The Diet Debate

I’m not one for supermarkets. Rarely do we enter, and we try to limit the amount of ‘food’ that we purchase in store. Toiletries and the like are needed, so the gentle force of convenience draws us in.

Admittedly my better half is the main purchaser in our house, but recently I had to stop in to purchase a few nappies that we were short of.

I was absolutely astounded by the amount of rubbish ‘food’ that was on the shelves. Of course I’ve been into supermarkets plenty of times, maybe I’m just more aware these days than in my earlier years, but the amount of crap that was available just riled me. We are the parents of young children, and we try to limit the amount of T.V, and generally avoid the channels pumping with advertisements of crap peddling companies. Parents today must be facing a bigger challenge than ever before. With so many choices, and most of them detrimental long term (and I’m only talking about food!) you don’t have to look far to see parents caving to the desires of their children, we all do it, it’s nearly impossible not to, as the old saying goes, “He who lives in a glass house should never throw stones”…. I turn up at home with a chocolate ‘surprise’ more often than I should.

To make my point, take a look at the canteen food system. A campaign using traffic lights as signals of how often a product should be consumed. There is no finer example of a system designed by the food companies for their marketing benefit. When a chocolate breakfast drink is deemed healthier than plain full fat milk, and is apparently fine to consume each day, we all need have a good hard look at ourselves. Maybe a good smack in the chops is needed for all. I’m not a hard core Paleo, but real unprocessed food, fresh fruit and veg and quality grass fed meat purchased from a wise, good looking butcher must be the diet of choice right?

Newsletter - August 2014, school canteen traffic light system


Ben Clinch

Ben Clinch has a strong background in agriculture and has experience in operations and project management. Before starting The Free Range Butcher he worked as jackaroo, camel handler, barman, security guard, handyman, and tiler. These days he manages the day to day running of The Free Range Butcher business, and you can usually find him out the front of the farmers market stall; often telling bad jokes, or offering samples to vegetarians. He’s also the go to guy for sales, corporate enquiries, events, and silly questions.

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