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The information here addresses the underlying causes of common health complaints and the simple solutions to guide you towards optimum health.

The Diabesity debate

Everywhere I go, in the UK and throughout Europe, I see that obesity is on the increase and so too is diabetes. This epidemic is quite literally sweeping across the globe or the developed parts of it at least. According to the latest figures we now have more than two million registered diabetics in the UK with over a million ‘undiagnosed’. Medical complications from diabetes alone account for at least 8% of total health care costs in Europe and it is rising at an alarming rate. We now have a word for it and it’s called Diabesity! Diabetes and obesity stuck together like a giant sugary snack.

I read stories about how scientists have discovered a ‘fat gene’ and the assumption is that the gene is newly developed by us humans. It’s one that we hadn’t had before; acquired in the mid 80s along with a mullet and a bleached blonde fringe (I can’t have been the only one surely). Human evolution doesn’t work like that; new genes don’t just come along and start causing trouble. What we are seeing is a reaction, by our bodies, to our environment and by that I mean the food that we eat, the way that we live and the air that we breathe.

Chemical messengers tell our genes that everything is OK in our world or that we are under attack. Recent research has begun to identify elements of our diet that tell our genes things aren’t good. Our genes respond accordingly and boy are they responding at the moment. In the past 50 years our diet has changed beyond all recognition. You only have to compare the ingredients in a sliced white loaf from your local supermarket to that of artisan bread from an independent baker to see this. Food is simply no longer just food. With so many ingredients added and taken away from our food, is it any wonder we don’t really know how to respond to it, process it and get whatever goodness is left from it.

For wholesale manufacturers the nutritional value of food seems to be way down the list of priorities behind shelf life, packaging, marketing and profit. I’d even go one step further and add addictability to that list. These foods are designed to be eaten again and again in ever larger quantities. In fact calling some of these products ‘food’ is an insult and quite frankly dangerous to health.

There is even a European Union framework committee called DIABESITY and their express aim is to ‘identify several new drug targets for the treatment and prevention of diabesity.’ They say ‘Obviously the perfect scenario to end obesity would be that elusive ‘magic pill’. They blame diabesity on the trend to eat convenience or calorie packed meals and there is absolutely no mention of the bigger trend of manufacturing the stuff in the first place. Whatever happened to the committee that wants to take a few steps backwards and examine why we are in this state in the first place? Obviously a magic pill would be the easiest option and dare I say the profitable one but consider for a moment where taking the easy route has got us so far.

The best our government has come up with is to eat less of the rubbish being sold to us and go for a short run every other day.

So, what can you do about it? Well you’re reading the first ever issue of Inspired Times, so you’re probably already pretty clued up or the distribution of this magazine has excelled all expectations. This is more of a call to arms, or a call to your cookers, allotments and to your children’s classrooms. It’s time to start baking our own bread again, growing our own fruit and vegetables, making proper stock from the bones of animals we eat and making good hearty wholesome food from relatively few ingredients that haven’t been processed in a faceless factory. For those of you that are already doing this, it’s time to share these skills with those around you in your local communities. Maybe we need to go the other way in this country and heavily tax processed foods according to their lack of nutritional value while making organic whole foods free from tax. This may better reflect the burden placed on our health service by diets rich in processed foods. I’m not sure I have all the answers but I’m certain they lie in our past. We’ve always known how to look after ourselves, we’ve just lost our way a little in the past 50 years.

The alternative for us is to rely entirely on a European Union framework committee to invent the magic pill, how scary is that?

An article written for Inspired Times magazine