Choice

Here are some of the most common client conversations I have:

- Client with elevated cholesterol levels:
But my grandparents used to have bacon, butter and even dripping with bread but they still lived to a ripe old age.
(Well, they didnt have much food then did they?)

- Client with blood pressure:
We used to be given salt tablets cos we live in the tropics and sweat more.
(But the food supply was fairly unprocessed then)

- Obese/Diabetic client:
I only drink no-added sugar juice.

Clients are shocked when I tell them that there is the equivalent of 12-13 teaspoons of sugar in a 600ml bottle of coke. BUt really, their jaw drop when I tell them its the same with that bottle of juice. If you compared the calories and even carbohydrates of juice, most of the time it similar or even higher than coke. So a client trying to lose weight really hasnt achieved anything by switching from coke to juice as the caloric content is still the same.

Which brings me back to the same question: Choice

Back in our grandparents time, food was rationed, there could have been a famine, lots more physical activity but there was LESS FOOD CHOICE (in some cases no choice). You ate what was available and probably worked it off. If you wanted a 600ml bottle of juice, you probably had to cart a 3kg bag of oranges home and juiced it up. All which requires physical activity.

These days, we are spoiled for choices. We have to make decisions about food all the time. Which brand do I get? What to order for entree? Should I go with that low fat variety? Is the lite stuff better? But that says fat/sugar free. Lower GI is better, right?

We can't go back to days of NO CHOICE and thus my job is to hopefully help people make informed choices (whether they take that advice is another story).

But seriously, I dun think eating healthy is rocket science. Here are some of my favourite rules from Michael Pollen's book (and I left out some of the more controversial ones).

- It isnt food if it arrived through the window of your car.
- If its from a plant, eat it. If its made in a plant, reconsider.
- In relation to food additives; Did grandma have foods with all these numbers in it?
- Avoid foods advertised on the TV. (How often do you see an ad for a tomato or apple?)
- It’s not food if it’s called the same thing in every language. (Think Big Mac)
- Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
- Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk. (eg.gCocopops, fruit loops vs Just Right, Sustain, weetbix, all bran).