Come Dine With Me Influences

Watching Come Dine With me, I cannot help but wonder if it influences our choices of food or entertainment. And I include all similar programs on television. From a complementary health point of view, influences of TV programs on our choice of food and entertaining can go two ways; there is the healthy way, and there is the unhealthy way.

First of all, there is the obligatory dessert.Now, I am not sure if the program makers insist on a dessert, or if the hosts choose to make a dessert. Either way, way message is that sending out to the general public? It seems to me that we end up believing that we need to have a dessert every time we entertain guests at dinner. Furthermore, the dessert has to be sweet. The sweetness means that the host either has to use sugar, which is increasingly seen to be one of the causes of disease in our modern society, or the host would have to use a sweetener, which is increasingly suspected of being a causative factor in many illnesses (see the book Sweet Deception, for example, for more details). It would be great if there were an equal number of programs on TV that do not have the dessert. In some cultures, desserts do not feature. For example, in the old Thai traditions, the concept of dessert is totally alien. If you are fortunate enough to find a genuine old-fashioned Thai restaurant, you will not find desserts on the menu. So it is not unreasonable to suggest a more balanced programming with no dessert. After all, the meal is made of 3-4 courses anyway, so leaving one course out is still plenty.

It would also be good to showcase different lifestyles. For example, there can be a few programs dedicated to Paleo eaters, some dedicated to vegetarians, some dedicated to Halaal and others to Kosher eaters. A few gluten-free, Raw, dairy-free, and organic programs would be nice too.

I do wonder how modern palates have been influenced by various TV programs. Certainly, Jamie Oliver has made quite an impression, as chicken nuggets are nowhere near as popular as they once were. That is a great example of a TV show that had a positive influence on people's eating habits. The same goes for Dr Gillian McKeith and the shows she presented, such as You Are What You Eat.

In my opinion,and it is purely my opinion, we are influenced by what we see on TV and copy it. I would personally love to be invited to a Paleo or Raw meal. I could learn so much about this way of eating that I feel my body needs at the moment. Meanwhile, time with friends and family is enjoyable whatever we eat. After all, it is the company that is the main dish, and that, I am delighted to say, is something I am deeply blessed with and thankful for.