Healthy Eating 3

Experts and B/S

Let me begin with a simple question, what is an expert? To my mind there are arrays of experts or at least people claiming to be experts and this is the starting point, experts in what? and what qualifications and experience do you have and what do your claims really mean. If we take the word expert and break it down as ex is something which has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure and this sums up many claimed experts as they know something but not in any detail and have no relevant qualifications or experience and they skirt around the word issue by using the meaningless words and phrases. To my mind there must be a secret school somewhere turning out experts and every time an expert is needed they are told they are an expert in XY and Z and they play that part and in many cases it is a case of actors acting as very few actually seemingly have any knowledge of their subject.

Meanings of words are essential as some are backed by the law while others are not and while you couldn’t go around telling people you are a solicitor and acting as a solicitor, you can go around and tell them you are a solicitors clerk and here is the issue. Solicitors are a protected profession legally and only a qualified solicitor can claim to be a solicitor as this is a protected profession and anyone impersonating a solicitor can be arrested and charged, if someone claims to be a solicitors clerk they can do nothing as this is not legally protected and anyone can be a solicitors clerk as many office based females working in a solicitors office can see and learn.

Many claimed experts are to my mind narcissists, egotists, self publicists for whatever reason and many plagiarise other people’s work and pass it off as their own or they use it as loose and extremely vague proof of any claims they are making, or to substantiate their views and opinions and this is a popular tactic among those seeking to influence someone. In one recent example someone claimed to be a chef and a nutritionist and claimed as both it gave them expert knowledge of dieting and immediately I saw through it, she began by claiming everything should be low fat, low sugar, and low salt and immediately she was plagiarising the NHS message as this is exactly what they say. Despite them making these claims cases of high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes cases are through the roof which proves this message is wrong. Around 20 years ago the NHS made these claims and in those years they have been dismantled piece by piece and we now know fruit sugars called fructose are bad for you on their own but put the fruit fibre with the juice by eating the fruit and this turns on its head and it becomes exceptionally good for you. In more recent years work into fats has been revealing and those old fats which were all classed as being bad for you are now shown to be good for you and again it shows fats are classed as many things and not lumped into one category. Processed foods are now shown to be the enemy and for good reason, they are the cheapest and have the most amount of goodness removed through processing and the most amount of added chemicals and the least amount of goodness combined with the most amount of chemical additives as packages to make bland food tasty and to preserve it as long as possible.

More recent studies have shown the main priorities of good gut health and how good gut health leads to good general health and how this cannot just reduce your weight, but it can reduce blood pressure and reverse many conditions such as diabetes and all without more chemicals of drugs prescribed by doctors. This is why the vegetarians have been ousted by vegans and the vegan food is so highly processed the bottom is dropping out of the market and the major food retailers are downsizing their vegan ranges as the public are becoming more educated about it being highly processed and bad for you.

Let’s look at this woman’s claims:

She claims to be a chef? Quite possibly she is or maybe she isn’t, it’s irrelevant.
She claims to be a nutritionist? So what is a nutritionist, actually it is a meaningless term and anyone can claim to be a nutritionist and this is the first warning sign as meaningless and is not legally protected.
If it was a dietician it would be a different matter as this is a legally protected occupation and requires a level of knowledge backed up with relevant qualifications which is why most dieticians work for the NHS.
Here is the killer, she claims to make food healthier by reducing fat, sugar, and salt then claims to use Maple syrup to sweeten things, actually it is that sweet and that bad for you it defies belief and if she really wanted to sweeten something she would use a natural honey and get the health benefits as well as sweetness.
She would be able to differentiate between different sugars such as fructose which is fruit sugar naturally occurring in fruits and know on their own it is bad for you, but add the fruit fibre it is very good for you. If she did the basic research the NHS prescribed diets actually increased obesity and incidents such as strokes or diabetes and their own official figures confirm this.

It takes very little to dismiss these people for what they are, but their disinformation may be believed by many people who follow her claims as facts when they are charlatans and useful idiots.

So what is the answer, you begin little by little and remove what is bad for you and replace it with what is good for you and you do this over a long period and you do your research and oust the charlatans and expose their frauds, you take back control and identify the correct research which is backed by actual evidence and not people’s opinions.

Exercise

Exercise, this is something we all need and many of us do not get or don’t get sufficient of and this is for many reasons and the main one is the civilised world has become lazy and this is shown in many ways such as driving to the local drive through to get your junk food fix; and the companies promoting this as to the benefit of the customer; rubbish. If they were concerned for the customer they would abolish the drive through and make people walk instead of playing to their idle tendencies and giving them some exercise and this is essential to good health and directly links to your specific diet.
Which exercise? Again this is the how long is a piece of string question as people are different and have different abilities and swimming is accepted as one of the best exercises as not only is a lot of weight taken off the joints it also works the most amount of muscles in the body and here is the rub? Vanity, as many fat people are embarrassed to swim as they think people will mock them and those thin swimmers were probably fat or overweight previously and swimming got their weight down and helped keep their trim figure. Swimming is excellent for those with pains such as joint pains as the support of the water keeps a lot of the stresses off them and keeps their joint pain down; and even those in wheelchairs find they can swim once in the pool. For many people it is simple things such as basic everyday things such as walking and walking upstairs instead of using the lift or escalator or walking the short distance to the local shop instead of driving and even pensioners can use the stairs such as going up and down them several times instead of once and it really is that simple.

You don’t need the vanity of spending £thousands to online systems where a coach tries shouting at you to constantly push harder (and potentially ruin your joints and muscles in the longer term) and make you pay huge amounts for the privilege because its “the latest trend” and remember very few trends last more than a couple of years. Many of these so called “high intensity systems” are there to aid you but they are ultimately there to make the owners and sellers of the equipment money and huge profits for their shareholders often using vanity as a selling point among certain groups of people.

Has anyone ever asked themselves why all these alleged health clubs have such large car parks and why so many of them have bars and basic pub foods which by their nature are unhealthy and bad for you; and why they attract the very competitive types with egos larger than the moon, it’s because some people have more money than sense and spend it to look good in front of their peer group and certainly generally not for exercise and fitness. How many see the joggers and runners out there every evening and the committed who do it all year round and not just in the summer, and how many of them all have the same styles of clothing with all the accessories and again it’s all about visual appearance and not practicality and did the man who invented jogging die from a heart attack while jogging? And how many of them suffer in later life with many problems such as bad joints and associated conditions, so what is needed is regular exercise people can do and with few side effects in later life.

Walking is actually one of the best exercises and you don’t have to spend hours walking or walk miles for it to have an effect on your health as recent research over the long term shows walking for just 10-15 minutes per day can severely hit the idle tendencies and if you do this twice a day you improve your odds of better health and most people can do this. It has also been shown that walking first thing in the morning just after you get up and before your breakfast wakes up your metabolism and you digest your food better and you lose excess weight quickly and your weight stabilises and if you vary it a little by walking over different terrain it helps your muscles and balance as you adapt to different conditions and being outside in all weathers makes you less susceptible to the cold. You don’t need the gimmicks and the special clothing often associated with it and the hi viz top is out and a comfortable top is in, you don’t need the fancy branded shorts as ordinary shorts or trousers will suffice and the £200 walking boots are out as your old and comfy trainers are just fine as your exercise is just exercise and not a fashion show for the benefit of others.

People may be elderly, infirm or disabled and this may potentially cause issues and many of these are psychological as in most cases they can be easily overcome as people in wheelchairs can do upper body exercises and most people can tailor some exercise to their condition/s and this is really what is needed. Some pastimes are the exercise in themselves and gardening when it is full blown gardening is very energetic when you have to shovel a 20 tonne load of muck into your garden or when you are building things, trimming or cutting trees and high hedges and winter digging as they all burn energy.

This is where the balance comes as it is fuelling your car analogy as you fuel your body to your physical journey and put just enough food in to undertake your physical activity/activities and no more as this turns to fat and if you under fuel your body you can stop and take a break and add some more fuel by eating lunch or having a snack and top your fuel up.

Better Eating

Better eating can be done by mixing and matching good foods and omitting the bad foods and simply taking some of the Sunday roast meat and slicing it and putting it on the healthiest bread with the low processed ordinary butter is instantly improving your health as you are swapping your normal bread for healthier bread, removing the highly processed meats and replacing them with natural meats and swapping your highly or ultra processed spread for healthier butter means an instant improvement.

If you can drink a couple of glasses of filtered water per day you will flush your digestive system out and if you add a slice of lemon to this water it improves it even more and you can omit the cans or bottles of pop or reduce them you reduce the sugar spikes and resulting cravings.

It does come down to a lot of small but significant things and the first is gut health and once you improve this everything else follows, many teas are becoming popular and Pukka are the leading brand with the best and most consistent results and if you get one with ginger, honey, or lemon in it becomes beneficial, so try having one cup a day of these beneficial teas as ginger alone gives lots of energy.

Take good foods and match them, how about eggs which are good for you in any configuration and make an omelette and do not add milk or anything else to dilute them and you can add other beneficial things such as mushrooms, onions, broccoli, and even meats or fish and you make them to your taste, like it, make it again; don’t like it then don’t make it again and don’t like is still a lesson.
Take some beef from your Sunday dinner and even the trimmings or flaked pieces will be fine, add a knob of butter to a wok and put in some chopped onion and then some sliced mushrooms and while they cook gently you whisk some eggs in a glass jar; when cooked you add your beef bits and pour on your whisked eggs and cook slowly and possibly finish off under the grill. You now have a healthy meal or snack quickly and easily made using only natural ingredients which are good for your health.

Stir fry’s are an excellent way of combining a lot of ingredients which are good for you and slowly cooking them in a wok with only a nob of butter and you can add what you like, chopped aubergine, courgette, small tomatoes, onion, mushrooms, peppers, and grate a little fresh ginger and garlic in and you have a healthy meal; save a little meat from your joint and cut it up and add it you have a quick and healthy meal.
Make a Chinese version by omitting the aubergine and courgette and adding bamboo shoots and water chestnuts and possibly some green cabbage leaves chopped up and more sliced peppers and you have crunch and the permutations are endless and if you grow some of the ingredients then even better and healthier.

Salads are a staple of good eating and forget the commercial lettuce such as Iceberg and use other lettuce which is darker as it is healthier and was not commercially developed to absorb chemicals to keep it fresher for longer as it is a rubbish and tasteless lettuce, you can swap it for mixed leaf or add mixed leaf and you can add a hard boiled egg as egg in any form is good for you and you can add flower leaves if your taste allows it. Instead of dressings which you omit anyway you can add some sauerkraut as this along with eggs are good for you and you build your salad with wholesome ingredients and if you add none processed meats or fish such as mackerel or even prawns you have an excellent meal.

Desserts are even simpler as again you can mix and match and you combine what is good for you in different configurations and if we begin with whole fruits we omit things such as grapes as they have a very high fructose content and a low fibre content whereas pineapple has a high fructose content and a high fibre content and should only be had in moderation.
Begin by foraging and blackberries are a favourite so get lots and freeze them so you have a years supply and if you have other wild fruit such as raspberries then gather and freeze these and you have a base; take the fruit and put a little into a bowl and add Greek yogurt and it’s an instant desert or just put some Greek yogurt in a bowl and top it with sliced banana and drizzle a teaspoon of honey over it to sweeten it and if your fruit runs out during the winter months you can get things such as smoothie packs with several frozen fruits inside.

Get some cacao nibs from the health food shop while they are on offer and put some in.

Stick to healthy eating for the five day working week and let loose at the weekend, you will find your eating of bad foods will subside, even at the weekend and if you adopt a 5:2 system and you keep your Sunday dinner you can still improve it by adding paprika to your gravy as it is good for lowering blood pressure and removing the potatoes gives a win win dinner.

Minimise the bacon as this is sold on weight and is processed and the resulting juices are added to a steroidal mixture of juices which are injected back into the meat to add weight and increase its price and if you really like your bacon then keep it to weekends only and improve it by adding it to an omelette with other good things and broccoli is another example and very nice.
Balance out something bad for you with something good for you and sticking to bacon then grill it and make a BLT sandwich using better bread, omitting the butter or spread and using your home grown tomatoes and lettuce and you have changed the balance to bacon and mayonnaise which are bad for you and added your home grown tomatoes and lettuce with no additives and you have a 50:50 mix of the good and bad which is better than 100% bad.

It is all about balance and don’t forget it may have taken you years to get to this position and it takes a combination of things and other factors which you need to address and redress and for a 50 year old to be diagnosed as diabetic means months or years of improvement in your diet and exercise may be needed to redress the balance.