You are what you eat?

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” - Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1826)

Do I look like a Crisp?

If you eat a lot of 'Walkers Crisps' and many other brands, like I've been known to, does that mean that I am a crisp (potato chip) ? Do I love Gary Lineker and Leicester football club? Maybe I'm drawn by the marketing power over many years, as the brand has gone from strength to strength?

Is it more likely that I was influenced as a child? Every Saturday afternoon watching my dad play football and going in the clubhouse after the game, whilst he had a few drinks for celebration or commiseration with his teammates, I had a packet of Walkers 'Cheese and Onion' or 'Smokey Bacon 'crisps washed down with a bottle of coca cola as I watched Doctor Who battle with the Daleks and other bad guys.

My love for these savoury delights was born and a weakness throughout all my adult life became apparent, that I was to eat to many packets of crisps and therefore to much saturated fat content. Brillat-Savarin's above titled phrase became, for short, 'You are what you eat'! Whilst I don't physically look like a crisp, I do have excess fat around my body and some visceral fat in at least one of my coronary arteries, well at least enough to be told I need to take a low dose of statin as a precautionary measure indefinitely, as well as maintain a healthy low-fat diet in my future life.

The 'Red for Danger' warning on the above food label concerning saturated fat levels wasn't always present on foods when I was growing up, see link with brief history below. I was lucky to have very loving grandparents live within our family hotel business and therefore our home, my Nan and Grandad had remembered the hardship of post war rationing, so encouraged very generous helpings of food including supper, sometimes only a few hours after my evening meal! The scene for the future was set, me and my siblings eating additional calories with saturated fats in the evening for many years to come.

UK Food Safety History

If you are indeed what you eat, and this can be influenced in childhood, then we need to take more care when feeding our children and creating dietary habits. My six children have been hugely influenced by McDonalds and that may have a direct effect on their children to come, although I'm not in a rush to become a grandparent quite yet.😀 Even though things have changed, and Nutrition Labels are now part of the norm with greater awareness of foods detrimental to our health, the marketing power of fast-food giants is still very apparent and influential to the sub conscience of the masses.

In a world of instancy, where we order and pay for food now on our smart phones, the said food is delivered to our door within minutes, this has again challenged out nutritional future health. Fast and now, is normally the excuse for eating food that we know is not great for us, but we are too busy, we haven't time to shop and prepare a meal, have we?

At Kinetics we have lots of different nutritional plans to suit our many different clients and their wants and needs, the one thing in common with all of these plans is that they are healthy and balanced. They are also good for the rest of the family, young or old.

Pick a 'top 10' that you could eat from the healthy food list below?

Raspberries - Avocado - Salmon - Broccoli - Walnuts - Eggs - Tomatoes - Cabbage - Yoghurt - Garlic - Olive Oli - Kiwis - Lemon - Chia Seeds - Spinach - Beets - Blackberries - Beans - Lentils -Dark Chocolate - Blueberries - Red wine - Mushrooms - Water Melon - Bananas - (any missing?)

Super Foods Video

Summary of Post

Refresh knowledge on healthy food choices and put into daily nutrition plan as well as influence our children and grandchildren positively to enhance their future health.