WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[Stanley]

Especially the millions of tons of jointed cuts we import every year from places like Thailand....

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS for an account of the report issued by the General practitioners and eleven other organisations. It draws attention to the epidemic of childhood obesity, 1 in 3 children are now clinically obese. They say that this is a disaster as it will lead to a tsunami of ill-health later in life if we don't address the matter now. This is not simply another scare, it is a genuine threat based on good evidence.
Consider the government attitude. The least the doctors have demanded is a tax on soft drinks which are seen, together with fast and processed foods, as one of the main sources of the problem. Yet nothing is done so the question arises, why? The food processing industry is the largest single industrial sector in the country and makes enormous profits. They use this capacity to lobby government and are, like the financial institutions, very successful in lobbying for protection against reform.
When Cameron first came to power he identified the power of the lobby as 'The next great political scandal', he seems to have completely abandoned this. We are concerned about sexual abuse of children and the seeming lack of hard policies to combat it. The problem of the obese children is an even greater abuse and we know who the perpetrators are and how they operate. Why is nothing being done? Is it a matter of money?
Joseph Piketty in his book on 21st Century Capital identified the power of excess wealth working through the lobbying system as one of the greatest dangers to society. I believe him and on the evidence it appears that he might indeed be right.
I can see only one way this can be combated. We have to attack, through taxation, the sources of the nutritionally deadly food. It was done with tobacco which in comparison is benign so why not do it with junk food and drink. Tobacco advertising is banned, we should do the same thing with these 'foods'. Ask yourself what the other great evils are, alcohol, gambling and high interest loans to fuel these habits, they should be attacked as well. If we don't take action now, we condemn our children and we must share the blame.

[Tizer]

But if you do that alone it won't work - the evidence is already there. Denmark has tried a `fat tax' but it made no difference and they've now abandoned it. People still smoke no matter how expensive cigarettes have become. It needs to be accompanied by a massive education campaign and I don't mean simply adverts on TV saying "Don't do this". I mean raising the level of education in the UK so that people can, and will, make their own decisions when given the genuine facts and statistics about what they eat, drink and do. Most of the problem is down to ignorance. It's time to get back to John Smith's dream of making British people the best educated in Europe (and why not aim for best in the world?).

[Stanley]

Of course you're right Tiz. I was angry when I wrote it and didn't want to go on too much but in the end education is the key. If I can read up nutrition, why can't our kids? Probably the most important subject they will ever study.

[PanBiker]

If I can read up nutrition, why can't our kids? Probably the most important subject they will ever study.

Because it's not "cool" Stanley or half as exciting as sitting in a fast food joint or chicken parlour waiting for your nuggets or whatever while texting your mates across the room, street or even table.

[Stanley]

That's the key Ian, we have to convince them it's exciting to read and learn. The capacity for this is alive and well, look at the success of Harry Potter.....

[Tizer]

BBC News, 2 September 2014
Brain 'can be trained to prefer healthy food'
The brain can be trained to prefer healthy food over unhealthy high-calorie foods, using a diet which does not leave people hungry, suggests a study from the US. Scientists from Tufts University say food addictions can be changed in this way even if they are well-established. They scanned the addiction centre in the brains of a small group of men and women. The results showed increased cravings for healthy lower-calorie foods. Prof Susan B Roberts, senior study author and behavioural nutrition scientist at the Boston university, said: "We don't start out in life loving French fries and hating, for example, wholewheat pasta. "This conditioning happens over time in response to eating - repeatedly - what is out there in the toxic food environment."

Scientists know that once people are addicted to unhealthy foods, it is usually very hard to change their eating habits and get them to lose weight. But Prof Roberts' research, published in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes, suggests the brain can learn to like healthy foods. They studied the part of the brain linked to reward and addiction in 13 overweight and obese men and women, eight of whom were taking part in a specially designed weight-loss programme.
More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28982126

[Stanley]

One of the advantages of natural saturated fat from meat is that it survives long enough in the gut to reach the areas where there are receptors which govern whether we feel full or not.

[Tizer]

Dr Ulrika Ericson of Lund University Diabetes Center in Malmö, Sweden have a paper just published in the journal `Diabetologia' claiming that consumption of high-fat dairy products is associated with a lower risk of developing diabetes. They claim: "Our observations may contribute to clarifying previous findings regarding dietary fats and their food sources in relation to type 2 diabetes. The decreased risk at high intakes of high-fat dairy products, but not of low-fat dairy products, indicate that dairy fat, at least partly, explains observed protective associations between dairy intake and type 2 diabetes. Meat intake was associated with increased risk of developing diabetes regardless of fat content."

When people are advised to eat less fat or eat less saturated fat they cut out dairy foods or switch to semi-skimmed or even skimmed milk. This means they then miss out on many of the good components of dairy products that are present in the milk fat.

More here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healt ... study.html

A more technical report is available here:
http://www.sciencecodex.com/study_shows ... tes-141691

[Stanley]

I like it Tiz. I shall seriously consider going back to full fat milk! It's been on my mind for a while.

[LizG]

I have recently discovered that the major gut problem I have is not being lactose intolerant, which I can manage, but a massive intolerance to preservatives. When I was diagnosed the dietician told me to beware of this but I now know not to eat any deli meat.

I did an experiment with some ham I had. After 5 weeks it looked exactly the same as the day I bought it. scary thought.

[Stanley]

You're right Liz as far as I am concerned. That's why I try to eat fresh wherever possible.

[Tizer]

Liz, I find it odd if the dietician told you to avoid preservatives in general. If it was one specific preservative I could understand it but there are many quite different types and they are used very widely in foods. It doesn't make sense that you could be intolerant to all of them - if you were you probably wouldn't be able to eat food, full stop! Even fresh, unpreserved foods, because they contain their own natural preservatives. Did the dietician not specify a particular preservative? If not, ask them to list which preservatives you have to avoid. Have they tested you with individual preservatives?

[LizG]

She told me to cut out wine and preserved meats and then re-introduce them slowly. From that I deduced that the preservatives were sulphates and nitrates. I'm happy to say I can still drink wine so I'm thinking that sulphates are OK.

The tests I did showed that I also had a response to foods high in salicylates, the natural preservatives to which you refer. This I know is 'quantity related' in those foods rated high.

I've also learnt to avoid all salad dressings and sauces when I go out and I always make my own at home so I know whats in it. I know that lactose is used as a filler in a lot of things.

The upside is that now I've stopped having a ham sandwich for lunch I feel so much better than I have in a long time.

Any other advice gratefully received.

[Stanley]

Liz, Interesting... I have come to the conclusion that brown sauces need to be taken in moderation and have almost eliminated Worcestershire Sauce entirely since my bulk order ran out. I have a small bottle for an occasional treat! Even home cured ham can be a problem. Apart from lots of salt, a small amount of nitrate is often inserted in the knuckle of the bone as that can be a trouble spot in the long term.
I'm sure that you're general point about moderation is a good one. I love fruit and eat a lot but often wonder about the sugar in it.

[Tizer]

Thanks for that clarification Liz, I would have been very wary of your dietitian if she'd simply told you to avoid `all' preservatives and, anyway, you're obviously more than sharp enough to avoid be fobbed off by any `smoke and mirrors'! Let me make a small pedantic point - it's sulphite, not sulphate, that is used as a preservative - in fact I should be even more precise (before someone slaps my hand) and say that the chemical is sodium metabisulphite. Fortunately wines are usually labelled with `Contains sulphite' (or metabisulphite) where appropriate but many winemakers use it and it was always a favourite with home winemakers, both for preserving the wine and for sterilising the winemaking equipment and bottles. But perhaps you are safe with that preservative.

When nitrate is added to food the preservative effect comes from nitrite which is gradually formed from the nitrate. Nitrate and nitrite are both used as food additives but both also occur naturally in foodstuffs, and nitrate cab be at relatively high levels in vegetables (depending on the concentration in the water taken up from soil).

I have a restricted diet for various reasons and find it very difficult nowadays to eat any meals other than those we make at home. The main reason is that my gut becomes inflamed if I eat any kind of spicy food or even pungent herbs, and you find spices in almost everything now. Acid foods have a similar effect, so do foods containing a lot of crude fibre (bran, potato skin, sweet corn etc). As if that isn't enough, I don't digest fat easily! The one very specific intolerance that I have is to tomatoes. I've learnt that we now can't make assumptions about what any prepared food contains unless you prepared it yourself.

Stanley, I can cope with a small amount of Branston pickle but with a small amount of brown sauce it isn't worth me bothering!

[Stanley]

I feel so sad Tiz that anyone should have so many intolerances for even natural foods. As I have said many a time it's a miracle I've got this far when you look at the poisons and microbes I have been exposed to over the years. My mate Graham and the asbestos for instance.... Mind you, I have one major food intolerance, I distrust anything that hasn't been made by myself from known natural ingredients. My system is so detoxified that I can detect an affect from hydrogenated fat in shop confectionery. You do me a service by reminding me how lucky I am.
I have been struck of late by the questions they ask as part of the pre-op documentation. They fire questions at me about medications and allergies and my answer is a litany of NOs. The nurses always comment on how easy and quick the process was with me. One told me that compared to most young people I was in a far better position. I can't even remember when I last had a course of antibiotics apart from the topical ones in eye drops.
I believe that this aversion to anything I consider invasive, which I admit is verging on obsessive, is a major factor in my general good health and in particular my immune system which appears to be functioning well. Everything I have read on nutrition reinforces this attitude. Watch out now for reports of my sudden death from something I missed!! (But I do enjoy my food!)

[Tizer]

My dad didn't have any drugs until he got to his 80s when the doc detected some atrial fibrillation and put him on a permanent low statin dose and the usual aspirin. After a few weeks he went back to the doc and said "I'm better now so I won't be needing those pills any more". When I took him for a pre-op interview at Exeter hospital the nurse looked at his prescription and asked him why he was taking a certain drug. He said he didn't know. She asked me and I too said I didn't know he was taking it, and I said "I thought you people were supposed to know!" She asked him if it was for his waterworks and he gave her a blank look - he'd had so little contact with doctors and nurses that he didn't know any of that innuendo type of terminology!

[Stanley]

It can be a minefield. When Doc had his heart operation all went well and they sent him home with the standard bunch of medication to help him get back to normal. About six months later he started keeling over in a faint, went to the doctors and they realised they were still prescribing the same package which included one to lower his blood pressure. He didn't need it and he was fainting because his blood pressure was so low it was on the verge of killing him. They revised his pills and he went forward to full health.

[Tizer]

Here's an interesting story, it puts my own food intolerance into perspective...
`The disabled food blogger photographing her way back to health' (BBC web site)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-29324937

I notice the lady says that among other things she has histamine intolerance and can't eat tomatoes. I too don't get on with tomatoes so I thought I'd check out what else might cause histamine intolerance. Just have a look at this web page and the lists of `what not to eat'. It gets off to a bad start with `Champagne, wine, beer, cider and other fermented drinks and spirits' but look at all the other foods too!
http://www.allergyuk.org/common-food-in ... ntolerance

[Stanley]

You're right about that list! As I've often said before, I'm so lucky!
After misreading the label on the milk last time and getting semi-skimmed, I have now got full cream milk in the fridge after your post the other day. I can't see it making any great difference to my calorie intake from milk as I use most in tea and coffee and so will need less.

[chinatyke]

I opened our fridge at lunchtime and discovered these gems. First time I've noticed radish here. So I had a chopped salad for lunch. Delicious.

To give you an idea of the size, the ruler in the picture is 18cm/7" long. This little lot cost 55 pence.

[plaques]

I always said that there was nowt wrong with fish and chips. Studies are now showing that eating fish may be good for your eyesight and possibly ward off macular degeneration. see this link. Fish eye.

[Stanley]

Eating fish is good for anything. The human race evolved living on shorelines and eating sea food. Chips fried in good fat are pretty good as well.
China, those radish are enormous!

[Stanley]

See this LINK for yet another news item about 'superfoods'. I hate this modern trend where suddenly an obscure fruit from the rain forest is the answer to everything. It's a symptom of the modern search for the 'quick fix'. Bit like the push for statins. When will people learn that all natural unprocessed foods are 'superfoods'. Never mind spending a fortune on a fad, just cook your own natural ingredients and have a wide variety. That'll do it if you exercise enough at the same time. Not a quick fix and it demands some effort but far better than following the herd!