their peanut butter sandwiches).

Society has been just fine when it comes to food. For a long time, I’m sure, somewhere in Europe someone didn’t sob wildly wondering about cholesterol when indulging in a pork chop, or someone didn’t ponder the negatives and positives about eating eggs, butter, or drinking milk.

Man has always been his own worst enemy. We love to make the world a difficult place for ourselves.

So we introduce political correctness, and we make life even more complicated by bombarding people with supposed “new” studies on healthy sexual lifestyles (as if the people throughout history didn’t know what to do), and what to eat.

For those who have ever read the Bible, the author of Ecclesiastes, Solomon, speaks about nothing being new under the sun. Yes, all the research on diets, sexual lifestyles, fashion and so on which are being punted as “new”, is but old.

The so-called experts simply change their opinions, or come up with supposed new ideas, or punt the latest breakthroughs all for one simple reason – money. We are reinventing the wheel to sound smart and clever.

A latest research has shown that to sleep in the nude is healthy for married couples. I wonder how much money it costs to come up with this conclusion which is about as obvious that the earth is not flat.

Human beings know what is good for them and as human beings we know how to populate the planet. As human beings we certainly don’t need to be made fools of as if we don’t know about healthy sexual lifestyles or what food to eat.

This planet has got about seven billion people – so trust me, people know what to do!

We know junk food is not a good idea, neither is fizzy drinks, or too much fat, sugar or salt. We get it, but please, to all the experts, stop treating the world like idiots by pretending all these diets and theories are the holy grail of our health.

After all, certain foods that were frowned upon like butter might now be good for you, so go figure. The experts shoot themselves in the foot and make themselves seem less clever.

You know, the low-carb diet has been seen as a vital breakthrough in healthy living, but people hardly understand carbs and how one’s individual body reacts differently to simple or complex carbohydrates.

Sadly, because of the experts, people starve themselves of carbs, or proteins, or sugars, or even salt, and they end up looking like someone ready to be cast in a role of a zombie movie.

Then there is the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which is also nonsense. All meals are important for different reasons. Each one plays a role in keeping you energised and at the top of your game.

As mankind we thus continue to set ridiculous rules and form useless perceptions, claiming that to be thin like a toothpick is healthy, while being slightly overweight is suddenly grotesque. Society is fickle, and really, can the experts be trusted?

Sure, the world is struggling with obesity, but the problem is the world has created this monster! People eat too much because people are depressed, and they are depressed because they listen to experts who only confuse and deceive.

Eating should be one of the great pleasures of life! And if you learn to eat with pleasure, you may even feel more satisfied with less food.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of diets (Atkins Diet, the Zone Diet, Weight Watchers Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Raw Food Diet, Mediterranean Diet). Some are for losing weight, others for gaining weight, lowering cholesterol, living a long and healthy life.

It is enough to drive you up the walls.

Everything in life needs some sort of balance, and this implies to nutrition. Human beings aren’t stupid – we actually know what to eat (which is good for us), we know what to do in the bedroom, we know that we need to exercise, so we surely don’t need any more gurus of supposed enlightened knowledge to upset the proverbial apple cart.

Let mankind eat, be happy, but always live according to common sense.

After all, who wants to go through life void of enjoying the beauty of food, just to come to an unfortunate end such as a skiing accident?