Roger Moroney: Breathe easy, stinky fog's not fatal

So what's good for us and what's not?
There is not a week that goes by (and this is the way it has been for many a good year now) that some research results emerge to tell us that all is not well with a particular ingredient of our diets.
Or just the air we breathe for that matter.
It's the unseen you see ... if you see what I mean.
But believe me, if you've spent a few days in Shanghai then a couple of nights of stinky fog over Hastings or Napier is not going to cause one's lungs to melt down.
Hell, we could smell sulphur at six in the morning over in Shangers ... and that was early summer. Not a fire to be seen.
And at night, despite the absence of clouds, only one or two of the very brightest of stars were able to shine their lights through.
Recently I read the statistics about the clean-air issues of the Bay.
It seems we had about three or four days of excess soot/alcohol (or whatever) in Napier last winter and two or three times that in Hastings where there's no sea breeze to push it away.
Not a bad ratio given there are 365 days in the year.
Such smoggy evenings could cause problems for those who suffered from breathing ailments, it was declared.
Which I daresay is absolutely correct.
But how many people with breathing ailments are likely to leave the relative clean and calm atmosphere within the walls of their homes and venture outside on a chilled, winter's night where the air is a bit sooty?
It's an odd thing, the air.
Some people swear by the healthy properties of the salty stuff at the seaside, yet I knew a kid at school who would get physically ill if he inhaled salt air.
So anyway, what's bad for you this week?
Not sure really, but a fortnight ago I read that too many nuts wasn't a healthy path to chew down.
But like lining up the occasional drink, nuts in moderation can be very beneficial.
It just didn't say what the definition of "moderation" actually was.
It's like when you go and see the doctor and he or she asks how many beers you have a day, or a week.
They will then generally double whatever it is you answer as we tend to downplay the intake ... none of us wants to be listed as a lush.
Moderation with nuts is difficult. Ever tried having six or seven cashews and calling it quits at that?
It can't be done.
They are more-ish, and good for you ... in moderation.
But coat them in chocolate and all healthy bets are off ... despite the fact chocolate (the really dark cocoa-stuffed sort) is an ancient tonic.
The Aztecs and Incas swore by the stuff, and kept remarkable health. It was only the weekly sacrificial get-togethers that ruined the health of those otherwise healthy sorts who were unfortunately singled out to have their hearts removed so the maize crop would be a ripper the following summer.
The ancients also liked a drop of liquid tonic (we won't go into their penchant for coca leaves at this point).
But they'd take their chocolate-coated cashew nuts or whatever else they grew in the rain forests and fermented it into electric juice.
Today, the creation of a healthy drop is a tad more civilised.
However, I have read a "researchers said" story about red wine being potentially harmful, and then a "researchers said" story a couple of days later about it being a tonic capable of building ramparts against everything from hypertension to heart disease.
The ancients invented and drank wine, and decreed it was indeed a tonic.
They did the same for brews of cider, mead and ale which were fortified with things like malt and hops and spring water.
I figure, if it was good enough for them ...
But all in moderation of course.
One of the most recent "bad for you" stories to be aired is about cellphones.
This has been around since the time the first mobile phone was built. It was the size of a loaf of bread and had enough batteries inside it to power a small town.
Today's cellphones are small, very small, and are powered by things filled with lithium and other scientific mysteries.
And I agree, they can he harmful to one's health.
The new ones are impossible to operate without taking a six-week training course, and seven hours after their release on the market they're out of date. And they're now so small you just keep losing them.
Enough to drive a chap to drink ... in moderation of course.
Roger Moroney is an award-winning journalist for Hawke's Bay Today and observer of the slightly off-centre.