WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

[Stanley]

Wendy, in the days when I was driving far too many hours I occasionally went into a chemist's shop and got some Pro=Plus which were essentially caffeine pills. They gave me a boost for perhaps four hours and were a possible life-saver. My caffeine these days comes mainly from my morning coffee, the only one of the day. I don't think the young today have as good a reason as I had.

[Tizer]

News today of how Britain's pets are being overfed and thus needing extra vet's attention...and extra fees from the owners. Some of the dogs and cats are pathologically overweight - seems like cruelty to animals to me (but then I think overfeeding children and making them obese is a form of child abuse). [Goes out and sticks his head on the block ]

[Stanley]

I'll be out there with you Tiz. I see so many dogs that are grossly overweight and the funny thing is that the owners seem to be unaware of it. You are right, it's a form of cruelty. Of course the same thing applies to people as well. Luckily I seem to have retained my senses, hence a well-nourished but not fat dog and I'm losing weight. (Having had my first pint of tea I have just brewed my pint of coffee. My morning caffeine fix is assured!)

[rossylass]

Heard that a study has found that drinking coffee reduces the risk of having a stroke. Bring it on!

[Stanley]

All these bits of advice point to the same thing, moderation in all things and a well-balanced diet and life-style. It's common sense really isn't it. (Keels over sideways in chair with massive cerebral stroke.....)
Reading Drummond reminded me that I used to add wheat germ to my bread. I looked up Allison's premium strong wholemeal bread flour and there is no mention of the germ which I suspect means it is not in there because wheat germ deteriorates rapidly by oxidisation and reduces the shelf-life of the flour. I think I can get it in Barlick, if I can't I shall buy online.

[Tizer]

You could probably buy wheat germ in a health food shop and sprinkle it on your breakfast cereal. The germ used in baking bread has been lightly cooked to denature the enzymes and thus prevent rancidity and loss of polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin E. When buying wheat germ, if you have any choice always go for the product with the deepest yellow colour and least brown colour. The reason is that wheat germ is obtained by separation from the bran stream in a flour mill and there's no way of getting pure germ. What they call wheat germ is always a mixture of bran and germ but the germ is much more valuable than the bran, so the miller is financially motivated to leave in as much bran as he can get away with. When I worked for a milling & baking company one of my projects was on the manufacture of wheat germ oil and I found how difficult it was to get good quality germ. Some wheat germ oils on the market contained a high proportion of bran oil which is much less valuable. One of the oils I tested didn't even have wheat germ in it and the vitamin E it contained was synthetic, not the natural version.

[Stanley]

Made a few enquiries yesterday and wheat germ is no longer available in the town. I could get it on the net but it's not worth the bother actually because my diet is good enough I think. It was triggered of course by my latest reading of Drummond's book. What an important advance it was in 1939. Still full of good quotations and the overwhelming impression you are left with is that all the knowledge we needed was available in 1939, Drummond used it and improved our health under rationing and then by an accident of fate he was put out of the loop by a change of government and being seconded to other tasks abroad. Just when we needed his firm hand on the helm he was absent and we went down the road of quantity not quality. That was the start of the pretty pickle we are in today. (I'm reading 'The Vitamin Murders' next as this book by Fergusson continues the story of Drummond, his death and the advent of the powerful chemicals with which we are all still infused. No matter how well you control your diet, you can't avoid them. Of course we are assured that the quantities are so small that they are harmless. However, as Drummond himself said, we don't know enough about the combination of the various poisons, what he called 'the cocktail effect'. Result could be what we now call 'The Western Disease'.

[Tizer]

You won't suffer by not eating wheat germ. There's nothing in it you can't get elsewhere in your food. It became popular in the past largely because of containing a high level of vitamin E which some people mistakenly thought was an aphrodisiac - they were confusing fertility with potency, when it was shown that rats deprived of vitamin E could become infertile.

Drummond's `cocktail effect' is well illustrated by a similar situation with drugs. Drinking grapefruit juice when taking strong drugs can be dangerous because a component of the juice multiplies up the effect of the drug, making it like taking an overdose.

[Stanley]

Am deep in 'The Vitamin Murders' again and it has reminded me of the chemical load we all carry from very toxic and long lasting chemicals introduced into the environment since c.1950. Problem is of course that no amount of care with diet and cooking can shield you against these.
Tesco announce they will, be sourcing all non-domestic beef and pork from Ireland, Half a billion pounds worth annually. Just words at the moment and good PR for them but if true it will be good for the farmers.

[Tizer]

Morrison's don't seem to have taken full advantage of the potential good PR in their policy of growing and raising much of the food themselves for their stores.

[Whyperion]

Morrison's have recently launched some new ready meals ( and I think Cottage Cheese varieties )in their

NU
ME

range .

I find them confusing as the packaging does not really make it clear from a first look , what the 'contents' actually are - being used to the likes of Sainsbugs where a red jacket indicates meaty things, yellow fishy , green good for you/ italian/ veggie , amber italian or indian.

Its even more difficult to see on the shelf edge , basically the logo is too prominent , the food info over large and dominating , the product name and detail in a sub-dominant lower left position , and the photo too small.

And if you have a large family or a decent freezer you could probably make up 10 portions using fresh ingredients for around £8 or less.

Didn't help that my local Morrisons had also muddled the products to the shelf edge labels, I was only looking for a cottage pie ( I have to do some cooking at the end of month to feed between 18 and 36 people , so have been researching budgets and whats avalible ( and what will fit in the car for taking to venue ). I cannot do it from scratch due to time , or bulk , as I am not certain whom is likely to want what , so the ready meal option is what I am going for, probably 'family sized' ones with added tinned veg etc to bulk out as required as a 3 min microwave should be a reasonable time wait. Been really difficult to source Syrup Sponge Puddings too at less than 50 to 70p each at a man-sized portion - I was hoping to find some tinned ones but they are only around in small shelf quantities , If I remember I will go to my local wholesalers to see what they have.

[Stanley]

Baked in a farmhouse? What does 'hearty' mean?

[Tizer]

What does 'hearty' mean?

Full of offal?

[hartley353]

The better half came home yesterday pleased as punch, she had found some pasta sauces on special offer.We take things like this camping, they are useful to Jizz up simple fare. Looking closer at the labeling it says Pasta 'n' sauce the pasta and sauce in large print and the 'n' in tiny print I don't think there was any intent to mislead, but it took the shine of her find. Luckily Grand daughter and her new twins are moving into a larger house so we will slip them in with food parcel we were planning to stock the new kitchen.

[Whyperion]

I'll have to see If I can find some more Morrison's pictures , they are close to ridiculous - there are two within a reasonable walk away.
Pity Asda Basic ranges are stuffed so full of Sugar ( Tinned Fruit - In Light Syrup for example , the ? healthier ? Fruit in Juice is about 3 times as much , no wonder the local poor are oversized )

[Stanley]

Nowt wrong with Offal Tiz as long as it is cooked properly. I am on Haslet butties today.... There's a very easy solution, stop buying highly processed food and ready meals. Get natural ingredients from trusted sopurces and cook your own. But what the hell do I know about it.....

[Whyperion]

I think the advertising 'puff' is getting nearly as bad as the C19th newspaper ones. PS enjoyed the pun , Tiz.

[Stanley]

I'm reading up on margarine technology at the moment. Don't even ask about what miracles they can perform on stuff you wouldn't use for rust-proofing! However, I came across a mention of 'greaves' which is a foul by-product of primary fat rendering I came across in my days on the tramp taking any load I could get. Never seen it used anywhere else but now I have documentary proof that it existed!

[Tizer]

There's nothing secret about greaves, Stanley. It's the term used in the rendering industry for the protein fraction produced when you separate the animal fat (tallow) from the meat remains, using centrifugal separators or sometimes solvent fractionation. For example a shown on this Westfalia Separator page:
http://www.westfalia-separator.com/appl ... -fats.html

[Stanley]

Yes, but I'd never found direct evidence until I started to read the History of Margarine. I think all this would be old news to you Tiz but reading it is an eye-opener to me. I knew that margarine production held some dark secrets but reading this eulogy about chemical modification of a basic food chills my blood! They were quite sure they were right! Mind you, it was written in 1969 and so some opinions and understanding will have changed. But I'll bet they are still certain they are right!

[Stanley]

I see the 'horseburger' affair is having an effect on the testing opf other foods. Some interesting findings when testing fish. Quite a lot was not as described, different species being substituted for our old favourites cod and haddock. Have you noticed how the subject of food adulteration has gone quiet? Could the lobby be working to sweep the matter under the carpet? For instance, have any of the supposed perpetrators been taken to court?

[Tizer]

For instance, have any of the supposed perpetrators been taken to court?

No, but then neither have the perpetrators of the SSE energy company mis-selling scam!

[Stanley]

I read my Private Eye yesterday, when you look at what's going on most of those named should be on a charge! PE made the point actually in one of the number-crunching panels pointing out that the biggest haul of miscreants is in anything to do with Leveson and phone-hacking. Mind you, they are dead against press regulation and I suspect there may be a bias!

[Stanley]

I got reinforcement yesterday that perhaps my ideas on nutrition and health have some validity. All the results from my latest tests at the Diabetic Clinic are improved and well within parameters with the single exception of cholesterol which is slightly high but of no consequence. It may be that I haven't wasted my time reading everything I can get hold of about nutrition. I was struck by something one scientist said about nutrition when he was taxed with the proposition that good nutrition could replace many drugs used to combat heart disease. He said "Ah, but you can't patent nutrition!" Could this be why it is still such a neglected branch of food science?

[Stanley]

News that Asda has had to take it's own-brand corned beef off the shelves again after it tested positive to 'bute' which is used for treating horses. Nice to know testing is continuing but we only get to know when there is a product recall. Far better if test results were published by the companies.