Tea Stains and Daisy Chains: in the news

I've still been writing, I promise!

12:46

Is this your idea of a healthy relationship with food?

10:32

As I was scrolling through (and largely ignoring) the articles on the Daily Mail Online app this morning, this one particularly caught my eye. Of course, this is by no means the first product to be launched as a 'zero calorie' alternative, but the fact that this isn't even food seems to take things one step further.

Diet foods vs zero calorie 'foods'

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the ever-evolving array of 'diet foods', which are now available in most supermarkets. These ranges, such as Morrisons' 'NuMe' and Sainsburys' 'Be good to yourself', offer people the chance to make healthy choices, whilst still enjoying good quality food. However, by removing all nutritional value from a product, just because it tastes nice and contains 'too much' fat or 'too many' calories, surely turns the whole idea of a healthy relationship with food on its head? Food is our fuel. Imagine pitching 'zero calorie noodles' to a group of starving farmers in Mali; the concept would be simply bewildering. We eat to give us energy and encouraging people to forget this is not going to solve any problems.

The problem of obesity

As we all know, some of our diets do contain a higher number of calories than necessary. However, in my opinion, trying to tackle this problem by giving people what they want, only without the calories, is only going to cause more issues. Having these calorie-free options available seems to simply enforce the idea that we can't learn to control ourselves around food. Are we really so desperate for chocolate that we need to stick a 'listerine strip-type product' in our mouths to get some satisfaction? Surely if it's just the taste we crave, then eating just one square of actual chocolate would do the trick and wouldn't result in dramatic weight gain. This would also encourage a healthy relationship with food, something that seems to be somewhat compromised by a calorie-free option...

Eating disorders

Is it really surprising that 1.6 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, when food is labelled by the media and advertising as so distinctly 'healthy' (good) or 'unhealthy' (bad)? By offering these so-called 'unhealthy' foods in a zero-calorie form, the implication being made is that eating these foods results in weight gain and eventually, obesity. However, it's perfectly possible to enjoy 'bad' foods as part of a balanced diet. In fact, as part of treatment for eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, sufferers are encouraged not to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods; they are told that there is no such thing. In many cases, the sufferer has eliminated all these 'bad' foods from their diet and must now learn to re-introduce these 'fear foods'; something which is unsurprisingly difficult when surrounded by the message that these foods should only be enjoyed in flavour-form, without the calories, fats and sugars.

Unfortunately, as the levels of obesity continue to rise, it's unlikely that these products will be removed from the market any time soon. But hopefully, people will start to realise that the suggestion that calorie-free 'food' offers a healthy alternative, is a complete contradiction and simply makes 'zero' sense.

Harriet x

bbc news

In the News: If this isn't a wake-up call, I don't know what is.

09:46

How bad do things have to get before we, the general public, sit up and take note?

Most of us (myself included) will probably read this article and feel a mild sense of something vaguely resembling concern, which will swiftly be forgotten as we merrily leave our houses and climb into our big, CO2-emitting cars. Because the sea-levels aren't going to rise by '1.2m' overnight, it's all too easy to ignore the warning signs. The same signs that are actually coming at us from all sides. According to the article, the 'inevitable' collapse of the West Antarctic glaciers 'will most likely occur in the next 200 to 500 years', which, in the grand scheme of things, is not far off.

After a quick Google search, I was reminded of the potential environmental impacts of rising sea-levels, which will inevitably have social and economic consequences. The impacts include:

Increased storm damage and more rapid coastal erosion (something the UK has already come up against this winter)
Changes in the shoreline and loss of low-lying land such as the Maldives
Contamination of aquifers and surface water by saltwater, resulting in a loss of valuable freshwater sources
Rising water tables, which will increase flood-risk.

And the great tragedy in all this? The developing world will bear the brunt of it. Meaning that the very countries that are the least responsible for global CO2 emissions (or in some cases, are only just beginning to industrialise) will be the ones who take the punishment for our indulgent way of living.

Just as the sea-levels aren't going to rise overnight, the positive effects of any changes we make are going to take their time to become apparent. This means that if we want to stand any chance of protecting our future generations, who will be around in '200 to 500 years', we need to grab hold of any head-start we can get.

Granted, we are all more than happy to do the odd bit of recycling and maybe even catch the bus into town rather than take the car. But when it comes to making any real sacrifices in our daily lives, the problem suddenly seems a little too distant to be worth dealing with right now. I suppose this is fair enough; investing in an electric car while you've still got a perfectly good set of wheels doesn't exactly seem practical. But maybe we're missing the point; we don't really have a choice. Are we going to wait until we're told that the Maldives only has 50 years left of existence, or that the entire population of Lagos must relocate or be underwater within 5 years? Then will we finally fork out for that 'green' car?

Now is the time to act. If we don't, then I doubt we ever will.

It's not all doom and gloom! For those of you who want to find out what changes you can make, I've provided the links to just a few useful articles:

Practical Ways to Stop Global Warming
10 Ways to Reduce Global Warming
What You Can Do About Global Warming
12 Simple(ish) Ways to Quickly Reduce Global Warming
86 Ways To Fight Global Warming

Harriet x

I've still been writing, I promise!

Before anyone gives up on me and decides that I must have lost interest in this whole writing lark, I'd just like to gently point you in the direction of the various articles that I've been busy on over the last couple of weeks!

Is this your idea of a healthy relationship with food?

Diet foods vs zero calorie 'foods'

The problem of obesity

Eating disorders

In the News: If this isn't a wake-up call, I don't know what is.

How bad do things have to get before we, the general public, sit up and take note?

About Me

Contact Me

Labels

recent posts

Blog Archive

Total Pageviews

Bloglovin'

Popular Posts

Like us on Facebook

Flickr Images