'D' IS FOR DAFT DIETS

MAYO CLINIC, FOOD COMBINING, BEVERLY HILLS, #BANTING (Daddy's 

gone a-hunting?), VEGAN, MACROBIOTIC, 'PALAEO', AITKENS, LOW/NO 

FAT, LOW/NO ANY WHITE STUFF, #TIM NOAKES, KETO, JUICE, FRUITARIAN, NO

NO-SALT,GALLONS OF WATER, CLEANSING, GLUTEN-FREE..........................

.......................I have tried a few.

We  diet for all sorts of 'reasons': to get thinner, to get fatter, vanity, for 'health',

because the doctor said it is imperative, to impress our friends, to be trendy, 

to get 'cut'.........................................................

Plumpish women in the 50s + 60s plumped for the Mayo Clinic (a famous 

Medical Institute in The U.S.of A.) Diet: boiled egg + 1 x dry toast soldier for 

breakfast / 3 x slices chicken  breast or lean minute (minute?) steak + as much 

dressingless Iceberg lettuce + tomato as you can munch through for lunch & 

again for supper / raw fruit - looking over your shoulder (so much sugar!) / as 

much black tea or coffee or water as you like. No wonder the tea party gals 

soon went back to eating cake! 

Most, if not all, of the above eating 'ways of life' are extreme. Do we cosseted

middle class crave some atavistic hardship? We are generally silly about food-

because we have the privilege of not having to worry from where the next meal

 is coming.

As a cook for money + pleasure I have come across some really weird food

requirements / allergies / intolerances. I  call them AGDs - Attention Getting 

Devices. One has to comply just in case it is real & someone ends in hospital 

but my suspicions grow apace.

Well  how & what should we eat? Probably a lot less than we do - we are 

gluttonous yet seldom replete. What is a 'sensible' diet?  Well I think we should 

try as best  we can to avoid most processed foods, eat the real stuff, eat local,  

eat seasonal.  Good, simple food well prepared & savoured. Indulge every now

& then but don't feel the need for the confessional! 


 Most DAFT DIETS have a smidgeon of truth, not unlike good propaganda. 

Their, albeit temporary, adherents swear by them. One cannot put forward any 

cogent arguments against them - one is defensively shot down in flames. Then 

the 'passion' dies down until the next wonderful / scientific / 'scientific' food fad.