Med diet goes the way of all old things
WHAT an irony that within a couple of generations, Cypriots have gone from a Mediterranean diet dominated by pulses, greens and fresh vegetables, to a junk food diet, high in fat and salt, in which we each much our way through 110kg of meat a year.
Nutritionists today agree that the largely vegetarian diet of our grandparents was as healthy as anyone could hope for. But that diet has gone the way of the poverty that bred it, and while meat (inevitably free range and organic before the concepts were invented) used to be a treat for festive occasions, it is today an almost daily fixture (now often battery farmed, pumped full of hormones and antibiotics).
Nobody wants a nanny state telling them what they should and shouldn’t eat. But we do need greater awareness of the risks involved.
The quantities of meat eaten in Cyprus – among the highest in the world – far exceed recommended amounts, while the types of meat tend to be high in saturated fats. And taking into account the spread of junk food, our diets are contributing to obesity, cholesterol, circulatory problems, heart disease and diabetes, with worrying numbers of children now affected.
It’s not enough to blame the junk food manufacturers or the mushrooming delivery outlets. Public attitudes are to blame, and they are driven by ignorance. In the circumstances, the government has a duty to step up the healthy eating message in schools, and to conduct visible information campaigns through the media.
After all, we’re not talking about converting people to a bizarre alien diet, just to return to the kind of food their grandparents used to eat. Surely it shouldn’t be that hard to sell.
Pity about Paphos bike lanes
SO THERE goes Paphos’ brave attempt at launching a pilot project of cycle lanes. The concrete blocks marking off the paths were dangerous, the streets had been narrowed to an unacceptable degree, the shopkeepers were complaining of lost parking space, and no one cycles in Cyprus anyway.
It’s a pity, because with small distances, flat ground in our major cities, and clement weather (except in the baking heat of summer), Cyprus is in many ways ideal for cycling. But the risk of injury from drivers is simply too much even for those who would be keen to use their bikes.
The Paphos project was clearly ill-devised (even the Greens ended up opposing it), but let’s hope its failure will not discourage other municipalities from seeking ways to help cyclists. With growing congestion and no decent public transport on the horizon, cycling is a healthy, cheap, practical and environmentally friendly alternative. It needs to be encouraged.
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