‘Experts now say that we should be eating 7 pieces of fruit and veg a day to decrease your risk of disease and increase your chances of living longer’.
Nothing really wrong with this sensational headline, I guess. If it encourages people to eat more fruit and veg then that can’t be a bad thing. Absolutely true, except that the headline the week before was ‘high protein diets could be as bad for you as smoking’. Depending on what week you read a paper, omega 3 supplementation can either reduce the risk, or contribute to prostate cancer
You get the picture.
For every headline health tip that you see in the paper, or on the news, probably about 1 in 10 are useful and sound. The other 9 are usually flawed, poorly backed up scientifically, and are quite often absorbed and taken to the extreme by the general public. That’s not to say the 1 piece that sounds legit is well proven either, it just means that they have got this particular one right, through god damn common sense. However, in my opinion, it could also be construed as another stupid blanket statement. Everyone needs 7 a day? Regardless of gender, age, occupation, stress levels, sleep pattern etc?
Don’t think so!
To promote one food or macronutrient as a health risk or the same to say single foods will cure disease is irresponsible and generally unfounded and untrue. A well-rounded approach to eating, not avoidance due to what you have read, is better than extremism. I think we would all agree that a broccoli is a healthy piece of food. However, broccoli every single day in great quantities rounded off with little other fruit and veg, or meat or starch makes it a pretty rubbish piece of food after a while. Make it more rounded. How about broccoli on a plate of sweet potato with butter on top, with sweetcorn/peas/cauliflower etc with a nice big piece of chicken/pork chop/sausages etc. get a bit of everything in there.
But yes, the headline this time offers some decent advice.
Great article. Keep up the good work.