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Strange modern diets
The trouble is, they can be quite strange, require adherents to eat strange foods and observe unnatural dietary patterns that have never been a part of human tradition. One outcome is that people are being bombarded by all sorts of contradictory modern theories about what constitutes a "healthy diet", People not only end up confused but, very often, more sick than ever. Some of these modern diets were discussed in a 1994 issue of The Good Life, which had the theme, Strange foods. Because these dietary theories arise from intellectual ideas, I call them...
Never before have there been so many different ideas -- and so many strange ideas -- about diet. We have all sorts of “experts” telling us to eat in all sorts of ways: eat meat / don’t eat meat; take milk and dairy foods / avoid milk and dairy foods; eat plenty of fruit / eat little fruit; eat mainly raw foods / eat mainly cooked foods. And so on. One popular idea is that of taking vitamin pills and other food supplements, sometimes in mega doses. There are people who take 60 or more of such pills a day. Extending this idea further, people are being encouraged to take all kinds of special “health” foods: brewers yeast, royal jelly, been pollen, evening primrose oil, salmon oil, sharks cartilage... And so pills have become, for many health conscious people, an "essential" part of their modern diets.
Strange modern diets Another popular idea these days is about food combining, which says we should not eat protein with carbohydrates. So no rice with tofu, no chapatti with dahl, and no meat sandwiches…. No beans, since beans naturally contain both protein and carbohydrates. One of the strangest modern diets I’ve come across is called The Rainbow Diet. The author of a book by this name recommends that we eat foods of different colours at different times of the day. Why? The argument goes that the vibration of different colours stimulate the different charkas, or energy centres, of the body. Since the different charkas are most active at different times, we should eat foods of the corresponding colours to get maximum benefit. Makes sense? Well, some. All the different theories make at least some sense. Even when different theories contradict each other, convincing arguments can be found on both sides. Consider the arguments for and against a vegetarian diet... Vegetarians point out that we share a lot in common with plant-eating animals -- flat teeth, no claws, alkaline saliva, long intestines, etc. These features are often cited as “proof” that human beings are basically plant eaters. But again using comparisons with animals, someone I met once tried to convince me that humans are basically meat eaters. “Our eyes are at the front of the face,” he pointed out. “Plant eating animals like cows and horses have eyes on the side. Meat eaters like lions and tigers have eyes at the front. They need to focus on their prey”. I never saw it that way. If you think hard enough, you can justify just about any kind of diet. Most, in fact, all modern diets were invented by people -- doctors, nutritionist, natural health practitioners and others, They probably spent much time thinking about health and nutrition. They are intelligent people. But we have to recognize that human intelligence, no matter how great, is still limited. This is why macrobiotic teacher Michio Kushi is against inventing new theories -- and new modern diets. “Never invent your own theory,” Kushi says. “That is arrogance. Instead, think back, for thousands and thousands of years, what kind of foods humans were eating? “Respect tradition.” When Kushi drew up the macrobiotic diet, it was not his own idea, not his invention. No. The macrobiotic diet- -- of whole grains, soup, vegetables, beans, plus occasional fish, fruit, seeds, nuts, etc -- is based on what people in traditional societies had been eating all along. In contrast, other modern diets often go against tradition. They even go against common sense. These diets may help some people some of the time. But in the long run, they often lead to trouble. We take a closer look at some of these diet theories... Click below to read about the potential problems associated with:
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