Simple Simon's Guide to Diet and Nutrition
Published October 2009
54pp ISBN 978-0-9562667-1-2
Simple Simon's Guide is published by Mount Davis Press for 21st Century Clinic Ltd and may be purchased in print or pdf format. For permission to copy anything, write to enquiries@mountdavis.co.uk
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To give an idea of the lighthearted, yet completely solid, scientific approach, see extracts below from the Foreword, and a colour version of the Body Mass Indicator.
Foreword
"Yet another diet book? There must be thousands!
Simple Simon thinks that there is a need for a straightforward straight-talking approach to the problems of healthy diet and weight control; based on solid facts and not the usual guff; using plain words rather than confusing readers with what is supposed to be higher-level science. A couple of examples may help to show why.
Recent official practice is to give energy values as kiloJoules per 100 grams, but fundamentally that ratio is no better than Calories per ounce which most people in the English-speaking countries will find easier to deal with. So we use both - and also show how to get Body Mass Index direct from the familiar measurements for height and weight. In any case kJ/100g is a thoroughly bad choice however clever those officials thought they were. Such figures should be recast as Joules per gram or per kilogram, conforming with correct SI practice, which avoids using 100 as a multiple of a primary unit.
People are often led into intricate calculations and complicated nutritional tables. Simple Simon thinks complexity is unnecessary. The simple truth is that natural foods fall neatly into five classes according to their calorie content. Then choosing your intake so as to lose, gain or maintain weight is easy and to stay healthy you need to know only a little more about the content of protein and other essential nutrients; though sticking to your choice of intake is less easy. ......
Obesity is the commonest medical condition of all in the prosperous countries of the world, so Simple Simon places a lot of emphasis on programmes for weight reduction and maintenance. Over-weight is not the only nutritional problem, however common. More dangerous still is under-nutrition from wanting to be super thin or from war, famine, poverty, religious rules, personal beliefs, allergy, sensitive guts and the aftermath of food poisoning or operations. Writing for a general reader, we cannot deal properly and in detail with these things, nor with the special diets required for special medical conditions like diabetes or metabolic disorders. ......
Why Simple Simon? Well in the old English nursery rhyme he didn't buy that pie, did he? Nutritionally he was better off without it. And in the old English drinking game you have to do what Simple Simon says, not copy what he does.
And why should Simple Simon think he has any right to tell people what to do? The answer is experience, observation and personal research. Look at pages 15, 18, 19, 20, 29, 37, 44, 45, 49."
