INTRODUCTION
Balance is such an important word and such an important idea. When things are not balanced, they are going wrong, whether in matters personal, work or world. “Are things in balance?” is a good question when maybe there is a sense of malfunction.
Since the New Year, newspapers and other media have featured countless words about diet food, veganism and weight loss, including some climate change rhetoric around particularly meat, but also other imported foodstuffs. Applying some balance may be the approach to analyse these subjects. A working assumption is that good health, enjoying food and saving the planet matter to most people, albeit in varying degrees.
Two articles in the Times on 22 and 23 January respectively bear on the subject: Alice Thomson “Veganuary isn’t the answer to our problems” and Jenni Russell “January crash diets are a fat lot of good”. Both are worth a read. Sherbhert believes strongly in the benefits of eating fresh and seasonal food, sourced locally when possible: whether plant based, or meat based. This chimes well with both those articles. Well-being is the aim, and the magic word is certainly balance. Veganism appears increasingly in commentary on food these days, and it has done, like Extinction Rebellion has for climate change, a great job in increasing awareness of the importance of a more plant-based diet. But, like all “isms”, take it to the extreme and some weaknesses emerge.
MEAT
As Alice Thomson observes, there is nothing wrong in eating animal produce in itself, but she invokes sustainable and ethical farming (see Sherbhert article “If Eating Meat, British May Be Best For the Planet” ). Animals help keep farms healthy. They contribute to a balanced ecosystem. While there is little doubt that many of us eat excessive amounts of meat and could eat less, perhaps the answer lies also in focus on quality of meat produce and animal welfare, and eating fresh cooked meat, not meat that has been put through a process and chemicalised. Then less would be eaten and the climate change implications of excessive meat production would be ameliorated. In that respect the Vegan focus on imported fruit and vegetables of various sorts, such as avocados and quinoa, itself has climate implications- the intensity of farming one crop can do lasting soil damage, the distribution across continents has a carbon cost and so on. Although they may be tasty, often the time from land to plate can be so long, their shelf life for the consumer can be short, especially when compared to more locally sourced fresh food. Of course, one may choose to eat no meat or dairy, in which case the vitamins and minerals sourced from them need to be found elsewhere.
WEIGHT SET POINT AND THE OMEGAS
Jenni Russell refers to and praises a book called “Why we eat (too much)” by a bariatric surgeon , Andrew Jenkinson, who explains scientifically- but in a more readable way than is often the case with science – why well marketed diets of all kinds purporting to cause weight loss do not really work in the long term; as they do not address the underlying cause of obesity for the individual. The book is worth a read, particularly regarding how a person’s body is designed to keep weight at a set point for that person, and how it is by resetting that weight that real progress can be made. That setting, he writes, is in effect most influenced by our genes and environment.
From all of this, it is very clear that eating should be more plant (green and leafy, and colourful) based than anything else. But it is also no surprise that certain dairy and meat, particularly from grass fed animals, make a serious contribution to our well-being. The key lies in the balance. The detail of technicalities can be found in that book. However, one area that is worth understanding a little is the importance of the two key fatty acids omega 3 and omega 6: it appears that when these are not in the right balance our health can seriously suffer. Deficiency of omega 3 is apparently a cause of obesity; and excessive omega 6 can block omega 3. The right ratio for our bodies is 1:1 to 1:4, omega 3 to omega 6, and no more. But we need both, just in the right balance. Countries with good ratios have a lot less obesity, such as Japan. An interesting factoid from that book is that early Victorians (if you strip out child mortality) who lived to at least 5 years old had a life expectancy similar to that of people today: because their diet was of local , largely plant based food, and there was for most people little excessive eating. But then along came sugar beet, and so cheap sugar, and everything changed. It’s also worth noting that the critical ratio in certain parts of the world may be as high as 1:20 or more!
PROCESSED FOODS – UNBALANCING EVERYTHING
Processed foods (mass produced) now dominate food shopping and eating out. They wreck the balance. If the books are to be believed, it is these processed foods which are to be avoided to solve weight and other health problems. So, the commercialisation of veganism is a danger – the vegan sausage roll, burger or pasty, or any so called vegan food which are chemicalised, are not advancing the health cause, any more than processed food in a non-vegan diet. Processed foods have little omega 3 and lots of omega 6 – and hence the problem. The big balance message is to keep away from processed foods, the biggest contributor to obesity. A big challenge too is how to keep it away from children. For example, as Michael Pollan says in “FOOD RULES”, a plain and simple book loved by Sherbhert, “Avoid [packaged] food products that contain more than five ingredients” and “Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not”.
The books seem to suggest the following. Colourful plants, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, which grow above ground, oily fish like sardines and herrings (including in cans) and some dairy like full fat milk and yoghurt seem good for omega 3. Nuts, grains and seeds are more omega 6. Fruits cover both in different degrees. Grass fed meat is good for omega 3- but most beef has more omega 6 because the animals are grain and vegetable oil fed. What animals eat for themselves gets reflected in them as food for humans. It seems that what foods, and what mix, are right for an individual are for that individual to discover to match their metabolism, but there is plenty of information available as to what nutrition is in any particular fresh food. It is also hoped that the fresher the food, the more home cooked the food, the better the taste.
REBALANCING
At the moment big food producers ensure the balance is overweight in favour of unsustainable and poorly produced food products; towards processed not fresh food in a major way; towards excessive imported vegetables, meat and fruit rather than fresh local and seasonal.
Emphasis needs rebalancing away from processing to buying more locally grown and nurtured food, in both town and country. Maybe schools could be more involved in home grown produce, with more local allotments. Perhaps the question to always ask is whether our balance is right. Looking into and understanding fatty acids (omegas 3 and 6) just a little is worthwhile to dispel misplaced faith in dietary approaches of no long-term value.
Some more wise words from “FOOD RULES”: “Eat food, not too much, mainly plants”, “Eat animals that have themselves eaten well” and “Avoid foods you see advertised on television”.
What’s good for us should also be good for the climate.
