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Clean Eating in 2024, trying old recipes and hunting down special offers.

MrsStepford
MrsStepford Posts: 1,798 Forumite
Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
edited 6 January 2024 at 2:33PM in Old style MoneySaving
Two books bought this week have inspired me. The first was the book by Iceland boss Richard Walker OBE, son of Iceland founder Sir Malcolm. Richard Walker is really into environmental stuff and Iceland is at the forefront of green thinking at UK supermarkets. 

The second book is all about gut health and was written by Dr William Davis MD, author of Wheat Belly. 

My husband was diagnosed with COPD in March 2023 and I have Type 2 diabetes. 

I want to eat clean in 2024 because I'm convinced that will help our bodies heal somewhat and make us healthier. The challenge will be finding clean food in supermarkets. It does exist however, even in Iceland. Aldi and Lidl. 

I want to save money on clean food, by buying special offers and trying stores and supermarkets which we don't usually buy from. 

I will list the offers and bargains found. 

My cousin in Vancouver uses her mother's favourite cook book, the Purity Cook Book, which was first produced by a flour-milling company over 100 years ago. I want to explore old recipes, produced when all food was organic because pesticides herbicides and additives didn't exist. Many of the recipes look plain, because they relied on the food itself being flavourful. 

So that's my challenge for 2024. I think it might be hard but I will have a go ! 
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Comments

  • Emmia
    Emmia Posts: 4,611 Forumite
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    edited 6 January 2024 at 2:46PM
    What do you define as "clean eating" or "clean food"

    To be honest the terms sound like a bit of a fad diet and one that could be very restrictive (and not necessarily that good for you).
  • MrsStepford
    MrsStepford Posts: 1,798 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    We used to buy Birds Eye potato waffles from Iceland, (currently on offer 10 for £10). Only one nastie, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and 13g carbs per ovenbaked waffle. Low fat and low salt. However, they are only 88% potato and contain potato flakes, potato starch and rapeseed oil aka canola oil. They count as processed food because they have ingredients which we can't replicate in our own kitchens. 

    On our last trip to Aldi, there wasn't a single bag of frozen oven chips which was gluten free. Husband does have the occasional craving for chips and exclusive to Iceland are Slimming World frozen chips. Just two ingredients, potatoes and sea salt. 4/5 stars from 167 reviews.£3.25 for a kilo bag. 20.9g carbs for 100g ovenbaked so we would split that between us. A chip garnish, basically. 


  • Paspatur
    Paspatur Posts: 517 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Iceland, Aldi and Lidl all sell potatoes so start from scratch and cook your own
    You have a very easy bar for improvement if waffles and oven chips are your go to
    COPD cannot be reversed but it can be held at current levels by good nutrition, exercise and avoiding the original cause
    For me it was a working environment early in my career, for some it is smoking
    All of my food comes from ingredients and all of the cheaper supermarkets sell them

  • Emmia
    Emmia Posts: 4,611 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    I don't eat chips or waffles myself and we haven't had actual potatoes in the house since about 2007. Most of our food IS organic or grass-pastured. I buy our meat from a farm in Lincolnshire and a farm in Scotland and Husband buys a few bits in Sainsbury's. 

    Husband wasn't fully on board with dietary changes but now he's transitioning to low carb because American Lung Association recommends it for COPD and Dr Cedric Rutland MD gets people off inhalers with a low carb diet.

    I was told that diabetes is irreversible but I've made great progress without support from NHS which tried to push carbs on me. The NHS wouldn't tell a coeliac to eat bread so it's crazy to try to get me to eat breakfast cereals. Husband is actually improving. He did a pulmonary rehab course and some of his results came back as being as good as someone without COPD. 

    A consultant told me that the human body has a great capacity for self-healing if we do everything we can to help it. Professor Tim Spector was on the Zoe podcast and said that even if you are two steps from a health cliff edge, if you can make changes you can put a bigger distance between you and the cliff edge.

     Husband is having organic beetroot juice every morning first thing, plus organic Belgian whole milk live yogurt and a couple of organic free range eggs, for breakfast. 

    Dr Walter Willetts of Harvard Medical School was on a Zoe podcast recently and said that most people eat a diet of 50% carbohydrates or more and that 80% of the carbs being eaten are junk.

    Dr Chris van Tulleken wrote a very good, very depressing book about processed food. Often, we eat things which we believe to be healthy, like whole grain bread, yogurt and farmed fish, which aren't healthy at all. Look at yogurts in the dairy aisle. Too many have high levels of sugar.

    Non-organic wheat is sprayed with glyphosate to kill it off and dry it out before harvest, to reduce grain dryer costs. Glyphosate residues can be found in supermarket bread and they are higher in whole grain loaves.

    Farmed fish are fed antibiotics to keep parasites in check and feed with colourants to make them pink. Sainsbury's is selling wild keta and sockeye salmon at the moment and that's so dark it's almost red.

    I agree @Katiehound that Marks & Spencer food is expensive but not necessarily healthier. I won't pay more for non-organic M&S when I can buy organic of a good quality, from ASDA. I

    @Emmia we aren't obese and not trying to lose weight. So no portion control of smaller plates, no calorie counting and no bulking up meals with cheap carby pulses. 
    You're eating oven chips. 

    They might be 'slimming world' and contain 2 ingredients, but if you're doing 'clean eating' I'm very sorry but you could do better. 

    Lentils have more protein for example.

  • Its funny how different people define clean

    Myself its buying food as close to its natural state as possible 

    If I want a chip, which I do now and then, I get a spud, chip it and air fry it , certainly wouldn't be paying £3.25 a kilo for a spud 

    As for type 2 diabetes not being reversible, Id question the credentials of the person who told you that. Its been well known for years that it can be done. Trouble is most people with it dont want to change their diet and are happy to inject themselves or medicate themselves as long as they can still eat a cream cake. As for the "NHS pushing carbs at you" they dont. They say you have to eat from the 4 food groups and when it comes to carbs, 2 slices of wholemeal , brown rice, wholemeal pasta - all with a lower GI then the white refined stuff




  • Emmia
    Emmia Posts: 4,611 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Its funny how different people define clean

    Myself its buying food as close to its natural state as possible 

    If I want a chip, which I do now and then, I get a spud, chip it and air fry it , certainly wouldn't be paying £3.25 a kilo for a spud 

    As for type 2 diabetes not being reversible, Id question the credentials of the person who told you that. Its been well known for years that it can be done. Trouble is most people with it dont want to change their diet and are happy to inject themselves or medicate themselves as long as they can still eat a cream cake. As for the "NHS pushing carbs at you" they dont. They say you have to eat from the 4 food groups and when it comes to carbs, 2 slices of wholemeal , brown rice, wholemeal pasta - all with a lower GI then the white refined stuff




    I'd define clean as food as food as close to the natural state as possible - in that I include tinned sweetcorn (no salt/sugar) and frozen peas....


    Tomatoes are better for you when cooked.




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