The condition where someone religiously rejects any food that isn’t totally healthy is called orthorexia. This obsession has various forms. Some people won’t eat anything they didn’t prepare themselves. Others with no valid medical reason reject foods that contain even a smidgeon of sugar or gluten.
Anyone with medically-diagnosed coeliac disease must avoid all gluten. That applies to just over 1 per cent of the population. As I’ve written before, a higher percentage of people may react adversely to FODMAPS – Fermentable, Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols – found in some fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, nuts, legumes, dairy products and confectionery. However, a reaction to FODMAPS is not an allergic reaction, and relates to the quantity consumed. A case where less doesn’t have to mean none.
Added sugars are a big problem for almost everyone – so we should all take care not to overdo sweet foods and drinks – but that doesn’t mean you can never have another piece of birthday cake.
Some people also think it’s good to avoid carbohydrates, but as I’ll explain in a future article, it’s not valid to judge a food by something as gross as its content of carbohydrate – or fat for that matter.
Years ago, most people ate standard fare most of the time and really special foods for festive occasions. Fizzy sugary drinks, crisps and similar snack foods, even croissants and home-made cakes and many other goodies were not everyday fare. Fruit juice once meant squeezing oranges. Ice cream, custard and cakes were home-made.
Eating habits have changed. Few foods are now regarded as treats and most people now expect sugary drinks, juices and snack foods any or every day. Most foods are already processed, but this has also taken the true joy out of many foods.
The results of the typical eating habits in Australia aren’t good. For a start, three quarters of men, over 60% of women and 25-30% of children are overweight.
For people who are truly healthy, a little extra body fat doesn’t matter. But almost 1.3 million Australians now have type 2 diabetes – and 90% of these people are overweight. Problems with knees, backs and hips aren’t exclusive to those carrying excess weight but the extra strain of carrying excess weight is a major factor.
People gain weight for many reasons and just as we shouldn’t criticise any individual for their height, neither should we assign blame for their body weight size. Some people stay slim because they are natural born fidgets – constantly moving parts of their body, even when they appear to be sitting still. They cross and uncross their legs, wave their hands and arms, seldom sit still and they walk fast. Some babies lie still in their cots while others constantly move about. Genetic factors are involved.
Many people also eat for emotional reasons. For example, carers who devote their lives to others often get their own comfort from food. People who have endured trauma may either under- or overeat.
But just as we should never ‘blame’ people for their weight, we can’t escape the fact that our eating and movement/exercise habits have changed. We used to scrub floors by hand, now we have a ‘spray and wipe’ lifestyle. We use vacuum cleansers and leaf blowers rather than brooms. We press a button to open car windows and the greatest change of all is that we sit for hours in front of screens.
What to do?
The idea of imposing the latest strict diet on everyone is not valid. If fad diets really worked, there would not be so many overweight people. I’ve written over 30 books on nutrition, but the only ‘diet’ book ‘The Diet Dilemma’ did not set out a daily diet for the way any person should eat. We are all different and what works or suits one person, may be inappropriate for others.
Few people can stick to a set diet plan. And once they go off the diet, back comes the weight. The same outcome follows the new injectable weight loss drugs. Once someone goes off these, back comes the weight. I won’t go into the unpleasant ways they stop people wanting to eat, or the potentially hazardous side effects and risks of malnutrition, but drugs are not a permanent solution.
Back to my real subject: food. As I see it, one of the major problems is an ‘all or nothing approach’. Do we really expect people will stick to a rigid plan that forbids foods they really enjoy?
Those who are overweight and fond of sweet foods, definitely need to reduce their intake of added sugars. Those who like salty, fatty foods also need less. That means changing current habits, but if taken to a total ban on all sweet foods, or never again enjoying a hot chip on a cold day, it’s unlikely to last for the rest of life. Changing habits and thinking about what you’re eating may be a better solution.
Sticking with sweet foods for a moment, you can change your taste buds. For example, people who take sugar in tea or coffee find that they can gradually reduce the amount until they enjoy these beverages unsweetened. We probably all know someone who has stopped adding sugar to such drinks and if you mistakenly give them a cup of sweet tea, they no longer enjoy it.
Other successes might include choosing a smaller portion, or sharing foods. As one (wise) man once said, you should never ask a woman if she wants dessert, because the dessert she wants is half of yours! We can also delay gratification by waiting a while before enjoying a particular food.
Quality is important too. Skip buckets of cheap ice-cream and enjoy an occasional single scoop of gelato. Avoid ordinary biscuits and cakes. Leave soggy pastry. Have a smaller glass of a quality beer. Make a top burger using lean meat or chicken, plenty of lettuce, tomato and beetroot (try grated raw) and a quality bun instead of fast food varieties.
The speed at which we eat and drink is a major factor in why we eat more than we need. Fast foods and highly processed items are designed for fast consumption. The buns used by some major chains have fine white flour and added fat so they almost dissolve between the tongue and the roof of your mouth. This bypasses the satiety signal the stomach sends to the brain conveying the message ‘I’m full, stop eating’.
The major deficiency in most diets is a lack of dietary fibre. Fibre is filling, and food companies formulate their products to be low in dietary fibre – so you’ll eat more!
The wisdom of a true feast is obvious from years of research into Mediterranean diets. In most Mediterranean countries, festivals or special occasions involve a true feast. The whole operation is extremely enjoyable, but it takes so much time and effort to prepare that after the special occasion, people are happy to return to their usual healthy choices. Indeed, if you suggested another feast the following week, it would almost certainly be rejected.
