Beige is Not Slimming

It can be very hard to look svelte in beige.   How many stunning beige bathing suits are there?  How many women can pull off a beige ensemble on a red carpet?  How many men can wear a full-on beige suit and wear it well?

 And the foods that are beige? 

Have you ever noticed when someone is on a reality show, having their diet examined, the unhealthy ones are…beige?

You Are What You Eat – beige

Supper Size vs Super Skinny – beige, usually for both, oddly enough.  Just different quantities.

And the fad diets?  The ones that have some success, even if only initially?  What do they tell you not to eat?  Brace yourself-

Beige.

Do you have a pantry?  What’s in it?

Beige?  Really?  Why is that?

The shelf-stable, long life things are beige.  Prepared foods?  How much of that stuff is beige?  I like to stay away from prepared foods mostly because I don’t like the taste.  But there’s a ton of salt and other yuckies in them, too. 

Still, my pantry does have beige.  I’ve got whole wheat pasta (beige), and several kinds of rice (brown, which is beige; Arborio, which is white; wild, which is white and black).  Rice noodles.  Three different widths, all clear/white, so they will get lumped into beige.

Oats.  Beige.  Flour.  Beige.  Massa.  Yellowish, but still beige.  Taco shells.  Yellow, but may as well be beige.  Crackers.  Also beige.  Potatoes?  Assorted starchy beige.

Breads tend to be beige.  Or worse, an unnatural looking, gleaming white.  And yes, eating lots of it is definitely not good for you.  But neither is eating too much of any one food.

But are all beige foods bad?

I don’t think so.

Lentils?  Chickpeas?  What colour are they? Barley?  Quinoa?  Parsnips?  Ruddibegga? Turnips? Oats?  Rice?  Whole Wheat flour?  If you eat a varied diet, you should be fine.

Look at Canada’s food guide.  Or the food pyramid.  Or the eat a rainbow plan. It’s not news.  Its not rocket science.  Its not something you have to run out and buy the latest diet book for.  

It is common sense, or it should be.  It’s actually listening to scientists and trained medical professionals, who’ve been saying this for years.   Eat a variety of foods, including the colorful ones.  You don’t have to banish beige entirely, just eat responsibly.

And buy well fitting khakis.

Avoiding a beige bathing suit is probably still a good idea, though.

(Note:  While I do believe eating responsibly can help someone be healthy-ish, I don’t subscribe to the ‘perfect diet will keep you free from all illness’ philosophy. )