Too much sugar leaves a sour taste

THERE used to be a time when a move to clean up junk food in institutions was seen as political correctness gone mad.

Screams about freedom of choice would resonate among those who loved their buns and fish and chips.

But the recent move to crack down on "unhealthy" food in hospital cafes and vending machines has swung through seemingly without much protest, and perhaps that's a reflection on how pervasive - and persuasive - the message about obesity is becoming.

It is certainly something of an obvious conflict that a hospital should be promoting health messages but offering unhealthy food, and it is great the DHBs have taken ownership of it.

One of the major difficulties I find with "healthy eating" is the abundance of mixed messages out there. We see All Black role models guzzling drinks so packed with sugar it's ludicrous, but acceptable enough if you actually trained like an All Black does.

We're told to eat more fruit and cereal, but the amount of sugar contained in canned fruit is unsettling. And a lot of cereals are packed with sugar, to make them taste great.

Recently I purchased cans of teriyaki chicken, as a quickie meal with rice for when my wife is away.

Boy they taste good, and the reason is simple. The chicken is sugared.

It's now being suggested that human digestion hasn't yet evolved properly from paleolithic times, which is pre-agriculture, and it might be better for us to chow down on "caveman" food, namely meat, berries and nuts. Thus the trend for "paleo" diets is emerging.

In my view, a drastic reduction in sugar consumption, plenty of veges and a half an hour walk each day will solve a lot of issues.

What I tend to do is walk my dogs, try not to eat more in a sitting than I could hold in two cupped hands, and try to only eat sitting down.

In the end, you have to ask yourself what sort of quality of life you're after, and keen to maintain.

I suspect most of us would like a comfortable existence, right to the end, and bad diet choices savagely derail that comfort - in the end.