Opso: His Diet and Your Health

Meet our mascot, Opso.  He's over there to the left waving at you.  You may not know it, but Opso (in one of his innumerable incarnations) lives with you and has lived with you all your life.  The degree to which Opso gets to express himself varies from person to person, but he's been part of pretty much every human being who's ever lived.

Opso gets his name from opsophagos, an ancient Greek term for someone obsessed food, and in our society he faces many temptations aimed at his basest desires.  If you listen too closely to him and indulge without limits you will find yourself gaining fat and facing an increased risk of chronic diseases.

Given that listening to Opso can have serious consequences, there are those who recommend banishing him from your life, or caging him up so he never tempts you. I don't like this advice.  He's fun to have around when celebrating with friends and family, travelling to new countries, or you need a reminder life is more than work and chores.  What is important is that you be firm and set some boundaries so you can handle him.  You need to prevent Opso from overeating the sugary, calorie-filled food all around us and guide him instead to nutrition and flavour.

So, just how do you do that? The most effective approaches seem to have some common elements:

1. Get him to drink water rather than high calorie, sugary drinks.
2. Remove simple carbs that rapidly metabolize into glucose from his diet
3. Insist the day start with a good meal to set the dietary tone
4. Only feed him to the point where his hunger is addressed, rather than letting him eat until he can eat no more
5. Be aware he will take the opportunity to eat everything he can when alcohol reduces your inhibitions
6. Stay vigilant or he'll stuff you with the basest foods he can find

You can establish the necessary discipline with diets I'll discuss (along with giving you some sample recipes) in future posts here at NutritionLogic.  Hopefully you'll find one that works for you, because letting Opso do whatever he wants is too dangerous, and driving him away would be tragic.