Fad diets: We’ve bitten off more than we can chew
ILIKE food. This might seem a rather obvious thing to say, like saying I enjoy breathing, because we all have to eat and breathe to stay alive. What I mean to say is, I enjoy the pleasure of eating tasty food. have a group of good friends who gather regularly to share a good meal in cheerful company.
We explore the many different kinds of food the world offers. Food provides an endless variety of pleasure. I believe one of the major differences between humans and other animals is that we eat for pleasure whereas they eat to survive.
I find, however, there’s an increasing number of people who are becoming obsessed with their fad diets, be they Banters or paleo-pushers, vegans, fruitarians or low-carb freaks or whatever.
Every meal (maybe that should read “every nutritional intake”) is an exercise in analysis and explanation. How many calories are there in this? Does this contain saturated fats? I prefer gluten-free. I’m lactose intolerant. Is this sugar-free? What about taste?
Have we forgotten that food is one of the great pleasures in life, like laughter and love-making?
I was saddened to read in a British newspaper that hundreds of traditional pubs have closed down in recent years and this has been balanced in a strange way by hundred of gyms that have opened throughout Britain. I look gloomily at the displays of so-called health supplements in local pharmacies and supermarkets. There are shelves loaded with food substitutes – muscle enhancers, energy drinks, fat melters, fibers, vitamin boosters and electrolytic enhancers (whatever they may be).
I am told that many people are now living on a substance called Huel, which is short for “human fuel”. Apparently it contains all the ingredients necessary to sustain human life.
You never need to be tempted by a juicy steak or a plate of sushi again. Just gulp down your Huel and head for the gym, where you can admire your sculptured abs in a full-length mirror.
One food writer tasted it and pronounced it disgusting. Isn’t all this obsession with our bodies turning us into a population of self-centred freaks? Why should we all want to look like Superman anyway?
Normal people come in an endless variety of shapes. There are skinny people and plump people, pear-shaped and wrinkled people and they are all interesting until they start telling you how much better they feel since they started Dr WhatsApp’s amazing grape pip and banana skin diet.
I have known fat, lazy people who lived to the age of 90 and fit, slim people who died of heart failure at 55. Nobody’s going to get out of here alive, so let’s eat, drink and be merry while we can.
Last Laugh
A wealthy businessman came into his wife’s bedroom and said, “if I were to lose my hair would you still love me?” “Of course I would. I will always love you.” “And if I were to lose by teeth?” “I will always love you, darling.” “Would you love me if my business failed and I was bankrupt?”
“I will love you always, even if you had no money. But most of all I’d really miss you.”