NUMBERS

Atwater Factors. Recognising in hindsight that I enjoy numbers it is no surprise that I embraced the concept of calories. Not so much to eat this way but when teaching nutrition it became a formulaic way to translate the information of why the food pyramid was such a wonderful teaching tool. Carbohydrates had less calories than fats. Therefore you could eat far more. Fats were the reason we were overweight…etc etc. I am truly sorry for passing on this as knowledge.
 
Roll on many years and I am having none of it. Food pyramid education and calorie counting are so wrong on many levels. Lets face it. If it was right would we be in the metabolic mess we are in? It turns out that the numbers game is a lucrative one though. Get people to a point where they associate a number with success or failure and they can be guilt ridden enough to part with money to appease it. We have been taught to measure our health in numbers at the expense of common sense. You might feel ill, have no energy, be depressed, have digestive issues etc etc but feel delighted when the doctor tells you that your cholesterol level is low..
 
A meal with real food is substituted for a slimming shake full of ingredients that has a set low number of calories and you might feel virtuous in your weight journey. Before long we loose the plot. We stop seeing food for what it is and count the numbers instead.
 
I see this strategy again for climate change and CO2. Measure it and charge for it accordingly. Be careful about loosing sight of living life as we spend our time counting the unnecessary..

Anne Maher