Did you all enjoy your bank holiday weekend? I did. Mostly.
On Sunday I ended up at a farmer’s market in Ruislip. I enjoy this particular farmer’s market but it can often be an awkward experience, for the following reasons:
1) Whilst a poor university student I simply went every week and ate all the free samples. Some of the stall holders were subtle about it (‘Didn’t you buy that one last week? Oh no, you didn’t. You just tried it. Would you like to buy one this week? Oh OK, NO WORRIES’). Others were less subtle (‘You’re trying that one and not buying it again? AGAIN? BUY SOMETHING YOU LOON*)
2) They often have attractions which, by the OUTRAGEOUS standards of farmer’s markets, are more suited to children than adults. A bouncy slide here. A badge making stall there. I often like to take part in these activities and, without a small child on my hip to justify my participation, I get a few strange looks.
This week was no different. This week they had a petting zoo. After I had paid extra to enter said zoo, on account of my childless status, I ended up holding the most beautiful little piglet. How the two of us frolicked. He bit my jumper. How I laughed. He bit my arm. How I laughed. I accidentally stood in his excrement. How I laughed.
The thing is, I loved him so much that I almost ended up questioning my status as a fully-fledged meat eater. There I was, about to embark on a life of veggie burgers and Linda McCartney sausages, when I remembered three, very important words: The Meat Fix.
For twenty-six years, John Nicholson was a walking advert for healthy eating. A vegetarian and, at times, a vegan, he ate brown rice, lentils, beans, fruit, and anything else we typically consider 'healthy'.
However, for twenty-six years John Nicholson was ill, tormented year after year by apparently untreatable IBS. He was eating the healthiest diet known to mankind yet his digestive system was breaking down. His illness was affecting his life so badly that eventually he and his partner considered doing the unthinkable – eating meat. The results were spectacular. Twenty-four hours after eating meat, he was better. After fourty-eight hours he was totally well. All his symptoms had gone – the IBS, the headaches, the mid-afternoon tiredness, achy knees – the lot. Even his eyesight improved to the point that he no longer needed to use reading glasses.
The Meat Fix: How A Lifetime of Healthy Eating Nearly Killed Me, charts one man’s journey to the top of the food chain, uncovering in the process an alternate universe of research condemning everything we think we know about healthy eating as little more than illusion, guesswork and marketing. The body is a temple – but, as John Nicholson discovered, we may have forgotten how to worship it.
So I’m sorry, Wilbur (yes, I named the pig, I KNOW you’re not supposed to do that) but John Nicholson managed to hold me back from becoming a fully fledged veggie. Although I may avoid the bacon stall at the farmer’s market for a while...
*I may be over exaggerating. Just a tad.