Right and wrong. We live our lives by this. The vast majority of us try to do the right thing. We obey the laws of gravity and most of us obey the laws of the land. Indeed, some of us crusade for what we believe is right, while those on the other side of the world may be crusading for the exact opposite. They’re also crusading for what they believe is right.

What if all these opposites are in fact part of one big picture? What if you can’t have right without wrong? Well, of course you can’t. (Even if you use semantics as your slave and start creating words like ‘unright’, the end result is the same; you still have polarity.) Because unless there is a wrong, there can be no right. In that case, what we would have would be ‘is’. It isn’t right or wrong. It just is.

I’m a right versus wrong type of person. There is a way that something should be done. Then I gradually (or sometimes uncomfortably quickly) realise that there are a number of ways that task can be done, and who am I to decide that my way is right? But this takes me time. I start from the ‘this is the right way to do this thing’ perspective and gradually morph to ‘there are a number of ways to do this thing’. and finally to ‘there may be a better way than mine’. That doesn’t mean I’m an overly confident person or am arrogant. I think it means I have a blinkered view to start with then expand slowly, in my own time, when I do not feel threatened.

That’s why, for me at least, I am now aiming to steer clear of the thinking that there are right foods and wrong foods. I’ve done all that, I have a propensity for it, but in the long run it didn’t help all that much. So what if, instead, I could see each food in a place (a relatively fluid place) on a sliding scale? There would be foods I would eat more often (those nearer the top of the scale) and foods I would decide to consume less often (those at the other end). I use the term fluid because as I learn more I can then easily change a certain food’s place on the scale. Nothing is written in stone. There is no right and wrong.

Perhaps stepping around this right-versus-wrong mentality will make everything, not just eating, easier. I’ll keep you posted.

Sometimes I look back and see how far I have come. At other times, I look back and see how far I have slipped. I go along well for ages then something happens and I slide back into old habits.

Blaming myself and feeling bad about it doesn’t work. How can that be a positive experience? Giving in, or giving up, also isn’t the wisest course.

There are probably many ways to deal with this backsliding, but at the moment only a couple come to mind. One is to simply add in nutrient-rich foods to the dishes that are the flavour of the month in my kitchen. Another is to pick one meal—say, breakfast—and commit to eating only health-giving foods at that time, then gradually work up to the other meals and snack times.

This way it’s not a blame game, with all the negative connotations that creates. It’s simply  a chance to improve all over again.

To err is human. To blame it on someone else is even more human. But it’s time we took the blame squarely upon our own shoulders for the state of our health.

We’re the ones buying rubbish and putting it in our mouths, our bodies. We are treating our most precious resource with absolute disdain when we don’t honour it with the nutrients it needs.

There’s so much noise out there about nutrition, and each new bit of advice seems to be a loggerheads with another scientifically reported view. I say, pick something and go with it. If the food is what your body needs it will thrive. If it isn’t, your body will let you know.

But start with lots of green leafy vegetables and the less starchy vegies then add a smaller amount of starchy vegetables, low GI fruit and just a smattering of the higher GI fruit. Eat nuts and seeds. Consume good quality fat as close to nature as possible. Avocadoes spring to mind. For the rest—the meat, the eggs, the dairy, the grains and legumes, do some study (or a lot) and make up your own mind. But when you make your decision, don’t label yourself a paleo eater or a vegan. Your body might love the diet you choose for a year or two then start to rebel. If you’re vegan, it might start requiring meat protein. If you’ve been paleo for some time, your body might start protesting because you’ve been eating far too much meat.

Somebody should do something. That’s right. Each of us should do it for ourselves. What we put into our bodies is our personal responsibiity, and no one else’s. Make a decision, do something … and keep learning how to make better informed decisions into the future. 

I bought some  dried goji berries the other day and tonight I thought I’d break out the packet. I’d never had them before, but because they cost half a paypacket (well, not quite), I thought they’d be something special. Somehow I’d always resisted them in the past thinking they were just another con.

Hmmm. I wasn’t expecting this very ordinary, almost soapy taste. Berries are usually tarty, tangy. They’d better pack a better punch nutritionally than they do to my tastebuds!

Processed food often hides salt, sugar, MSG and a host of other nasties. I want to know how much salt I am eating. I want control over the kind of salt it is. The same goes for sugar. Less is better. And the rest of the chemical pool? I want to stay as far away as possible.

And it is possible. Without having to dress in crinkly clothes like a sixties hippie. Without boring people to tears about the changes I’m making. Just making them in a way that is sustainable. I owe it to myself to fuel my body the best way I can.

Of course, some weeks that’s easier said than done. But it’s worth remembering that if Rome wasn’t built in a day, it probably wasn’t unbuilt in a day either. Lasting changes can take time. It can sometimes be a two-steps-forward-one-step-back process. That’s not excusitis. It’s simply a realistic acceptance that sometimes life gets in the way of our best intentions. (Well, of our good intentions, anyway.) The trick is to keep heading in the right direction—sans hippie clothing and sans fuss.