We are being fed a constant tissue of lies about what we are supposed to consume. Governmental goalposts change on a regular basis. Cholesterol OK at six? Nah, let’s reduce it to five, my mate runs an outfit wot knocks art kickin’ drugs for it. Ok, I know people at the Department of Health don’t talk like that, but wouldn’t life be more fun if they did?
Alcohol? Pick a number, any number. Three, that’s a magic number, we’ll use that. In the 1940’s folks thought cigarettes were good for you. Perhaps that is an example too far, but we suffer the guilt on a daily basis of going over these imaginary limits. So, how come my fruit is undergoing inflation, when everything else is dropping?
When I were a lass, it were an apple a day to keep t’doctor away. I don’t know why I wrote that like that, I come from Surrey. I’ll stop it with the accents. Now it’s five bloody portion of fruit and veg a day. Yet only last week, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, published a study showing that we have all been conned.
Not for the first time, this seems to be a cynical collusion between the government and the food industry. Just think how you can go into any supermarket, and buy chopped up apple in a plastic bag, with “One Of Your 5 A Day”, written on it? I expect they cost twice as much as buying…an apple.
Apparently nursery school children are being taught to count with fruit and veg. One potato, two potato, three potato. More bloody targets. Five was chosen because it was a nice round figure.
Well, I’ve got a nice round figure, and it’s not fruit and veg that got me that way.
Tags: Cancer
Good point. Not sure it’s a conspiracy, rather than excitable bandwagonism (if such a word exists). We’re so faddish about all things dietary that we’re either solely drinking milk, just consuming red meat or becoming vegan. If things are given a number then they’re memorable and marketable. Just saying eat a balanced diet doesn’t exactly capture the imagination - maybe we should call it the 20/20 diet, or the ying and yang approach. Bound to take off.