Welcome to the Be Your Own Nutritionist blog

My intention is that the blog will act as an extension of the book’s content, building on and adding detail to its messages – the appalling impact of modern diets, limitations and corruptions of food and health science, the value of traditional diets including recipes and commentaries and, my favourite bit – praise for medicinal foods.

There are a few blogs that are particularly effective when it comes to sensible analysis of modern diets and food and health science, so when I read something interesting I’ll point it out. Take a look at drbriffa.com right now though – Dr John Briffa is one of my doctor heroes! He’s brave, open minded and sensible, qualities that all good doctors need.

Mostly I intend to focus on the anatomy of traditional diets. More often than not these diets, that have been tried and tested through the ages, have health at their heart. But to understand them truly takes an unusual mix of scientist, traditional clinician, historian and philosopher. For a start we have to know how far back, and where to look for genuine traditional diets – most of what is presented as traditional these days has in some way been affected by the modern dietary bêtes noires – sugar, artificial sweeteners, chemically modified fat and white wheat flour. For strong and sustained health these ingredients should be largely removed from what we eat.

And what about those medicinal foods? There are plenty of them though I’ve got a few favourites which I’ll start with. And I’ll dig out the material medica so that you can see how they are used in traditional medicine. It’s fascinating stuff. More to follow….