Family meal times - more than just nutrition.

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Recently I read an article heralding the return of family TV viewing time! Apparently we’ve been through an era where seemingly “everyone in the family” had a TV in their own room and consequently family viewing time had gone the way of the dinosaur: but not so apparently! Now we have to thank the ever present tablets - not those of the pharmaceutical variety but rather the electronic ones - that allow each family member to watch the family wide screen whilst following friends on Facebook or, miracle of miracles, actually reading a book ...on their iPad that is.

You may gather by the tone in my voice that I am perhaps a tad cynical about such amazing advances in human interactions, but just call me old fashioned, but when it comes to spending time with family, watching TV together doesn’t come very high up my list of things to do together. Don’t get me wrong, I am a total convert to the electronic age because it’s opened up so many new horizons and spaces, but the downside is that so many of those spaces have been filled with total and absolute ... well .. rubbish.

But even the suggestion that families congregating to view a common TV is important news, and tells me that family still has a huge part to play in our society. Family is not just a group of people living together, it’s also the time when we create so many templates for our children’s future in health, education and value systems and once that period of time has passed, unfortunately we cannot go back and easily fix up the mistakes we made. And realizing that family life has such a big impact on future health is why I’m a big advocate of family meal times.

There is no doubt that we live in a frenetic era far different from earlier generations, and that’s perhaps a reflection of the far higher living standards and expectations that we now enjoy. But with the need to have a nice home and a nice car - in order to provide the best education we can for our little people, this also means that we need the cash to pay for these things and as a result, where there are two parents, both often have to work, and where there is only one the pressures are even greater - and creating the time for a daily family meal together can turn out to be a major juggling act between all the demands that young parents face. But when it is done, then the benefits are huge.

Where families frequently sit down to eat together,  the children tend to eat more vegetables and are less likely to be obese, and if obesity can be avoided then so too can all the health complications that come with it. But physical health is not the whole story. Family meals are not just about the food that we eat, there is a process that has to occur in order to prepare the food and prepare the table - and by involving the children in these activities they start to “own” and be involved in the process of service as well of being recipients of the good deeds of others.

Family meal times are an occasion where that unit of people - whatever the composition by gender, race or religion - sit and share their daily activities within the boundaries of that particularly family unit’s “family rules”. These rules are often unspoken - such as telling the truth, being kind, no bad language and not fighting or shouting at each other - whilst others may base their family rules on the Judeo-Christian ethic that has survived over 2000 years and of which GK Chesterton famously once said “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and largely left untried” - which I suspect also applies to most other major world religions too!  By having such a set of family rules each person is then subject to them .. including the parents. And this can have unexpected and yet positive benefits for everyone: for example, when one of the parents has bent the rules - it might be when a child is unjustly shouted at by a parent - then at the family meal time, if the innocent party feels secure enough to point out the injustice, this can provide the occasion for the parent to apologize for getting it wrong and asking their son or daughter for forgiveness. This is a crucial lesson for a child to learn at an early age and helps them understand and accept personal responsibility for their actions - and how sorrow and forgiveness can heal an emotional injury at source and not allow it to fester into chronic guilt or resentment.

All parents of teenagers know that the teenage years are the years of chaos - and it really is not surprising as the teenage brain is continuing to make new connections during a time when their bodies are physically changing, and at the same time surging with adolescent hormones - a guaranteed recipe for long sullen pauses or inexplicable explosive reactions. If all parents were to realize that teenage development equates with chaos not entirely of their own making, then life for both parents and teenagers could be more serene. Which brings me back to family meal times.
One of the great joys of family life is that just about everyone there is of a different age group, whilst at school for 12 years of their lives, our young people are put in classes where everyone is of the same age and at the same level of life experience. Whilst preparing for, eating and cleaning up after the family meal, the group has to cooperate with people of different ages and life experience. So when the teenager says to the parent “You don’t get it do you?” ... well perhaps they do actually get it better than the teenager thinks! The important thing is to allow the youngsters to express their thoughts in a loving secure atmosphere, within the family rules, and not get a long lecture on why they are wrong, and how they should get their act together.
Family meal times allow for parents to hear whats happened to their children during that day or week and try to understand what outside influences they’ve been under when away from home. It also calls on each member to learn how to listen, as well as to have the confidence to speak out to. And it’s also that important time when issues can be completed and not carried on as hurts for weeks, months or even years. Unfortunately, children still grow up in dysfunctional families where parents continue to pass on the negative ideas and habits they learned from their parents and which still stunt their own children’s emotional development for life.
All of this is so important for the mental health of our young people as about 1 in 3 of the whole population will experience some form of mood disorder during the course of their lives, but if they have experienced the benefits of life in a stable, happy family unit, they will be better prepared to deal with such challenges if and when they arise.
Family meals are not easy to organize in these so called modern times, but they are an essential part of a healthy society - both physically and mentally - so the effort to make it happen as often as possible will be more than rewarded with happy memories and a healthier future generation.

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Do we all need vitamin and mineral suppliments?

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According to scientists, there is little doubt that we inhabitants of the 21st century have all evolved from the primitive hunter gatherer who came out of Africa and who survived on nuts, berries and the occasional kill of meat, fish or fowl. And even now, in various parts of the globe, indigenous peoples still follow a similar lifestyle in an often hostile environment: environments in which we we city slickers would succumb at a fairly rapid rate.
But as the hunter gatherer moved from the idea that humans should hunt in isolation or in packs, to living together in small communities, they then took on the challenge of controlling the environment by farming crops and husbanding animals, with the hoped for intention of replacing the feast/famine cycle with the more constant production of basic foods.
And over the many hundreds of thousands of years from the hunter gatherer to the present day, our bodies have adapted to the consumption of the wide variety of foodstuffs that we eat and which contain the essential nutrients that our bodies need. In fact we are now only just beginning to glimpse, and understand the role of, the billions of organisms that have evolved inside our intestines during this same period of time and which help us digest these foodstuffs. Not only do these internal organisms help us digest our meals, but they also supplement our nutrition with essential nutrients that help maintain our health, and it now looks like they also play a part in helping our immune system, regulate our nervous system and even interact with other organs around our body!
These are some of the reasons why I’ve always had some concern about the “pellitization” and widespread promotion of vitamins and minerals: formulations that are sold worldwide and which are promoted as aids to improving our health,  boosting the immune systems, or changing us from flu ridden wretches to bouncy smiling super athletes in a matter of minutes after consuming one of these marvelous, Multivitamin pills.
Vitamins weren’t in fact discovered until the early part of the 20th century - which in the evolution of mankind is literally only a few minutes ago. Vitamin C has a slightly longer history as it had been noted by a ships surgeon back in the 18th century that the scurvy, which affected all sailors who embarked on long sea voyages and which we now know to be caused by vitamin c deficiency, could be prevented if they ate limes which are rich in vitamin C. However it was to be another 200 years before the active constituent in limes  was identified, and not until 1935 that it was first produced commercially and which has since made billions of dollars for the manufacturers.
Many of the vitamins were first isolated in foods as a result of deficiency syndromes found in sick patients : for example Beri Beri is due to thiamine - or vitamin B6 - deficiency, and pernicious naemia is due to a lack of vitamin B12 in the body. The problem is that once these critical substances were identified, the “idea” developed that “more is better” so if we all took more of these life - and the Latin word for life is Vita - these life enhancing chemicals, then we’d all live healthier lives. But unfortunately, that has not proved to be the case.
Vitamins are to be found in all well balanced, healthy diets and the vast majority of people do not need any vitamin replacement. But as well as the vitamins we get in a well balanced diet, there are other beneficial micro-nutrients: for instance an orange provides vitamin C plus some beta carotene, calcium and other nutrients: which cannot be said of vitamin C supplements which lack these other Micronutrients. Food stuffs can also contain essential fibres that are very helpful with conditions as varied as constipation to diabetes and heart disease. Other health positive nutrients to be found in a well balanced meal are Phyto-chemicals and anti-oxidants which have their own unique benefits in maximizing our health.
However, just as I am against the blanket promotion of Vits and Mins for the whole population, I also recognize that certain people definitely do need replacement therapy for proven medical conditions and some, such as those with Cystic Fibrosis, would be at critical risk should they fail to take their daily vitamin supplements.
Neonatal Folic acid is essential for pregnant Mums to prevent the occurrence of neural tube defects such as Spina Bifida. Vitamin D is recommend for pregnant Mums to help with healthy bone formation in infants. Iron supplements may be necessary for menstruating women who have heavy periods or who are pregnant. And those people who cannot produce or absorb Vitamin B12 need regular replacement in order to protect and maintain healthy functioning of their nervous system.
One of the major drawbacks of single substance replacement - which is what vitamins and minerals offer us - is that their potential for good has failed to live up to the promised expectations. In fact trials aimed at showing the benefits of vitamin E have proven potentially, to do more harm than good.
Then there are the health supplements which contain herbal extracts
: and these have proven to be much more difficult to assess. Fresh herbs are far closer to the natural foodstuffs that we eat, and the greener and fresher the leaf the better it is especially when it comes to Cruciferous vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and arugula. With herbal extracts however, there is a huge disparity between whether the leaf, stem or root of the herb is used and at what time of year they are collected. Also, there have been many reports of sports-related herbal extracts being tainted with anabolic steroids and other chemicals in order to enhance their effects. So if you do choose to take a herbal extract,then it’s very important to read the label, see where it was manufactured and see what’s actually in the supplement that you are taking. Then check out the expiry date as this can have a big impact on the potency of the supplement involved.
Herbal extracts and even vitamins and mineral supplements can interact with medications that people take - especially older people who are on anti-coagulant medication and on young women who take the oral contraceptive pill, so always discuss what you are taking with your pharmacist and when in any doubt, seek professional advice first.
But to put the whole thing in perspective, Vits and Mins as well as herbal supplements can cause problems, but when held up against the adverse drug reactions, the inappropriate use of medications and the hospital deaths that are caused by the wrong medications being given, they do pale into insignificance.
The vast majority of young families who are enjoying good health do not need any supplementation if they are eating a varied diet of healthy food. Even those recovering from the flu can get all their nutrients replaced in a few days by resuming a normal diet. For more serious infections that may have required powerful medications, then you should consult with your treating doctor and even a dietician to get the correct advice on what is best for you.

Oh for the simple life

Tweet Remember those good old days when the baddie always wore a black hat and the good guy wore a white one? I remember being taught in Medical school that there were three deadly white poisons: white flour, white sugar and heroin!! If only it were as clear cut as that - even heroin is a fantastic pain killer in Palliative Care.

I was reminded of how muddy the waters can be when "pontificating" on health matters, by an article in the Weekend Australian on the simple subject of sugar: which for many decades has been the "bete noir" in the obesity and diabetes stakes. Many patients that I've had over the years, when it comes to being told they have diabetes, respond with "That's all about sugar isn't it"? The simple answer is, "No, it's not just about sugar" - it's about healthy eating and effective physical activity. In fact, according to Jenny Brand-Miller, the University of Sydney Nutritionist, too much dietary information is out of date and eating sugar is not "inherently dangerous".

One of the problems in promoting good health is that we go for the simple headline, the "catchy" phrase to encompass a subject that is so big and so varied in nature. Obesity, and all the related health issues that go with it can be improved if you eat good quality food in the right quantity and get an appropriate form of physical activity on a regular basis - according to who you are, and where you are in your life; and that - as we know - is constantly changing: so one size will never fit all, despite so many health organizations trying to convince us otherwise.

What gets my goat at the moment, is the bullying and hectoring that some "health lobby" types use to press their message: in particular when prosletysing about their current hobby horse, alcohol - a toxic poison when used incorrectly, but one that when used appropriately, does have health benefits as well as making those healthy eating occasions, so much more pleasurable. This is another of those "one size fits all" health issues that just doesn't add up: some people should never drink alcohol because they just can't stop after one drink, and I respect their wise decision never to drink. Most young people of Anglo Saxon heritage seem to think that the purpose of alcohol is to make you vomit and black out - these young people need a serious lesson about the terrible toxicity of alcohol. Interestingly, most Italian, French and other non Anglo communities appear to be able to educate their young people far more "creatively" when it comes to alcohol. When it comes to the health negatives such as cancer, and the health benefits, such as heart disease: then I suggest we lock those experts up in a room and don't let them out until they sort it out; and then let us know where the real truth may lie!