Clean Eating 2024 Version 2

MrsStepford

Insurmountable IT probs necessitates starting from scratch.

The Stepford Household definition of clean is food which doesn't include preservatives, emulsifiers, starches, gums or anything artificial. It excludes packaging because that's inedible and an environmental issue. Cooking from scratch is preferable. Bargains are good if they can be found. Organic is preferable, especially for the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen.

Mr Stepford has COPD and the American Lung Association recommends low carb for that. Mrs Stepford has Type 2 diabetes and some doctors and nutritionists recommend low carb for that.

This thread shows  our journey, it's not medical advice.

Professor Tim Spector of King's College London is co-founder of podcast Zoe and talked about gut health recently. We eat organic sauerkraut and kimchi as well as the Polska Ogorki naturally fermented gherkins. 

Milk & More has River Cottage Organic Natural Kefir 250ml on offer  to 04 Feb, reduced from 2.75 to 2.20 ie 20% off. Per 100ml it's 3.6g fat, 4.3g carbs (3.7g sugar), 3.1g fibre, 0.1g each protein and salt. We have tried kefir before but found it thin and sour, whereas this is thicker and tastier. We might make it a regular thing. 

We have Pure Nature Organic Whole Milk Yogurt as part of our breakfast. Made in Belgium, it comes in 150g glass jars, from Milk & More. We have been buying it on offer, 4 for £3, three times per week for months. I order and pay for the yogurt at the beginning of the month and save £16. If I find that the fridge has too much yogurt in it, then I can cancel the next batch up to the night before and get refunded. 

The yogurt contains 140mg calcium per 100g as well as 3.8g fat, 5.1g carbs, 
4.3g protein and 0.1g salt. No added sugar or salt, no nasties. We have tried a lot of yogurt including Yeo Valley, Brown Cow and River Cottage. We think this is the best English yogurt that we have tried. 

I ate Fage strained Greek yogurt for the first time in Greece and was happy to see it arrive here. Since Brexit, the Fage on sale in the UK is Greek recipe not Greek and is made in the EU with EU milk. However there are supermarkets selling lactose free Greek yogurt which is made in Greece e.g. ASDA, 1.80 for 450g.

I like Milk & More. No minimum order, free delivery and quite a few organic products which I find it difficult to get elsewhere. It's expensive, but as we don't do big orders it works out ok. It's irritating, to have to do a £40 minimum order for a few bits from a supermarket and find that many are out of stock on the day of delivery. 

MrsStepford

Lactose free milk.. We tried it, because it's lower carb than regular milk. Couldn't taste any difference between Lactofree whole milk and regular supermarket whole milk. Husband decided to keep buying it. Yes, it's expensive but most of the dairy we consume is yogurt, soured cream, double cream, crème fraîche, fromage frais, cottage cheese, soft cheese and cheese. It's a relatively small proportion overall. 

I won't touch the own brand part-reconstituted lactose free milks, just the whole milk with lactose enzyme added. 

We have been buying the Lactofree soft cheese recently, as unlike Philadelphia and Boursin, it doesn't contain nasties. 

MrsStepford

Amazon delivered Gary Taubes' new book, 'Rethinking Diabetes' last night. I will be reading that most of the weekend, as it's a hefty paperback. Had it on pre-order for months and got it for 12.54, saving 4.45

A favourite discovery is Piatnica Serek Wiejski Cottage Cheese 200g, stocked by ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco. Cheapest price is £1, at ASDA. It's made in Poland from pasteurized milk, pasteurized cream and salt. The cows are grazed on organic meadows and the Piatnica co-operative has multiple quality and environmental certifications. The cottage cheese has been made since 1992 and is Poland's #1 cheese. 

Per 100g: 5g fat, 2g carbs, 11g protein, 0.70g salt. Big curds, in cream. No densely packed dry and tiny curds. No water or brine. Rave reviews on every supermarket website where it's on sale. 

Another Eastern European find was Bakoma Smietana  Domowa soured cream 175g, 90p at ASDA. Two ingredients, cream and live bacteria cultures. Per 100g: 18g fat, 3g carbs, 2.5g protein, 0.11g salt. No nasties. Other soured creams may include modified starch and pectin. I haven't seen any other soured creams with live bacteria cultures.

One of my favourite foods on the planet, is Alvalle Original Gazpacho which comes in 500ml and 1 litre sizes. Currently, Ocado has 2 x 1 litre for £7 to 23/01. Gazpacho is a cold Spanish soup for summer and 200ml = 1 of your 5 a day. 

Per 100ml: 2.6g fat, 3.9g carbs, 1.2g fibre, 0.8g protein, 0.61g salt.93% vegetables and gluten free with no added water, sugar or salt or nasties 😎 In Summer I glug this and now that Campbell's V8 Vegetable Juice has been discontinued in the UK, I have this instead. 

Currently, Kerrygold is on offer for £2 per 250g block at Morrisons, but only in larger stores. 

MrsStepford

Haggis arrived today from Scotland ! Ordered some Slimming World frozen Colcannon from Iceland. 2.50 for 500g. Just potato, cabbage, water, onion, salt and black pepper. 

Katiehound

MrsStepford said:

  Ordered some Slimming World frozen Colcannon from Iceland. 2.50 for 500g. Just potato, cabbage, water, onion, salt and black pepper. 

Colcannon- you can very very easily make your own-  after all you see the ingredients- potato, onion (spring or regular) & cabbage. 

JIL

Katiehound said:

MrsStepford said:

  Ordered some Slimming World frozen Colcannon from Iceland. 2.50 for 500g. Just potato, cabbage, water, onion, salt and black pepper. 

Colcannon- you can very very easily make your own-  after all you see the ingredients- potato, onion (spring or regular) & cabbage. 

My Irish inlaws woul be horrified at the lack of real butter in the Iceland version. 🙂

Katiehound

JIL said:

Katiehound said:

MrsStepford said:

  Ordered some Slimming World frozen Colcannon from Iceland. 2.50 for 500g. Just potato, cabbage, water, onion, salt and black pepper. 

Colcannon- you can very very easily make your own-  after all you see the ingredients- potato, onion (spring or regular) & cabbage. 

My Irish inlaws woul be horrified at the lack of real butter in the Iceland version. 🙂

yes indeed, but Slimming World- so presumably no fat!

MrsStepford

We can add butter @Katiehound but we can't take out chemical nasties. 😉

I have a fantastic old cookbook with a lot of traditional Scottish recipes but nothing Irish. My adoptive father was half Irish but his father didn't pass on anything Irish apart from some swear words ! Husband's father was half Welsh and didn't pass on anything Welsh, not even a few words. Husband met his paternal grandmother about twice, since his mother hated her. So no recipes for bara brith.

Oxfam has a clearance sale online on books, with up to 60% off. Bought three cheap cookbooks and noticed that older Dukan books are cleaner than the later ones. One which turned up today, published in 2013, had only a handful of low carb recipes. Lots of stuff with oat bran or wholewheat flour, even bread. 

Rosa_Damascena

MrsStepford said:

Amazon delivered Gary Taubes' new book, 'Rethinking Diabetes' last night. I will be reading that most of the weekend, as it's a hefty paperback. Had it on pre-order for months and got it for 12.54, saving 4.45
 

This book is money for old rope. Its a no-brainer that carbs are like poison to a T1 diabetic. What it doesn't tell you is that the diet was replaced with Victoria junk-du-jour, including plenty of fatty meats which will contribute to atherosclerosis and all kinds of neoplasms. The only way of staying healthy id by loading up on veggies in addition to the protein source.

I bought some German rye bread (no additives) in the hope that it will fill the void left by the humble loaf. I realised last year that a shop-bought sandwich - which I would have usually eaten without complaint - no longer tasted good. My experiment with rye bread has done is put me off bread full stop. I'm wondering if I can source some additive-free pumpernickel instead.

I buy butter frequently now with the intention of baking. (Its been at least six months since I ate a vegan spread). What I don't do is spread it on bread, because its far to hard to do so! Toasted sourdough is the exception, that seems robust to trauma inflicted by the butter knife. Bread and butter is a simple pleasure I miss though.

Longwalker

Rosa_Damascena said:

MrsStepford said:

Amazon delivered Gary Taubes' new book, 'Rethinking Diabetes' last night. I will be reading that most of the weekend, as it's a hefty paperback. Had it on pre-order for months and got it for 12.54, saving 4.45
 

I bought some German rye bread (no additives) in the hope that it will fill the void left by the humble loaf. I realised last year that a shop-bought sandwich - which I would have usually eaten without complaint - no longer tasted good. My experiment with rye bread has done is put me off bread full stop. I'm wondering if I can source some additive-free pumpernickel instead.

If I am near a Sainburys I get a loaf of Rye ( its the only supermarket here that sells it ) I love it

You cant make a sandwich from it, way too heavy and dense but its the perfect base for an Open sandwich and really holds together well so its so easy to pile up with pickles. For me I would use half fat cheese spread as the butter, then add sliced beets, gherkins, sauerkraut or kimchi, then top with rocket, cucumber and peppers, then add something like smoked mackerel then spend the next 30 mins tucking into it with a knife and fork. A perfect brunch for me

Longwalker

MrsStepford said:

Haggis arrived today from Scotland ! Ordered some Slimming World frozen Colcannon from Iceland. 2.50 for 500g. Just potato, cabbage, water, onion, salt and black pepper. 

Thats all calcannon is, mash and cabbage. With butter

Champ is mashed potatoes and spring onions and its a popular dish on its own. In its most basic form you just make buttery mash and then stir on the sliced spring onions. I often poach the onions in a bit of milk  and use the milk in the mash and then stir in the onions. To serve you pile onto a plate, make a well in the middle and add a big knob of butter to melt and I know of many people who will just have that as their tea/supper in the evening. Proper comfort food 

We have lots of variations on mash. We often stir in cheese and bacon together or separately but its always served with the butter