WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[Wendyf]

We use coconut oil, olive oil, butter and lard for cooking, I eat full fat yoghurt, double cream, nuts and cheese on a daily basis without worrying about calorie content and yet I'm slimmer than I have been for years and my weight hardly varies. I believe that's because I don't eat starchy carbohydrates therefore the insulin levels in my blood remain low. Insulin is our fat storage hormone, it's job is to pack excess energy from carbs and fat into our fat storage cells.
Here's a blog from Xpert Health looking at why the "calories in calories out" doesn't necessarily work long term for weight loss.

https://www.xperthealth.org.uk/Home/New ... imitations

Another about how our metabolism adjusts on a low calorie diet.

https://www.xperthealth.org.uk/Home/New ... eight-loss

[Stanley]

Once again wise words Wendy and you've reminded me that there are other reasons for restricting carbs than diabetes..... I have taken notice. I don't worry about my weight much because I feel so healthy but I know that 7lbs off would be a good thing! Like you I don't avoid saturated fats but use my head in that I realise I don't do the hard physical work I used to so I do things like de-fat my gravy etc. I regard saturated fat like many other foods, essential in the diet but needing careful monitoring.

[Wendyf]

Fat stops you feeling hungry and makes you feel full for longer, carbs give you a quick buzz of energy and leave you craving more. No point de-fatting the gravy but eating a packet of crisps!

[Big Kev]

A lot of local eateries have been very accommodating for me, they will replace chips with a nice lump of cheese

[Stanley]

Give me a break Wendy...... A little of what you fancy does you good!

[Wendyf]

I've been very restrained recently!

[Tizer]

When discussing coconut oil keep in mind that it is much more saturated than animal fats. We often talk about saturated fat as if it's composed completely of saturated fatty acids (FA). That's not so. Lard and tallow have around 40% saturated FA, the rest being almost completely oleic acid which is the main fatty acid in rapeseed oil. In contrast, coconut oil is about 90% saturated FA. Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, a medium-chain-length saturated FA, and there has been a lot of hype about this fat being healthy, but it comes from commercail interests primarily and isn't supported by the science. LINK

[Stanley]

I know Wendy but I feel so well!!!
On fats, my general rule is that if the fats you ingest are a component of the food, Coconut flesh, Olives, roast meat etc. they are all 'good' for you as long as you burn them off. The problems arise with the refined fats, especially if the source is dodgy.

[Wendyf]

Interesting to hear that the 4 young men who have just broken the world record for rowing across the Atlantic were all "keto adapted" and using fat for fuel to avoid the energy highs and lows of burning carbs.
Jensen Button talks in his autobiography about eating a low carb diet when he was driving in F1, though he changed back to a higher carb diet in order to bulk up for triathlon events.

[Stanley]

The Inuit have been doing it for millennia! It was investigations into how they avoided heart disease that kicked off a lot of very valuable lipid research that was swamped by food processors touting cheaper, longer shelf-life modified vegetable oils. Read 'Queen of Fats' by Susan Allport. This book was my personal Eureka moment........

[Stanley]

See THIS article for a report on a study that concludes the UK has the worst diet in Europe. I'm not too sure about the headline but the body of the article certainly makes a lot of sense. There is another report on the same site which forecasts that after Brexit there will be a shortage of veggies from Europe which will drive the price up and worsen our diet, particularly that of the poor.
Doomsayers never have an easy time of it and it is high time this scandal was grabbed hold of at government level and attacked through education and specific warnings. It's just as important as it was for AIDS HIV. In fact the impact on mortality and general health is even worse.

[plaques]

Turn the clock back 50 years the whole point of the common market was to make sure that there was sufficient agricultural products in the system to feed the populus. We are not in a position to feed ourselves and have to rely on others like America and Canada and other more unreliable sources. Not a good position to be in.

[Tizer]

As well as `a shortage of veggies from Europe' there will be a shortage of veggies from the UK after Brexit because their won't be anybody out in the fields to gather them, they'll have all stayed back home on the Continent. That problem will only go away once we automate more of our agricultural production.

[Stanley]

The end of the 59p cauliflower......
There was a very good programme on BBC R4 yesterday on the benefits of making sure our iodine intake is high enough. This particularly applies to pregnant women and anyone on a vegetarian diet. Vegans are particularly at risk because milk and white fish are the major sources. Eating seaweed or seaweed based supplements doesn't cut it as the uptake is so low and in addition many 'iodine rich supplements' do not contain what is stated on the label as they are not regulated. Soya contains no iodine at all.
This is a good reason for eating a normal mixed diet with as much variation as can be achieved.

[Stanley]

See THIS for yet another warning about the dangers of obesity and lack of exercise. One wonders how it can be that people ignore the facts. I am convinced that my 30 minutes walk each morning and attention to my nutrition are the basis of my good health at 81 years old (82 on St Valentine's day!) Think of what this ignorance is costing the NHS and therefore impacting on the rest of us.....

[Tizer]

This is an excellent episode of Radio 4's short `In their element' series: `Awesome Iodine' LINK
"The phrase 'essential 'element' is often incorrectly used to describe the nutrients we need, but can aptly be applied to iodine - without it we would suffer severe developmental problems. Iodine is a key component of thyroid hormones, responsible for the regulation of our metabolism. And yet most of us have no idea how much we need, nor where it comes from.
In her research, Margaret Rayman, Professor of Nutritional Medicine at Surrey University, has found pregnant women in particular are at risk of iodine deficiency - and there's a lack of iodine in what many consider healthy diets.
As well as looking at contemporary issues with iodine, Margaret explores the legacy of past iodine deficiency - the word cretin, was coined to describe someone living in the Alps with such a condition. We learn why you might find iodine in British milk - but not necessarily elsewhere in the world, and we discuss the consequences of exposure to radioactive iodine isotopes - both good and bad."
-------------------------------------------------
Several important issues were raised. The main sources of iodine in the Western diet are milk, eggs and white fish; yet in recent decades many people have stopped or cut down on dairy foods and many don't eat fish because they don't like the smell in the house. As iodine deficiency in pregnancy can cause mental disabilities in children it makes you wonder how much kids were affected by the drop in dairy intake. Also, vegans lose out on iodine. Kelp is sold in `health food' shops as an iodine source but it isn't standardised and some examples have been found to have unsafe levels of iodine.

[plaques]

People laugh when I say I eat a large bowl of cereal with full fat milk every days plus white fish and chip twice a week. Digging my grave with my teeth?
All that Cholesterol etc etc: We will see!

[Tizer]

My breakfast is Oat Crisp cereal and full fat milk and we eat fish of various types several times a week. I''d love to eat eggs too, they're so versatile and tasty, but they don't agree with my stomach these days.

You might like this cover of a book by Prof Kummerow who died last year aged 102 (see Obituary thread)...

[PanBiker]

Between us we cover all the bases. I have porridge made with full fat milk, I don't do fish but I do eggs in all shapes and forms.

[Big Kev]

I have porridge with a few frozen berries and semi skimmed milk, it all goes in the microwave for 3 minutes. I'm not a fan of full fat milk unless it's in coffee. I really should eat more fish, grilled sea bass fillets are a favourite, along with the spicy battered haddock at Banny's in Colne.

[Stanley]

I don't eat breakfast but wait until 11AM and call it dinner. Cholesterol is tricky, the very basic explanation is that when we eat foods with cholesterol in them our metabolisms dismantle it so the cholesterol in food doesn't go straight to clogging your veins. However, if we haven't got the balance of good fat to bad fat right in our diet and we eat more fat than our bodies burn off by exercise the surplus can end up in the blood stream as 'bad cholesterol' and this is what can obstruct arteries.
It's more complicated than that but if you have that in your head and make sure that you eat natural fats, make sure you have enough long chain Omega3 in your diet and don't eat more fat than you burn off you need have no fear of cholesterol or saturated fat. In case you're wondering, a teaspoonful of Cod Liver Oil or it's equivalent takes care of the Long chain Omega3.
We all knew it but now we have statistics to prove it. See THIS for an authoritative report of research on what proportion of the food consumed in the UK is 'ultra-processed'. For the first time it's over 50%. If I was guessing I'd say that my score is a lot less than 5%.

[Wendyf]

I know I have probably provided this link to Zoe Harcome's article on cholesterol, fat and heart disease before, but it's well worth a read.

http://www.zoeharcombe.com/2010/11/chol ... you-think/

[Stanley]

Good article and in line with my more simplified understanding. The thing she doesn't mention in her 'Money' section is the pressure from the supermarkets and food processors to replace natural fats with modified fats to extend shelf life. ie. Hydrogenated fats instead of butter in confectionery. Her point about the benefits to big pharma is well taken.

[Stanley]

Read THIS BBC report about French research which links 'super-processed' foods with cancers, particularly breast cancer in women. Recognise that the French subjects of this enquiry eat less of these foods than we do in the UK so the figures could be even worse here. No surprise to some of us but how did we come to the stage where food processors can poison us in the pursuit of profit?

[Tizer]

Th reporting of the study is already getting criticism for confusing people - what is an ultra-processed food? One bit of advice given on the radio is look at the list of ingredients and avoid the ones with many ingredients. But that's confusing too. Kellogg's Corn Flakes lists 14 but 9 of them are vitamins and iron.