3 minute read
LET THEM EAT CAKE? NOT IN THE OFFICE!
ent things to different people. We’re all individuals and what works for some doesn’t work for others. Anyone who says otherwise is a bit like men claiming they only used to read Playboy ‘for the articles’...
The problem is that the myths and facts are often all mixed up. Each author, physician or study gives a view that collides with another’s so that one person’s myth is another’s facts.
THERE are always zillions of press articles trying to debunk commonlyheld views about which foods are bad for us. Salt in your diet causes high blood pressure. Carbohydrates and red meat are bad. Dairy products fattening. Brown bread better than white. And everyone needs tons of protein.
Each ‘report’ producing more waffle than a Belgian baker. Dark chocolate, coffee, red wine good for you because they have antioxidants which neutralise the free radicals in your body. Next week, hang on! That earlier study was flawed, they’re actually bad for you: too much sugar (like in cakes. Remember ‘Cakegate’?) Next month, they’re good for you again; they contain a newlyidentified chemical that reacts with an amino acid/enzyme/protein in such a way that scientists are only now starting to comprehend. And next month, sorry! Those findings were overhasty; they’re still bad for you. Frankly, practically everything that feels good or tastes good is probably finally going to somehow make you ill anyway.
Trouble is, this ‘research’ can mean differ
What we need to remember above all, however, is that the diet industry is a multibillion pound one that constantly needs to reinvent itself in order to keep us handing over our dosh. That’s what is behind the majority of these ‘reports’. What faddy diets do is sell lots of books to the easily influenced and fill up magazine/newspaper space. Common sense doesn’t make the snake oil brigade any money and so it generally isn’t encouraged. It’s not rocket science to know how to eat healthily. The only thing we really need to bear in mind is that people do vary, and that some people have an intolerance or allergy to certain foods. Some feel ill if they consume carrots or bananas. Others avocados or watermelon. Odd, but true.
And there we have it, definitive proof of what to do and what not to do! But wait. Aren’t ‘reports’ like these plastered everywhere all the time, contradicting each other and offering basically zero science? How many articles on food analysis do we need?
THE British Benevolent Fund is one of the oldest charities in Spain for the British community. It was set up under the auspices of the embassy and with whom it still maintains a close relationship through the consular network.
Many people assume that the consulate have the financial resources to fund Britons in need and distress, which they do not. Instead the consulates look to partners, including the British Benevolent Fund across the country to step in when there are no other alternatives.
After Brexit there are many Britons who had been living in Spain who found themselves as not officially resident with no right to Spanish state support or healthcare.
For those who have health issues and no resources for private health care this increasingly means a return to the UK.
Many times, those returnees are alone with no family, elderly with health issues and no or limited resources.
Imagine the feeling.
It’s not a happy ending to a life lived in Spain.
The consulates do the heavy lifting of finding accommodation and ensuring that the per
It’s not unusual for research to produce conflicting results, particularly when the studies are small. It’s better to step back and look at the bigger picture. It’s important that neither nutritionists nor the public are swayed by one study that confirms their fears or, at the other extreme, another that validates their enthusiasm. Look to the middle ground, where most results are to be found.
Basically, almost all food is OK in moderation and moderate exercise is good for us. Nothing is new, it seems.
Meanwhile I’m off to the gym for my regular 90minute session. And that’s no myth! 15 minutes of cardio,15 minutes of weights. And 60 minutes of talking myself into it.
Nora Johnson’s 11 critically acclaimed psychological crime thrillers (www.norajohnson.net) all available online including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.
