Okay, you got me in one of my generalisations. But there are surveys that suggests that nearly one-in-three American adults believe that he or she was allergic to some food. I just don'y buy this.

In reality, the most conservative estimates indicate only two percent of the population are food allergic. Children, it is stated, are more susceptible than adults to food allergy and perhaps up to five percent have some type of food allergy. However, common allergens such as eggs and milk are typically outgrown by age five.

The eight most common food allergens in people are: Peanuts, tree nuts (for example, almonds, pecans and walnuts), dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, fish and shellfish (for example, shrimp and crab). Most of these allergens are very low carb.

It is claimed that there are more than 150 food allergies. I do not question the research and I can just about accept that this is based on skin tests and recording chemical reactions. But it is also true that the body has remarkable powers of recovery and coping with such things, often minor reactions. I am sure that I would test positive for a whole host of allergens but so what? It should not change my behaviour

More harm is being done by protecting, and sanitising our world, and altering the natural immunity that develops from contact. The key to most vaccines and immunisation is to create exposure to a very mild form of the irritant or viral infection. My objection is to the present day hype of blanket avoidance of "bad" foods because of supposed effects that are spurious at worst and minor at best . My granny used to say that you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die.

Lets us be fair to even the humble carbohydrate. We demonise it because it is the cause of our own metabolic problems. However the potato is innocent. Free the spud. It is we who differ in our resistance to insulin. It is good for some and a problem for others. Bread and rice has been the staple food that has meant the survival of whole civilisations.

The effects we observe in our own bodies are not the result of true scientific effort. It is impossible to extrapolate all the possible factors. Who is to say that any particular reaction is not to household dust, dirty hands, airborne germs, undercooked meat, contaminated food etc. etc.

No-one eats a particular food in isolation. A white bread sandwich is more than just the bread.

But as you rightly say I am not immune to the ravages of time. My eye sight is getting worse ( or is it that my arms are not long enough ), minor cuts and abrasions take longer to heal, I have a very wide hair parting , and the joints are not as supple as they once were. Aging is not a condition that time will heal!

I have had my time at bat, my gall bladder has long since gone. The surgeon told me then that it was the four "F"s. Fair, Fat, Forty, and Female. (Only three "F"'s for me)

I still maintain that I am Fit and Fifty Five and some popular health issues are mainly scaremongering , irrelevant and ultimatley not helpful. Top of my list is the low fat brigade.