In April 2015, it the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) announced that it was reversing its guidelines and that, in essence, bacon and eggs were not, in fact, as harmful to your health as they had claimed nearly 40 years ago.  Now, I eat what I like and thumb my nose at the FDA anyway, but for those of you who pay attention to such things, I’m sure this will be welcome news!  You can now go to your favourite local breakfast bar and eat something besides the fruit!  But wait!  Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water … er, um, skillet again …

Along comes WHO (World Health Organization) with claims that bacon, along with sausage and other processed meats (yes, they are including that All-American staple, the hot dog), are as likely to cause cancer as cigarettes.  Eventually they, too, will likely change their minds, but in what?  Another 40 years?  By then we will all be dead from something totally unrelated to our food consumption habits.  WHO also warns against red meat, saying that it is only slightly lower in cancer-causing carcinogens than processed meats.  It looks as if those of you who actually heed these warnings are destined to become vegetarians!  Well, one thing to be said for that … it is cheaper!!!

The egg has long been a source of controversy.  Since the beginning of time, mankind has been engaging in the debate about which came first, the chicken or the egg.  And in more recent times, just like it’s significant other, bacon, the egg has gained a bad reputation for raising cholesterol and causing heart attacks.  Now, however, the FDA says it was wrong, and that eggs may actually help protect against heart disease, and it is perfectly safe, healthy even, to eat three eggs a day!  Not only that, but it is said that a single egg contains almost all the nutrients essential to human life!  Methinks we all better stock up on eggs, because when everybody hears of this, there is going to be a run on eggs in the supermarket.  Poor chickens will be under ever-increasing pressure to produce more eggs!

One article I came across ranked the “10 worst foods you can eat”:

• Processed meat – already mentioned above
• Frozen meals – well, yes … you can break a tooth trying to chew frozen meals
• Doughnuts – could explain why cops don’t live as long as others
• Potato Chips – I thought veggies were good for you???
• Low fat foods – don’t taste good anyway, so no problem
• Margarine – again, no problem … we only use real butter in this house
• Soda – if everyone were to quit drinking it, the U.S. economy would fizzle out

For some reason, the list of 10 only had 7 items.  Perhaps the FDA had already reversed their stance on the other three before the article was published?

Since the FDA and WHO will change their minds many times during the next several decades, and today’s healthy food will be tomorrow’s culinary demon, I again suggest eating what makes sense, what is available, what you can afford, and what tastes good.  Those are Filosofa’s rules for a healthy, happy diet. You didn’t ask, but in case anybody cares, my idea of nature’s most perfect food is peanut-butter.