Round up in the Guardian.....

[Professor-Yaffle]

theguardian.com/food/2021/s...

I wish they had opened it for comment.....

[Professor-Yaffle]

I was particularly interested in the notion that the "5 a day" slogan sometimes encourages people to eat more sugar. I hadn't really thought of it like that, as most of my vegetable intake is green. But looking around and thinking of what people eat / what supermarkets stock in vast quantities, I can see that maybe it's true sometimes.

[Subtle_badger in reply to Professor-Yaffle]

It's totally true. A year ago, when I was still evangelistic, I explained to my brother how bad orange juice is (commercial OJ is artificial, but sneakiness allows it to appear natural), and he told me that his glass of OJ was most of his fruit and veg intake. The 5-a-day encourages him to drink this sugar water.

Another thing I have just learnt about is date sugar. It's just dried dates, crushed or ground. It is about 70% the sugar of brown sugar, so date sugar is a good name for it. It's pretty well sugar.

But from the NHS's point of view, it's dried fruit, and dried fruit is OK with them. So you could ladle 150g of of this into your mouth, almost pure sugar, and the NHS would be all 👍 But it's the same as chowing down on 25 teaspoons of brown sugar and one tablespoon of psyllium husk powder.

Or - and this is terrifying - a Nakd Bar (for example) someone elsewhere on HU who said each was one of your 5-a-day. That 49% is basically pure sugar.

Dates 49%,Cashews 31%,Raisins 17%,Raspberries 3%

Dried fruit should not be included in the 5-a-day, or it should be like fruit juice and pulses - only counted once.

[Professor-Yaffle in reply to Subtle_badger]

Don't get me started on bar-snack type things. I really hate them! I used to work with someone who loved to wax-lyrical in the office about their many "health benefits" and try to convince me to eat them as between-meal snacks to "keep my metabolism up".

One of my jobs now is an NHS facility and I never go to the staff kitchen, I stay in the clinical areas where no food is allowed and fast for the day till I get home (it's only a couple of days a week max). It's not because I think I'll be tempted to eat the snacks and carbs, it's because it leaves with with this mild level of discomfort to see so much junk food that has been marketed as healthy.

The running joke in my house is that wine can be counted in your five a day as it's made of grapes.....in all seriousness though, maybe it's better than counting orange juice as 1 of 5 and certainly better than a Nakd bar💭

[Professor-Yaffle in reply to Professor-Yaffle]

My comment sounds rather judgemental but I'm leaving it there anyway....

[Cosmo501 in reply to Professor-Yaffle]

Your comment certainly doesn't come across as judgemental. It is hard to manage the discomfort sometimes of seeing people consuming things they are certain are healthy for them, but knowing they will not take kindly to you informing them they are so unhealthy for them!

[Professor-Yaffle in reply to Cosmo501]

Thanks Cosmo501.

[Subtle_badger]

I think I will share this on Facebook. Thanks.

(will happily join in a discussion of this, hopefully we can have one)

[Subtle_badger in reply to Subtle_badger]

Reaction was disappointing, I am afraid, and these are smart people

"There is no one diet that suits everyone. This kind of article is not helpful to those who have health issues which benefit from less salt, fat etc."

"I saw this article as well. One issue seems to me that the attribution of dietary cause to specific ailments seems flimsy."

"I like Michael Pollan’s take: Eat food, not too much, mainly plants.

And: Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.

Works for me!"

[Professor-Yaffle in reply to Subtle_badger]

Hmm, similar to what the Guardian comments may have read I think.....

[Subtle_badger]

South park was years ahead of you and me and PLOS Medicine.

southparkstudios.co.uk/vide...

(can't' find it on YouTube, sorry!)

[Professor-Yaffle in reply to Subtle_badger]

This is excellent!

[MikePollard]

The 10,000 steps nonsense is also a crock.

[Professor-Yaffle in reply to MikePollard]

Yes, this is true.

I think a lot of people focus on the lack of evidence for the 10,000 step rule and the lack of taking into account individual health - for some people 10,000 steps would obviously not be a good idea. These are good points as is the point about capitalism etc....

My main issue is that "rules" like this become ingrained on a social and individual level, with nobody thinking to question why or understand the theories (of lack of theories) behind the "rule". This erodes peoples capacity to think, research and most importantly have a flexible mindset regarding health behaviours.....

[Subtle_badger in reply to MikePollard]

And don't get me started on 8 glasses of water a day.

(won't do you any harm, but there are better things to focus your attention on)

[Sewneat]

Thanks for posting the link to this article. It makes very sound reading and so much sense, supporting and distilling what the epidemiologists and nutrition experts have to say on YouTube. Our government needs a shakeup about so many things - especially about the health of the nation but I don’t anticipate it coming any time soon.

[Professor-Yaffle in reply to Sewneat]

Hi Sewneat

Thanks for your comment.

Sadly I agree that the much needed shake-up is not coming soon.