I see that medical experts and the gov are saying we must have 2 free days of alcohol (where do I get my shot for free?) and we must cut down on saturated fats as found in butter, olive oil etc. and we will then be healthier.
Now I am also told that a Mediterranean diet as eaten in Italy and Greece is the healthiest in the world, having been raised by a Greek mother and spent a lot of my childhood in Greece we were raised on rough red wine, retsina and olive oil?
Hence I am confused.
Besides which if we all die young from a bad diet then the problem with pensions and elderly care is diminished, or is this why they want us to eat butter substitutes full of chemicals?
Boadicea's Chariot 
Absolutely, Rick, well said! Good on ya’. 😀
The whole point of “health research” is to prove what the sponsors want you to prove, unless it is something totally obvious to anyone, such as the relationship between smoking and ill health.. You only need to choose the right sampling method to get the result you want. (cf. Global Warming)
Hence, the best thing to do is to ignore it all, like what I do! 🙂
We dipped our cherished toes into this pond the other day:
https://charioteers.org/2012/01/09/half-cut/
I’m not confused. “A little of what you fancy does you good” seems a good way to go – not that I always abide by that rule!
I try to avoid ‘chemical substitutes’ ever since a friend developed leukaemia and died aged about 30. He worked in a laboratory making chemical flavourings. When the company gave his wife a huge (for that time) payout without her even asking for compensation, my ‘conspiracy’ antennae began working. So yes, like you I wonder why we are advised to favour unnatural, chemical substitutes over natural products which evolution has enabled the human body to function for many thousands of years.
What bothers me is that the younger generation, like my grandson, takes the whole ‘health’ advice on board. Sure, he doesn’t eat Maccas, or much other junk food although he is, like many Ozzies, a Choco-holic! But, I really cannot believe the amount of commercial, chemical ‘boosters’ he takes in the belief that it will make his body function better.
Boa it is all very worrying about the young and diet, either too much or too little, else they all have inhalers because they are all asthmatic, a rare thing when I was young but now it appears every second person has an inhaler. Hospital tried to convince me I had asthma when I had a bad cold some years ago, I have always been a bad breather due to very narrow nasal airways, hence I breath through my mouth most of the time, yet my lungs are perfect (not sure on liver) .
I feel the entire thing is financed by the drug industry to sell their poisons.
Sorry Janus never noticed.
It’s not just the younger generation, Boadicea. My Italian sister-in-law, now in her 70s, has a large tray at her bedside covered with Holland & Barrett type boxes of vitamins, minerals and God knows what. She is a qualified nurse, and a hypochondriac of no mean experience. I read quite recently that in fact taking daily doses of boosters can actually be harmful. The idea is to acquire trace elements and vitamins gradually and naturally through a healthy, mixed diet.
No, I am not confused either, I just ignore it. I’m still in the dark ages when dairy produce and eggs were good for you. I detest all this “advice” and it changes on a daily basis. In the end, what I want to eat will either kill me or may actually become the ideal diet.
I’m not fussed actually, I eat a fairly varied assortment of foodstuffs but try not to pig out on anything in particular. I sometimes crave red meat, and sometimes all I want is salad. It usually evens out over a period of time.
I rather think according to their advice that we should have been ‘dead and gorn’ years ago.
Think about it like this, the diet they don’t want you to eat is produced with minimal chemical intervention.
Look at the chemical processed needed to extract oils and sugars from substances such as maize.
And look at the profits of companies such as ADM.
Nuff said as to why they keep pushing it.
As usual, follow the money!
The young need to wise up to the ways of the world, it is not an improving place! Just the modern interpretation of the robber baronage.