Our Western Diet

I've been on a journey of discovery over the last few years. Our food is killing us. When you look at people today and the health problems - obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer......the list goes on and it is so depressing! More so because it is so unnecessary! These are all relatively modern problems - well the dramatic rise in the incidences is a modern problem. Primitive societies all over the world are gradually catching up due to the explosion of the western diet into their societies. Everyone wants a Macca's don't they? Aside from the obvious cause coming from the explosion in the fast food industry, there are other causes. Low-fat, good fats and bad fats, carbohydrates, protein and just good old nutrients. We are so aware of what's good and bad, health authorities have even changed the food pyramid to make it easier for us.......so why aren't we getting healthier instead of un-healthier! (I know that's not a word).

Nutrition is probably the problem. The scientists that come up with all these good and bad food ideas think that food is just nutrients! They want to take a good food apart to find out the nutrients and then they think that will work in isolation. A good diet is one that is well balanced, that has a mix of fruit, vegetables, grass fed meets, whole grains and of course good fats/oil, but most importantly is food that you have evolved to eat. (eg Eskimos, Kalahari Bushman, Aborigines all had different diets, but were good for them) We have not evolved to eat junk food! Maybe in 100 years, we will all cope with this diet, but should we want to do that?

I have recently begun to wonder if I’m gluten intolerant. I’m not really sure what it is, but if I go away and eat food from cafe’s or restaurants I get sick. I often think that it’s because I’ve started eating so much food that I’ve either grown myself or is organic, that when I eat conventional food, my body can’t cope. I’ve cut back on bread and this has helped but I don’t think it’s just gluten – is it our western diet! Everytime I go to a meeting/conference/workshop, you get the usual fair of white bread sandwiches and packaged cakes or biscuits. I just cannot eat this. I don’t even know why white bread is not a banned substance! We can’t buy raw milk because there’s a “health risk”. Isn’t there a greater known health risk with most of the packaged food that we buy in shops! I think I better stop on that note – will take it up again later........