WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[PanBiker]

Took my own advice from another thread today and used the search facility to find an old topic of mine, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread". I was going to drop an odd picture of my crusty cob effort in. The search came up with nothing! Then I remembered that it may have been on the old platform. Went looking on the archive site and found it. Amazed to see that it was 11 years ago when I posted the topic back in 2008. I had a bit darker hair then

Crusty cob is just doing it's second rise.

[Stanley]

I saw the Skinny Genes report as well Ian. As you say I have always thought that we looked like our parents also.
Just for the record Ian, how do you access the archive?

[PanBiker]

Via the link on the site and then just drill down the forums, It was in the Cooking sub-forum. Take pot luck if you get anywhere or just ends in a broken path. All the topic is there including the pictures.

[Stanley]

"Via the link on the site" Yes, but where's the link? don't forget I am half blind.......

[Wendyf]

It's available on the "board index" page Stanley.

[Stanley]

Thanks Wendy......

[PanBiker]

Hang on a minute Stanley, I thought you had near fighter pilot vision since your laser ops?

[Stanley]

Ian. You've forgotten that subsequently I went totally blind in my right eye due to a detached retina and even though I got sight back in it after an operation it's badly distorted due to scarring. Then there was the gradual deterioration of the implants but they improved that by blowing holes in the clouded surfaces with a laser. Consequence is less than perfect vision and what I have is distorted by the influence of the right eye...
Later.... See THIS report in the Irish Sun about the statements issued by the Lancet Obesity forum giving more warnings that 40% of the world's population is obese and much of this can be blamed on the big food processors chasing profit at the expense of health and using their financial clout to lobby. The report argues they should be excluded from all policy making bodies and forced to engage in better practices. The last sentence reads 'A right wing think tank dismisses the report'. Surprise surprise!

[Tizer]

When you eat battered fish from the chippy you could be eating an endangered shark species...
`Shark on UK plates highlights trade in endangered species' LINK
`The research examined both shark fins destined for restaurants and shark steaks sold in fishmongers and chip shops. It found that Squalus acanthias (spiny dogfish), a small shark classed vulnerable to extinction, globally - and, for one population in the north-east Atlantic, endangered, was the main shark being sold at chip shops, under the generic name huss, rock, rock salmon or rock eel.

[Stanley]

I've always thought that we rely completely on the fish fryers honesty in describing species of fish. Once it is fried, I have great difficulty in deciding which white fish I am eating.
I've told the story before about the cafe on the docks at South Shields which sold nothing but fish. I was asked if I wanted offshore or inshore and when I said I didn't know the difference he gave me both, the offshore was white. the inshore which fed at the sewer outfall was light grey! So the whiter it is the cleaner the feeding!

[Tizer]

Sorry to repeat this, but back in the 60s/70s the edible oil refiners switched to sending out their commercial packs of frying fat in cardboard boxes with poly bag liners. It could then be ladled out it into the frying vessel or you could turn the bag out to drop the fat in; the residual fat could be scraped off the bag into the frying veseel. Then the companies found they had to warn the fryers that it was not acceptable to lift the bag out of the box and drop it, bag plus fat, into the frying vessel! The fryers had discovered that the poly bag melted and dissolved in the hot fat, so it was `out of sight, out of mind' (and they then didn't have fatty bags to get rid off in the waste bin).

[Stanley]

The tallow we got at the mill for the tape sizing machines came in cardboard boxes with polyethylene liners.....
Have you noticed the number of commentators musing on wartime diets of late as Brexit approaches? Saying we will have to embrace the seasonality of home produced foods or pay a premium. Needless to say I don't see a problem but it reinforces my contention that the fast food industry is going to take a hit and this bodes ill for the generation who 'Just Eat' and have no food in the house or cooking skills. They will have to learn fast!

[Tizer]

This article has good graphics illustrating the relative amounts of meat consumed in different parts of the world (consumption here means eaten + wasted)...
`Which countries eat the most meat?' LINK

[Stanley]

I remember going to the Blue Horse Saloon at Millersburg near Northfield and being greeted by the waitress with news that the 32ounce steak was off but I could have 2 X 16ounce. I declined and went for the 8ounce.....

[Stanley]

I don't know if you have noticed but the US has tossed a grenade into the concept of a swift trade deal with us. (No, don't stop reading, this isn't politics!)
Part of any deal is that the UK has to accept US food standards on things like labelling, GM, chlorine washing of meat and the use of Growth Hormones. All matters that Gove and the industry have sworn they will not accept.
I have just heard that the US ambassador is lecturing us on this saying that these practices are 'the future of scientific farming' and that Europe is 'A museum of agriculture'. Really?
I have a little story for you. A friend of mine is a GP in Minnesota and works under the Mayo Clinic. At one point he realised that one of his nipples was itching and eventually he went to see one of his colleagues and asked for an opinion. He took one look and said it was Mastitis. Then he asked if he had been drinking milk from cows treated with growth hormone and Ken said he didn't think so but he would have a word with Connie his wife. I should explain that in the US supermarkets you have a choice between milk with hormones and without. It turned out that Connie wasn't aware of the difference and had been buying the cheapest. They stopped buying it, went onto non-treated milk and the mastitis cleared up. Ken drew the natural conclusion that the culprit was the hormones. They are also used to accelerate the growth of beef animals.
Given the choice between treated and untreated know which I would choose.....

[Tizer]

I know I'm often whinging about something or other but I get annoyed when companies seem to assume their customers will believe any story they tell them, no matter whether it's true or false. I've just written a message to Weetabix who also manufacture Oatibix breakfast cereal....

Good Afternoon,
I have bought a packet of Oatibix breakfast cereal from Tesco in Taunton. The design of the pack is slightly different to previous packs and the front has a large flash across a top corner stating: `Now contains more oats'. This puzzles me and I would be grateful if you could explain what you mean because I can't see how it can `have more oats'. I've compared it to my last pack and they both contain 550g and both are composed of 93% oat flakes. The detailed composition on the old and new packs are exactly the same. I have to conclude that your claim is false and that you assume your customers are gullible.
Regards,
------------

[plaques]

how it can `have more oats'.

perhaps they are 'mini' oats. so to get the same overall percentage you need more of them.

[Stanley]

Buy natural oats in bulk from Scotland.... Cheaper and 100% oats.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report based on an article in The Lancet. It looks at the effects of diet on health and comes to the conclusion that bad diets are worse than smoking and salt in particular affects as many as one in five people globally. I think any of us who have any interest at all in nutrition knew this already but it's good that the message is being reinforced.

[Tizer]

I'm all for encouraging people to eat a better diet but I do have reservations about articles such as this one which claim that this or that causes X thousand deaths. For a start, we're all going to die sometime and how do you calculate what an individual's lifespan should be? Second, how is cause of death defined? Most deaths aren't followed by postmortems and doctors will naturally assume stroke or heart disease if nothing else is obvious and there aren't already obvious diseases such as well developed cancer. `Cause of death' is all a bit vague and that undermines any statistics based on the figures.

[Stanley]

On reflection you are right Tiz. In the present state of knowledge if I die from a chest infection (a very common terminal symptom) it would be attributed to smoking.....
I always remember something I heard once about the CEO of a large company being asked how many of his workers were approaching retirement and he said all of them. We can't avoid death and taxes.....
But I suppose it's a good thing to remind people of the benefits of eating good food and avoiding crap. If a catchy headline makes this more effective I think I'll allow them to get away with just a touch of obfuscation.....

[Tizer]

No reply yet to my message to Weetabix about their `Now with more oats' claim. They're probably having meetings to work out an excuse that let's them justify it!

[Stanley]

Did you see THIS report by Glasgow University researchers? Despite all the promises the food labels are not accurate. The obvious answer is to forget labels, just refuse to buy food that has been processed, use natural base ingredients and cook them yourself..... (But of course consumers have 'no time'.)
Did you also see the report that one US state has bowed to the agricultural interests and banned the term 'Cauliflower Rice'? The power of the lobby!

[Tizer]

I know I'm often whinging about something or other but I get annoyed when companies seem to assume their customers will believe any story they tell them, no matter whether it's true or false. I've just written a message to Weetabix who also manufacture Oatibix breakfast cereal....

Good Afternoon,
I have bought a packet of Oatibix breakfast cereal from Tesco in Taunton. The design of the pack is slightly different to previous packs and the front has a large flash across a top corner stating: `Now contains more oats'. This puzzles me and I would be grateful if you could explain what you mean because I can't see how it can `have more oats'. I've compared it to my last pack and they both contain 550g and both are composed of 93% oat flakes. The detailed composition on the old and new packs are exactly the same. I have to conclude that your claim is false and that you assume your customers are gullible.
Regards,
------------

I got a reply and it boils down to this. Late last year they raised the proportion of oats to 93% and changed the ingredients list on the pack accordingly, but they didn't immediately switch to the new pack design with the flash stating `Now contains more oats'. Also, it was a while before the new pack designs made their way through the system and onto supermarket shelves. So my `old' packs had 93% but no flash whereas the one bought recently has 93% and the `More oats' flash. Hence the confusion.

I thanked them but pointed out they hadn't told consumers what had been removed in order to raise the oat level from 64 to 93%. A lot of something has been taken out of the formula. They then sent me the old and the new ingredients composition:

Old: Wholegrain Oats (64%), Maltodextrin, Sugar, Oat bran (11%), Malted Barley Extract, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Niacin, Iron, Pantothenic Acid (B5), Thiamin (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12.

New: Wholegrain Oats (93%), Sugar, Malted Barley Extract, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Niacin, Iron, Pantothenic Acid (B5), Thiamin (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12

We can see from this that to raise the proportion of whole oats they've removed the oat bran and maltodextrin components. In my view that makes it a better product. Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide made by partially breaking down starch molecular chains - you could regard it as being in between sugar and starch. However, like sugar it is directly and rapidly absorbed from the gut and so has a high glycaemic index. It's much better to have the extra oats instead! (It's a shame they're not explaining this on the packs but perhaps they are reluctant to admit the product previously had such a high content of a high GI manufactured ingredient.)

[Stanley]

I'm glad they replied to your latter Tiz. At least they now know that at least one customer is reading the labels! This is exactly the sort of action that will in the end make the food processors rethink attitudes, problem is, how many Tizers are there?
Lovely post.