Happy New Year to all the 5pm blog readers. May you have a tasty 2010.
Now on with the business of the day. The chances are that there is still a large pile of Christmas cake lurking in your kitchen defying you to try and finish it. Despite this, the papers are full of diet and detox advice. Helpfully, The Scotsman has listed what it thinks may be the most popular fads along with an assessment of their pros and cons, effectiveness etc. Most colourful is the tapeworm diet which, disgustingly, does exactly what it says on the tin.
The Herald has taken a slightly more holistic approach with sensible tips such as ‘get more sleep’, ‘if you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it’ and, the best tip of all, ‘let common sense prevail’. Overdosing on bananas is not the key to lifelong health and happiness.
Over at The Times, there is this article and podcast on the hypnodiet while the Daily Mail asks ‘Has your metabolism gone haywire?’ and suggests that the Metabolism Miracle Diet may help.
The words diet and detox strike terror into my heart; not necessarily because it is clogged with cholesterol but because I don’t think that any of them work. ‘Eat sensibly and exercise more’ seems like the most sound advice but it’s just not as arresting a headline as ‘Has your metabolism gone haywire?’
Despite my scepticism about the effectiveness of any sort of detox diet, I was drawn to the Detox Afternoon tea offered by Edinburgh’s Sheraton during the month of January. Scoffing freshly baked beetroot and dark chocolate scones with fromage frais doesn’t sound too much of a hardship.