To be astonished at the stupidity of the Smart Swap campaign?

[Farrowandbawlbauls]

Yes, we all need to eat better and move about more but I've just seen the advert for swapping sugar loaded fizzy drinks for sugar free ones.

Am I alone in thinking it's one of the most ill thought of things they've come up with yet?

The sweetners in sugar free drinks are dangerous. The sugar free stuff usually advertised is most of the time, worse than the full fat stuff.

Link

I can see why they are doing this as it is a huge problem in this country, but I don't thing they've thought this through at all.

More conspiracy theories about aspartame I see. Has anyone been on to complain about food being made out of chemicals yet?

Milk is bad for you. It's not meant for adult human consumption. Most people are completely taken in by Big Dairy. And then very very invested in mocking when others point out the truth.

Big Dairy and Big Alcohol have many similar characteristics (have you seen all the people going on about 'dry January' and how can they possibly not drink for one whole month? The real question of course is how can they possibly not realise that if it's a problem for them then they are actually an alcoholic).

Soory, I've haven't heard of that one before. Why is milk bad for you?

*Sorry.

love the use of the word 'meant' there.

no, quite clearly it's not 'meant' for any human consumption, it's only 'meant' for calves. which foods do you think are 'meant' for humans other than breast milk?

something not being 'meant' for you doesn't make it bad. a small amount of dairy is not 'bad' for you - everything is 'bad' for you in some way anyway. a bit of milk is the least of our worries.

it isn't bad for you. it's just food with energy in it and some calcium and a bit of milk fat and sugar.

The enzyme for digesting milk is lost in most humans between the ages of about 2 and about 7. The ability to continue digesting milk in adulthood is a genetic mutation which is found primarily in Europeans. Most of the world adult population do not have the mutation and can not digest milk.

The majority of humans can, however, digest vegetables, fruit, meat etc.

Big Dairy is as pernicious as Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco. And has an even more tenacious hold on the gullible.

The ability to digest milk is a genetic adaptation that gave our European (and other) forebears a huge advantage in the environment in which they lived. Call it a mutation if you like - it's no different to the mutations that caused people in Northern climes to have pale skin (and avoid vitamin D deficiency), or the even bigger ones that made us into bipeds.

fwiw I do have an issue with the vast scale of industrial milk production in the US and sincerely hope that we resist it here.

The average North European will be able to tolerate milk, we've evolved to do so, over hundreds of years. I would rather wage my war against sugar and processed foods

I agree with you on that, there's bigger issues with food that need to be delt with first, sugar and processed foods (including the low fat, low sugar stuff) being the main one.

we wouldn't be here without mutations ffs.

to say well if we didn't drink it past 7 we wouldn't be able to drink it past 7 rouses a great big so what for me.

Yes, the point about milk is that if you ate it for the first time in ten years you wouldn't be able to digest it - but you can eat other foods for the first time without problems, generally speaking.

That milk line is vegan orthodoxy. I used to believe it too :)

Clearly we can digest milk. As others have said, if it's a genetic mutation, that's perfectly normal, it happens. Milk is a useful source of calcium, protein and fat. Fine in moderation.

Fine in moderation. Like everything else that is availabe to us.

Assuming you are taking regular exercise, as long as you don't go overboard and stuff yourself silly with one particular thing or group of things every day, you should be able to maintain a healthy weight.

devil I'm certainly no advocate for sugar or processed foods (well. If I'm an advocate for anything, it's marmite. Which is I suppose processed). But why would you make such a bold and illogical statement if you hadn't been influenced by Big Dairy?

I am as it happens a vegan but I haven't (and won't) criticize meat eating in this thread or claim that humans aren't physiologically adapted to eat meat. Because coearly, to some extent, we are. I am allergic to milk (properly, immune system allergic, not the more usual lactose intolerant). I have been since very very early childhood (possibly since birth but more likely frm around 1 year old). As a result of this, I pay rather more attention to milk and attitudes towards it than most people for whom it's not a potentially life threatening substance. The pervasive influence of Big Dairy is very obvious to me, it is extremely similar to the way Big Alocohol works - anyone who challenges dairy is portrayed as a nutter, just as anyone who challenges alcohol is portrayed as either mad or a killjoy. For all that people criticize Big Junk Food you don't see people who are opposed to sugar or salt or hamburgers etc portrayed in the same way. And yet, the human body does actually need a level of sugar salt and protein, whereas it does not need milk or alcohol.

The human body does not need milk (once weaned), but it is a source of protein, fat, carbohydrates, minerals.

I have the mutation that allows me to digest it, so I do. Also black tea isn't very nice.

No conspiracy there.

It is interesting how many people don't know how milk is produced though. I have taught otherwise intelligent students who don't realise that the cow has to have a calf before milk is produced, they just think grass goes in one end and milk comes out the other.....

metebelis have you been reading the 'juice master' (Jason something)'s book. It came with a juicer I once bought and was just so full of baloney about, among other things dairy, it was hilarious!

Agree you can't use the 'don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognise' as a rule. MIL (born in the mid 40s) is always going on about the 'exotic' foods that are available to us now, including pasta, bananas and......yoghurt (her favourite one to go on about!)

YANBU - this is about as educational on nutrition as a trip to Willy Wonkas. The focus should be on portion sizing, pictures of what a reasonable plate looks like, and eating things that have been messed about with as little as possible.

mister good god no. I don't own, and nor would I ever want to own, a juicer.

Most people who have experienced severe allergic reactions to diary don't find the whole subject hilarious, mind you. Certainly not as hilarious as the thought of buying a juicer.

And if there is anything that should be focused on, on top of that, is eating a diet that controls our insulin levels - fat isn't the enemy in that equation, it's simple carbs eaten in excess and on their own with nothing to help slow the blood sugar rise. |Telling your average Joe to eat les sugar isn't enough - they need to be taught about the carbohydrate loads of meals, hidden sugars, sensible nutritious swaps (not ff coke for diet coke) that sort of thing.