Sunday, October 16, 2011

Let's Talk About Food

#BAD11 #worldfoodday Sometimes in medical reporting it feels as if that's all we do talk about. Food. It's good for you, bad for you, keeps you alive and kills you all at the same time.

I am proud to be taking part in Blog Action Day OCT 16 2011 www.blogactionday.org Cynics say people end up getting a confused message. Well it's not our job to tell you how to live your life. Your doctor will do that. But if you're reading this you're old enough to make up your mind about certain things.

Our feed on diet and nutrition on this site - just a fraction of the reports we do on the topic - gives a flavour of the choices you can make. In a way the message is straightforward. Too little is bad for you, too much is bad for you. Even too little of some of the things we regard as unhealthy may be bad for you - but don't take my word for that. The experts seem to thing the artificial fats you find in cheap food are universally bad for you.

And if you do eat quite a lot, because you live in a rich country or a cold one, maybe you can help yourself by getting the balance of food right. Lots of vegetables and fruit. We don't often get a report saying this will cause a health problem. Not too much sugary stuff. As for whether you want to take your protein as meat or peanuts - we'll leave that one for you.

Today is World Food Day and Blog Action Day - which has been organised by a number of charities to focus on those who don't get enough food in this world. In the rich world there's so much focus on what foods are bad or apparently poisonous, it's easy to forget thousands suffer from malnutrition - and for these people the food rejected by the wealthy will indeed be healthy.

They've made #BAD11 a celebration. We're allowed to talk about what we enjoy. And that's exactly what Stacey Collins at Womens News UK has done. She's shared, yet again, her passion for chocolate, celebrating that here's something that isn't as bad as once was made out - maybe!