Food Balance

The interesting thing about writing this blog about food is that I am constantly bombarded with ideas in the media - so I tend to have a lot of inspiration. I can’t remember if it was always like this and I just didn’t notice, or if I’m right in my assumption that recently there has been an enormous increase in the amount of attention (both positive and negative) being paid to food. While this is great for me - I’ll learn a tidbit in the paper and run off like a nerdy nutrition food-addict to research the topic further and find more evidence - I’m under the impression that the majority of the public may not and this could lead to a problem. It’s a problem because most of what is discussed in the media surrounding nutrition and food tends to be only a part of the story – especially when discussing the health benefits of food.

For example, when there was a buzz around antioxidants and as a result everything in the news surrounded the magical properties of foods high in them like berries, it seemed like everyone started gorging themselves on berries. I mean you could and still can find Acai berry supplements which provides people with what they are convinced is a quick, easy and convenient way to protect against disease!! I believe that a large part of this mentality is supported by the media. They tend to highlight specific information about food and present it as either good or bad – the grey area is not as attractive to sell. So fat is presented as bad, though we know that certain fats are necessary and have positive effects, and red meat is bad, even though we get an important source of easily accessible iron. I believe that access to this type of information actually makes the public’s ability to make decisions about food more difficult because food doesn’t neatly fall into the catagories given. For example cheese provides important nutrients like calcium but its high in saturated fat, so is it good or bad?

I believe healthy eating, which should be most people’s goal, is all about the grey area. Food is not either good, healthy, guilty free foods or bad foods – that oversimplifies a more complex situation. What I believe should be more present within the media is a voice of balance. Individual food components are given more significance in my opinion than they deserve. Why can’t the messages be more about variety? Would that really make the story less interesting?