Design your diet
9. Salt and Vinegar
I’ll bet you like crisps, or ‘chips’ as they are called in America.
I believe the Americans call chips, ‘fries’.
Crisps (English) used to be an insignificant little snack in a greaseproof bag. Then Frank Smith put a separate little blue wrapper of salt inside. If you could find it, you could sprinkle the salt in the bag, or, you could throw it away, but nobody did. It was a masterstroke. We all like salt; possibly because we have been evolved from swimming in the sea? Watch the wildlife programmes on TV that show animals in Africa trekking miles across deserts, to find the minerals they need. We are not the only ones.
We need salt and we needed Frank Smith’s little blue bags.
It didn’t stop with just plain crisps, there were cheese & onion and salt & vinegar
and - you know the rest.
We used to buy them - one small packet at a time and then, six packets at a time
and - you know the rest.
And then came Pringles and all the other brands and flavours
and - you know the rest.
They’re not little bags any more, are they?
And, you’ve got some in your home, or, if you haven’t,
it’s because you’ve already eaten them.
You know the rest.
Does your body NEED them?
No, but your brain does.
They are addictive.
It’s your fat and salt habit.
They are the definition of a ‘Snack’.
They even make the right noise.
Can you go through the morning snack time without eating them?
If you can, it’s probably because you eat chocolate biscuits instead, which is your sugar and fat habit. Frank Smith ran a pub and putting salt on crisps made his customers more thirsty. If crisps are making you thirsty, you’re having too much salt – unless- you are running a marathon, then you’ll need salt. When did you last run a marathon?
The potatoes that make most crisps are vegetables and dieters get a ‘thumbs-up’ for eating vegetables, but not for the fat that they were cooked in. How much potato, or corn, or any other vegetable is there in a bag of crisps? Not much, but there is a significant amount of fat and salt. They could be the most expensive potatoes in the world? Diet ‘experts’ tend not to count potatoes as ‘vegetables’ like lettuce or cucumber, but as ‘starchy carbohydrates’ - that's like bread or rice.
How can you reduce the amount being eaten?
This is a very tough one for dieters, or anybody trying to limit eating. My first thought would be to only buy the six-pack bags and try to limit eating them to one little bag at a time. The single, big bags are just too tempting once they are opened, you’ll eat the lot. Only one thing is worse – salted peanuts and you find those free in pubs too. I notice that the big single bags of crisps are now slowly being replaced with an intermediate-sized bag with a similar price to the big bag - less fat, but less crisps for more money. 
The classic English lunchtime meal was
and maybe still is? Fish & Chips.
The stuff we used to put on them
and maybe still do? was salt and vinegar.
They are the classic combination.
The next possible addition to fish and chips might be tomato sauce. When I first went to Belgium, I was amazed to see them putting mayonnaise on chips - then I tried it. Yummy! A mix of mayonnaise and tomato sauce could be even better, but if you’ve never tried it, DO NOT start now. The combination of all these tasty things becomes addictive and irresistible and we are trying to get control of what we eat - Remember!
But, but, but, it’s not all bad news about salt and vinegar. Salt does not make you fat. The ‘danger’ with salt is that it tends to raise your blood pressure which can be very bad for the heart. If you have a heart condition, you’ll already know about it, so stick to your medical advice. Vinegar is a very dilute acid (less than 8%, Acetic) and the rest is water. It can’t be good for teeth, or acid indigestion, but after that, it is not something ‘fattening’ to fear. We now understand that salt and vinegar helped us love some very unpromising flakes of potatoes in a bag and they could do the same again with other, more healthy food. Both salt and vinegar in moderation, might help as a flavour boost to some other less-popular stuff that we could eat – so they might be helpful to us? We shall see when we look more closely at some other vegetables.
Walking. When you walk it gives your mind time to think, to talk to yourself about what you can see and where you are going. It gets your circulation going and gives you exercise. If you walk far enough, often enough, you should feel your legs getting better at walking. It’s not immediate, but you will get better at it. Don’t push it. You should always try to be comfortable.
There is more talk these days about mental health and loneliness.
If you are alone, you can easily meet people who will talk with you.
They are called dog-walkers as already explained in Parts 2 & 3.
You only have to 'Like' a dog and its owner will tell you all about it.
Find out its name and enquire after its health
and you will be rewarded by endless conversations about where it goes
and what it does.
It is a family member.
Also
Quiz. Where does this quote come from?
What good is sitting alone in your room?
What are the other words that go with it?
Think about it.
I'll tell you next time.
