I've been getting cross at all the weird messages banding around about this obesity epidemic. While I agree there are changes that need to be made, I think people are going about it the wrong way and it is my opinion that we are going to find ourselves with an eating disordered generation who are completely confused about what they should and should not eat, and even feel guilty for having a lazy Sunday afternoon, because of all the mixed messages.
One of my bug bears is the demonisation of foods. Cheese in particular is getting bad press, the thought of carbs still seems to put fear in people, any kind of fat is now considered the root of all evil and somehow sugar is considered so bad for our children that it is replaced with artificial sweeteners?
These messages are forced at our children from all angles (along with an array of other worrying things like misleading food labelling and manipulated body images) and it's confusing, with many children (and adults for that matter) now believing that the only "good" or "guilt free" things to eat are vegetables (no fruit as "it's got sugar").
And these adverts, aired at prime family viewing times, have had my extremely healthy 9 year old weighing himself and standing in front of the mirror, pinching the skin on his stomach while questioning his health this past year, which infuriates me!
I'm not going to go into all of my grievances with how this issue is being dealt with, and I don't think these issues are all new things. However, I believe that attaching guilt to food is the biggest mistake of all.
I grew up around a lot of people who "dieted", some of them more as a hobby than a health choice. I have a lot of memories from my childhood of eating "treat" foods but never getting any real satisfaction from them because they were accompanied by conversation along the lines of "Ooh, aren't we naughty!" leading (along with other factors) to a lifelong dysfunctional relationship with food and body image.
As this post title suggests, I'm feeling the need to stick up for pizza. Not because I'm in denial, but because I think it's being treated unfairly.
Often lumped in with crisps, chips, sweets and fizzy drinks, pizza is being touted as one of the worst "offending" foods. While I don't believe in "banning" any foods, lets have a look at those contenders shall we?
Crisps - potatoes fried in oil (or covered in oil and baked) with added salt (also sometimes sugar, MSG, artificial sweeteners and e numbers). Hardly any nutritional value.
Chips - see crisps
Sweets - sugar, artificial sweeteners, colourings, chemical ingredients we sometimes can't even pronounce. Unlikely to be of any nutritional value, even in the ones that claim they're made with natural fruit juices.
Fizzy drinks - see sweets, carbonated and often plus caffeine.
Pizza - bread base, tomato sauce, cheese, toppings of meat, fish, herbs, vegetables etc. OK, cheese has a higher fat content than some other foods, but if you want to reduce fat you don't have to use a lot of it and there are so many types such as less processed and lower fat varieties or ones with stronger flavours so you need less.
Nutritional content of pizza in comparison to the other contenders? It's in a different league as far as I'm concerned and I think people should stop putting it down!
This pizza recipe is my go-to, standby meal when I've had a hard day and don't feel like cooking something more complex and haven't had the foresight to throw something in the slow cooker. It isn't the best pizza recipe ever but it takes me less than 30 minutes from scratch to plate and I will not be made to feel guilty for serving it as a legitimate meal, nor will I class it as a "treat".
Mum's tired, let's have pizza tonight recipe
200g plain (white, wholemeal or a mix of both) flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
130ml milk (water is also fine)
pinch of salt
Passata (instead of tinned tomatoes because of Cameron's sensory issues)
Garlic, 1 large clove
Large teaspoon of pesto or mixed herbs if I've run out
Toppings - onions, peppers, sweetcorn and either tuna or anchovies are our favourites
Grated cheese, low fat if you want
More mixed herbs
Turn oven on. Mix flour, oil, milk and salt to a dough. Knead until a bit springy (not more than 2 mins, Mum's tired remember!) roll out and place on baking tray (stab all over with a fork if yours doesn't have holes) or pizza stone.
Spread passata garlic and pesto and arrange toppings and cheese with a sprinkle of herbs.
Bake at 200C for 20 mins.
Eat, taste, enjoy without guilt.
I'll be back with something more cheerful tomorrow!
13 comments:
I have been reading about a diet mentioned in an economics book that Bruce was reading. It involves drinking either light olive oil or fructose water in a two hour taste free window twice a day and it is meant to take your appetite away. Before Christmas I was trying Slimming World which seems to consist of an hour and a half of ritual humiliation (if like me you haven't lost any weight) while a quiz is conducted to see which side of the room has lost the most weight!
The more I read or try the more confused I get.
It get serious thought when perfectly healthy young children are worried, could you explain to him how most adverts twist the truth as they are only interested in making money out of you. A healthy dose of scepticism seems to do the trick here.
And home made pizza is so much better and healthier, and much better than my solution to mum's tired.
It's all so confusing isn't it Maire? I've done my own round of weight loss clubs but found them a trigger for bad habits with them advising similar tips to pro-ana sites such as chewing ice instead of eating food when you're hungry. The humiliation is awful at some of them and it is in their best interests, really, to keep you overweight so that you go back and spend more money.
The adverts were particularly difficult to combat with Cameron because we had just gotten past the Autism adverts which were even worse! He's in a better frame of mind about it all now but it's hard when all the messages around him in society are telling him something different. We talk a lot about media manipulation and are often analysing adverts. I think it's harder to see problems with ones that don't look like they're trying to make money.
Oh Hannah I am SO pleased to see this post! It drives me utterly MAD. My (then) 5 year old was on the verge of panic every time he ate because of the fear of fat which he had picked up from the bloody change for life adverts! I know he wasn't alone in this fear either :( Once I explained to him that our bodies require fats to function properly he felt a bit better, but I still see some signs that could be future concerns, if we aren't careful.
I have just read a book called The Cholesterol Con which has opened my eyes even more, and makes me incredibly, incredibly angry at the scientists who falsely promote this bad food science. It is criminal, and I too foresee a future of a generation of people with eating disorders, sadly :(
Brilliant post Hannah :) I think that all these mixed messages and guilt trips about food are a huge contributing factor to the number of people out there with eating disorders, low self image/esteem and depression...encouraging healthy eating is one thing, but there is far too much irresponsible promotion of diets and products etc in my opinion. And am totally with you on the treats thing - what a shame that generations of people are growing up associating pleasure with guilt. I do wonder where this all started from a social history perspective - after/during the war perhaps with the rationing maybe, or perhaps with the advent of television advertising?
Any way big thumbs up to pizza - especially the home made variety :)
Mandy xxx
A very good and sensible book about food is Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food - it's American hence the spelling. One of the most important points he makes in it, IMO, is to eat food that your granny would have recognised as food. So much of what is out there today is not real food, and yet is promoted as being oh so healthy. I'm thinking particularly of Quorn. One of the many reasons I decided to go back to eating meat after 20 years as a veggie, was because it was completely nonsensical to be eating fake versions of real foods, IYSWIM? We were vegan (even raw vegan) for a while, and I still believe that that type of diet has a place, in some instances, but really our relationship with food has become completely warped in the last, I don't know, 30 or 40 years?
Thanks for your comments. I'm glad this post has been well recieved - I worried I might come across as a fat girl who doesn't want to give up pizza lol!
I agree about weird fake versions of real foods. I find it difficult (rightly so) to trust anything that I can't work out how it's made or what it's made out of.
Excellent post, and I've never understood the classification of pizza as junk food either.
Thanks for the recipe, I have a lot of tiring days so I think I might make it quite often, lol!
The message about food should be the age-old "everything in moderation". Mind you, you can pretty much eat anything you want if you put in the exercise.
Ohhhh bug bear for me too.
Particularly, low fat foods. It peeves me off no end that folks really seriously believe low fat foods are healthier than unprocessed, unmessed with normal foods... not to mention all that fat that is removed is replaced normally with vasts amount of sugar.... mmm realy is it such a wonder that diabetes is on the rise among our generation and younger ones that have been brought up to only eat these ridiculous foods?
Talk about con of the century! Shove a load of sugar in these foods thst are suppose to be healthy.. lets ignore that sugar is an incredibly addictive product... produces dangerous blood sugar highs and lows, which can cause problems with insulin production... and too much sugar in the food.. well our body immediately converts it to fat to store it.
I'll stop ranting now - tho I could go on... just to add... homemade pizza can be a balanced, nurioushing meal - not so much takeaway pizza..but homemade is great!
Of all the things I thought I'd have to battle with when it came to raising children, this is one I NEVER even imagined having to deal with.
It's really frustrating trying to teach them about healthy eating, everything in moderation and banning what all of their friends are eating (NO diet anything, or artificial sugars, etc.) I'm just waiting till they're old and all these things are banned and they say "Oh, our mom was right."
I worked in various independent take-aways for the majority of my teen years, mostly pizzerias actually (maybe my feelings for pizza go back further than I thought!) and pizza was still pretty innocent compared to other options.
My theory is that it's all the fake food around these days that are fueling the obesity crises--high fructose this and partially hydrogenated that.
Pizza is real food and it is good!
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