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Centipedes & a Good Diet Plan

What do these two things have in common?  I'm going to tell you.   One of my favorite poems as a small child was the following ditty:

A centipede was happy quite, 
Until a frog in fun 
Said, "Pray, which leg comes after which?" 
This raised her mind to such a pitch, 
She lay distracted in the ditch, 
Considering how to run.

This is about the state of diet advice in recent years.  Much more is known about the nutritional needs of chickens, cows, horses and even zoo animals than is known for sure about human beings.

The famous "food pyramid" has changed shape more often than Cheop's tomb once erosion set in.  Your doctor tells you one thing, a specialist another, your nutritionist or dietitian disagrees, the media publishes some other advice, and about the time you think you know what you are doing, here comes another idea or three.  And a good share of the diet advice and plans out there exist to make money for their promoters, not make you healthier.  

The truth is, something is going to get you in the end.  And not everyone's nutritional needs are the same.   

If people spent even half the time, energy, mental anguish and money now dedicated to image, hair or lack of it, shape, larger parts (or smaller ones) and losing weight, to solving the more serious problems of war, famine, spread of disease, contamination of edibles (including hormones, pesticides and antibiotics pumped into the food chain), the fouling of our waters and degradation of the air we breathe, we'd all have a better chance to live healthier, happier and longer.

And if everyone just quit eating and drinking junk food and high calorie treats, and exercised a little more, a good share of these problems would be resolved.  But as far as individual diets, I believe there's no "one size fits all" solution.

Often I link to radical points of view.  Why?  Today's radical is sometimes tomorrow's miracle.  For instance: