When you do a simple Google search regarding good and bad food, the anecdotal evidence sometimes offered is seriously contradictory and often mis-leading. Proponents of one food versus another often end up either contradicting themselves or others.

When doing a more scientific appraisal (more objective but not always entirely so), another theme comes up i.e. what was good for you yesterday is not good for you today. Why? How do we assess, internalize and then include this changing information into our lifestyles? And yes, we have not even mentioned “fake news” in this paragraph yet. However, for the purposes of this blog, let’s leave that aside for now.

Examples of foods, or some of their components, that relate to this includes (but is not confined to): sugar/ carbohydrate, caffeine in coffee, tannins in tea, chocolate, monosodium glutamate, eggs, cholesterol, fat (especially saturated), tartrazine, allura red, cream, butter and different types of berries. Can you think of others that were good one day and ad the next? What about food that was in fashion and had become a fad and is now abhorred? Have a look at this website for examples of what I am referring to in terms of good, then bad!

Another theme which is still current is the Banting diet i.e. low carbohydrate with high fat and protein. I personally love this since I am diabetic and it theoretically allows me to braai every evening when I get home. We have seen Prof Tim Noakes being involved in a lawsuit in this regard, albeit not so much for the scientific reasons but rather from the point of view of giving medical advice.

At the end of the day, one would aim for moderation rather than going to either extreme in a diet, since all of your food components, whether good or bad, can kill you at high enough dosages. Ask Paraclesus!

L. Dolley