I was interviewing an Okotoks teacher last week about her bid to get healthier when she told me with some laughs she was eating a kale salad.
At first I laughed too and then I had second thoughts. “Does it have brussel sprouts and cranberries?” I questioned. Sure enough it did. I had bought the same pre-packaged salad that week, but had yet to try it.
So a few days later I was eating the kale and brussel sprout salad in editor John Barlow’s office and apparently it made quite an impression on him. (He dedicated his entire column to it last week).
While I agree kale is a current health fad, along with other things such as quinoa, probiotic yogurt and gluten free foods, I say who cares? If something gets thrown into the limelight as something generally underestimated for its health benefits and somebody wants to throw it in my salad bowl, I’ll eat it. No problem.
What draws my ire is when health fads and fad diets are lumped into the same category, like they were in Barlow’s column last week.
Fad diets are a much different machine. They usually encourage people to cut out something and eat more of something else. A fad diet doesn’t say, “eat more kale cause its got calcium, iron and all kinds of other vitamins that are good for you”. A fad diet says don’t eat carbohydrates for a week and eat way more protein. They help people drop weight really fast, but set them up for failure when they start eating their regular diet again.
The thing about fad diets is they are really easy to digest. Who wouldn’t cut out potatoes and pasta for a short time if they can replace it with eggs and bacon every day.
Kale may not be as palatable, but it’ll carry you through for the long run. Speaking of running, exercise is another essential part of good health and its something, along with healthy food, I’m making a priority in a bid to feel good and lose weight.
So wise up Barlow, the cattle feed as you called it, is not just some fad that should be poo poo’d as part of some radical diet.
As I tell my kids you can’t say you don’t like it until you try it.
