Today, I thought I’d draw your mind to a little  gem that appeared on the BBC Breakfast website this morning.

You can find it here.

Essentially, a team of Harvard researchers found that as little as 50  grams of processed meat a day increases your risk of both heart disease and diabetes. However, it also concluded that no such risk existed for people eating twice that amount of unprocessed meat.

“This was despite the fact the two forms of meat have a similar fat content.”

No wonder the public is confused about what to eat and what can compromise their health. We put so much emphasis on “evidence-based” research. In this case, the study involved over a million people.

This is painted as being “state-of-the-art-credible”. Over a million people were studied and the speculated conclusion was that perhaps it was the salt and preservatives added to processed meat (rather than the fat, I guess) that could account for a conclusion apparently so anomolous.

To add icing to the cake, animals given nitrate preservatives suffered both atheroschlerosis and impaired glucose metabolism.

So maybe they were onto something …?

All I can say is that if this is what our brightest nutritional scientists are spending money on (and harming creatures for) then no wonder we remain so unconscious.

I’d love to take a less beligerant stance … but how can any reasonable, sentient human being with an ounce of love, compassion or even common sense justify this kind of waste?

The report implies (if the header is anything to go by) that eating steak is fine, so go right ahead. Just watch out for “processed” meats.

Is this really what some of the world’s most enlightened researchers should be touting to the average surfer? Is this really what we should be chanelling resources into discovering? Is this really what animals should be suffering to “prove”?

We can do better than this. So much better!

Over-eating is a global obsession.

Billions of people eat too much, know this and still can’t seem to help themselves. So why do they do it?

Well, it would seem there are two main root causes: emotional imbalance and physiological dependence. We over-eat because excess food dulls that intangible pain that lurks deep within us … and we continue this madness because our bodies can’t stand how it feels when the onslaught is discontinued.

It’s not because of one or the other. Both are inter-dependent!

Comfort eating is a well-known and fully accepted phenomenon. We eat for succor (sorry America, that just looks wrong … succour). There’s a gap in our soul, an emptiness that must be plugged.

Where?

Somewhere, deep inside. And I just don’t care to even try to find where. It’s just “there”, gnawing away at us. The legacy of bad decisions, poor planning, missed opportunities … even a broken heart.

And consuming something that we instinctively know is “bad” for us is a form of very necessary self-flaggellation. Picture if you will a poor girl curled up on her couch, Ben and Jerry’s in hand.

Temporary comfort fueling a growing sense of wretchedness … but all part of a very necessary cathartic process!

But it’s never a one-off.

Everytime the loneliness kicks in, that light in the fridge door draws us in. And with that first glorious mouthful, the dopamine receptors in our brain drown in the pleasure of relief.

We owe ourselves one more indulgence (or so we rationalize).

But … the more we turn to this crutch, the less special it becomes. And the more we feel we need.

And as we “kill” ourselves, our wretchedness magnifies. In for a penny, in for a pound. A downward spiral of malaise that feeds on itself.

The rewards of addiction … less, for more.

Until you stop the madness and pay the price if you can stand it. For most it goes way beyond a tub of ice cream. It’s cravings at every meal. With each successive rationalization chipping away at our very foundation of sanity.

Emotional vulnerability conspiring with the reality of physical addiction. In a society that is so hunkered down it won’t even acknowledge existence of the beast.

You just need to get it together and show some intestinal fortitude!

Moderation … that’s what you need. A bit of discipline. Some restraint. All of which muddies the waters even further, because we all know that some restraint is not only possible, but usually fairly effective and rewarding.

But how the hell does one keep it up?

Stick around … I may just have some answers for you in future posts. I appreciate you taking this time to spend with me and hope this brought a smile to your face.

I’ve been back from my trip to Scotland now for a week.

It’s taken me that long to recover from the onslaught of cooked foods I subjected my body to while away!

Prior to my trip (which was thoroughly pleasant I should add … and thanks for asking), I had made pretty useful progress with my eating habits. Although not 100% raw as yet, I consider myself to be in the transition phase.

I go from eating totally raw for several days at a stretch, to the odd fall from grace. Nothing serious I might add. The odd omelette, punnet of prawns (shrimp) or can of salmon. Mindless consumption, more out of habit or because my girlfriend still has not entirely bought into the whole idea of raw and I’m trying not to make her feel too uncomfortable.

I’m hoping that the soft touch over time will be more effective in the long run. What I know for sure is that my passion is often misconstrued for evangelism. This is unfortunate as it is the last thing I would want to be.

Anyway, back to our road trip.

It’s been a tradition of mine to eat a Whopper at Burger King every time I drive over 100 miles or so.

Why?

Because for at least half my life I couldn’t buy McDonald’s or BK. So now I have this really screwed up idea that eating there is a “treat”. Not because it’s good food (it’s not!) … and not because I enjoy my meals there (I don’t!).

In fact, the only reason I can think of for this madness and total incongruence with my whole being, is that I can do it.

No other reason! It’s me being rebellious. In some wierd way, the marketing lads have done such a good job that I associate a Whopper with something I need.

And each time I succumb, I ask myself what possible reason could it be. I mean, I could understand it if I absolutely loved it. But I don’t. In fact, it makes me mildly nauseous … and I always regret it.

Until the next time!

Well, that was the story of my entire holiday. I knew the friends we stay with would love us to death with beautifully prepared cooked food (usually a roast washed down with liberal amounts of merlot).

And I knew that once I reached my mum’s house (where we spent the lion’s share of our holiday), we would go out to eat because she hates to cook. My mum is arguably the best cook I know. She can make just about anything taste great.

But she’s at a point in her life where she cooks us one meal to show good faith, then announces that it’s the last we’re getting and we will all have to go out.

So how do I feel about all this?

Well, like any family or social scenario involving great friends, it’s tough. Good friends and family show their love with food. To reject it is to disrespect them … and that’s the last thing I would ever want to do.

I am also known as a prodigious eater!

So, if for any reason I don’t polish off my plate and then consume seconds and thirds … well then, something is quite clearly wrong.

To be honest, I hate all the fuss about food. I hate being under the spotlight. I hate having to explain why at home I eat differently, or why I only want one serving.

So I don’t!

I write off the two weeks, push a magical switch in my head … and vow to indulge without a hint of restraint.

Usually, this is quite pleasurable. Decades of over-eating the wrong foods have led me to a point of relative immunity. The addiction kicks in and I eat until I am stuffed.

And then I eat even more until there is nothing left and everyone can enjoy the performance of the human Hoover.

But here’s what I noticed this time:

I had made not only a psychological shift, but a physiological one too. For me at this point in my slow transition, I actually have no desire for cooked, processed or convenience foods whatsover.

The emotional need is gone!

Strangely enough, so is any physical attraction too. In fact, my body has cleansed itself to a point where it feels positively desecrated by any cooked or artificial foods.

Which leaves me feeling most unnerved.

I actually have become so opposed to putting cooked animal products and otherwise harmful cuisine into my mouth that I have to fight the emotions that arise as a result of just being offered a meal.

And this makes me feel awful. Because I know that my partner, my friends and my family can’t understand (because their bodies are different to mine now) … and because I don’t want to appear either neurotic or ungrateful!

So I’m in a huge quandary!

It took me about 8 days this time before my immune system was so compromised that I got sick. Yes, I actually got a cold!

I never get sick. Okay, occasionally … but I put that down to overtraining or lack of sleep or whatever.

But this time I knew, clear as I’ve ever known anything, that I was getting sick because my system was reacting to being hammered by cooked food.

I could just feel it!

No-one could tell me it was because of an unseasonably late cold snap (we had a few inches of snow and sub zero nights in April … not too unusual I’m told). And no-one could tell me that it was because my friend had a cold and my step-dad had a cold.

Okay, I accept, I was exposed to a few germs. So what! Under normal circumstances my body would have had no problem at all.

But a week into the trip and it just surrendered to the inevitable.

Now that I’m back, I am on a mission!

I am eating raw again. Sensible raw, not high fat wretched raw! Fruits, green smoothies, salad greens, berries … and the odd handful of seeds, small avocado or small punnet of olives.

And in two days, my cold is beaten, I’m working out again (hard) and I have my motivation back.

The one thing I’m still struggling with is a touch of lingering depression. But I have an instinctive sense that that too will soon disappear and be replaced with my usual buoyant self.

Funny thing is, I love my family and I love my friends … but I have absolutely no idea how I am going to manage the food and drink thing in the future.

My strategy will be to lose so much weight and get so disgustingly healthy that they cannot help but notice immediately. Then it will be so much easier to gently cut back, or even do without … without ruffling any feathers or making anyone feel awkward.

It is my motivation now. Writing about it is cathartic sure … but it also means I have something very positive to strive towards.

My new strategy … lead by example.

I genuinely have no wish to tell people anything or make anyone feel that “my way” is in any way a “better way”.

But if I can get people whom I care about asking me what it is that I am doing, then maybe, just maybe, I can arrive at the breakthrough I have been waiting for.

Thanks for lending me your ear. If you have similar comments or observations about your own experiences in this most sensitive of areas, please go ahead and comment freely.

I’m sure I am not alone in finding this challenging.

A day hardly goes by when we don’t see some new media report talking about childhood obesity.

Today on BBC Breakfast there was quite a bit of fuss being made about a School Food Trust statistic that three quarters of the kids in 136 primary schools were choosing vegetables and salad as part of their school meal.

That’s great news!

Granted it’s only 136 schools out of more than 23,000 … but at least there’s some level of awareness.

Of course, Breakfast anchors wanted to know if the kids were actually eating it. And it would appear that this is happening because there has been no apparent upswing in recorded waste.

Again, progress!

Rob Rees, a UK chef who is relentlessly trying to instill a healthier food culture in the UK can be applauded for his passion.

He sees the efforts to prevent kids from leaving schools over breaks not as “lock ins” but rather as “stay on site” … a subtle distinction that perhaps illustrates how much a productive direction means to him.

Not only does he believe similar initiatives reduce obesity and improve behaviour, but he attributes such gains in no small part to the school chefs.

And here’s where I start to question the bigger picture.

I’m all for a departure from greasy burgers, fries and soft drinks. And I’m all for more salads and vegetables.

But I still think the program has what I call “Jamie Oliver disease”. What I mean by this is that the message is that cooked lean meats, grains and dairy products are nutritious.

They’re not!

In fact, so successfully have the big food companies brainwashed our population that even our most qualified nutritionists are singing this same song.

Drink your milk. Eat plenty of lean protein. Eat pasta. Pizza’s okay if the cheese is “low fat”. Chocolate is fine if the quantities are nominal.

With respect, none of these practices are “healthy”. Not one. Sorry … cooking destroys valuable nutrients. Animal products are loaded with fat, calories and excessive protein.

And 5-a-day is nowhere near enough … especially if the vegetables are canned or cooked.

Ironically, the view I have just expressed will be dismissed as non-conventional “hippie-speak”, with no scientific basis … by the very same people who call themselves scientists and maintain that everything they say is “evidence-based”.

I beg to differ and I will happily engage in debate with anyone who can give me scientific evidence to substantiate what exactly is healthy about the process of cooking.

Call it what it is … great strides are made when whole grain pasta and cooked brocolli are eaten in preference to french fries.

Please don’t keep telling people that “healthier” is “healthy”. The truth is that it’s only a step in the right direction. We should crawl before we try walking.

But don’t misuse science to pretend that walking is the same as running, or flying.

True nutritional progress starts with simple honesty.

Most modern diet gurus define three common elements in any successful fat loss program.

First, calories do count … a deficit is necessary for weight loss and you can achieve this by eating less, moving more, or a combination of the two.

Without an energy deficit, your body has no reason to pull on stored energy.

Second, adequate lean protein blunts hunger. A generation ago, bodybuilders were claiming this … and the medical mainstream were dismissing it.

Current research appears to vindicate this theory. And of course, if you can put a rein on your hunger, then you’ll eat less which is more conducive to achieving a calorie deficit.

Finally, the miracle of fish oils and their essential fatty acids. Every cell in our body needs some of the right kind of fat. Omega-3’s “may” modulate  appetite … and “appear” to improve fat loss “a little”.

Research scientists love hedging their bets.

The theory is that EFA’s decrease fat storage enzymes, while increasing fat mobilization enzymes. Everyone whose anyone in the world of “fat speak” subscribes to this as gospel.

Aside from these three “sacred cows” it would seem that everything else “depends” … on an infinite number of variables.

No single approach can be appropriate for all people, all of the time. The more active you are, the more carbs you would appear to need.

Okay.

And a successful diet must be satisfying … so recommendations are usually in the 20-25% range for calories from dietary fat.

For taste and fulfillment, of course. As fat is relatively tasteless (at least in my experience) I’m guessing that satiety is probably what they mean.

As a result of misinterpreting this conventional wisdom we have a vast number of people who live in fear of protein deficiency. Even vegans hold the mistaken belief that nuts, for example, are a “protein food” and must be eaten in order to prevent muscle atrophy.

Or … you could exercise. Novel concept, but I digress.

I am constantly asked where I get my protein from if I only eat meat very occasionally. Shouldn’t I be worried?

In short, no!

It is a myth that people can suffer from a lack of protein.

Well before this is even a remote theoretical possibility, they will first show visible signs of malnutrition. In fact, our bodies are clever and recycle protein … something which is not commonly acknowledged, perhaps because its impact is hard to measure.

I accept that the protein in raw plants may not necessarily be as immediately digestible as that from animal products … but in a calorically-adequate diet, that is largely irrelevant.

Further, does anyone consider what happens to animal protein when it is cooked?

The proteins become denatured and this renders their component amino acids largely indigestible. The degree to which this is a factor depends on how long something is cooked and at what temperature.

So does cooked meat, eggs and pateurized dairy facilitate, or hamper, the healing process?

Or, are animal products really just a well-marketed, gratuitous source of excess dietary fat?

Saturated fat. The kind that clogs your arteries and screws up your cholesterol!

And causes inflammation!

And doesn’t excess protein from a diet rich in animal products also result in calcium being leached from bones and teeth and lost in urine?

That’s not a trick question. It does!

Which makes most conventional diets, no matter how temporarily effective, a losing proposition over the long haul.

Instead, we should learn how to consume far more fresh, raw, organic fruit and vegetables. And “sufficient” rather than “excessive” nuts, seeds, olives, avocados and other sources of “good” fat.

A diet that supplies no more than 10% of its calories from fat (and the same from protein) will have lasting benefits … regardless of metabolic type, ancestral origin or even genotype.

Such a diet will predominate in fresh, seasonal fruit and raw, tender greens … meaning of course that the lion’s share of your calories will come from carbohydrates.

Few things can be more satisfying to a healthy, active person than fresh, sweet fruit.

And few things will make you feel better than genuine freedom from addiction to cooked and refined foods … and to the condiments that are added to intensify taste.

In matters of diet, simple is always better.

Humans were designed to eat plants, not hunt animals. Can you imagine a lion picking a berry?

Being omnivorous is a survival mechanism … but also a compromise.