Clean Eating 2024 Version 2

tooldle

pumpkin89 said:

tooldle said:

Wow, how high is the added sugar in their yogurts? It would need to be extremely high would it not?

It is extremely high!  To take an example - "The Greek Gods" brand Greek yogurt from Walmart - the black cherry & honey flavour contains 80g added sugar per 32oz (900g) tub.  That's 20 teaspoons.

That’s around 9%. Not high enough to kill bacteria. 

MrsStepford

We are transitioning to a Mediterranean diet and Husband doesn't want to waste food. So he wants to use up the Chicken Tonight sauces - I think we have one left and a couple of Loyd Grossman sauces, some of which are pretty clean. We didn't eat them at all in days gone by, but then husband was diagnosed with COPD about a year ago now and although he likes to cook to unwind from the M25, sometimes he needs shortcuts, out of tiredness. 

I'm horrified by 20 teaspoons of sugar @pumpkin89 ! 😮 American and Canadian food IS full of sugar and so many sweeteners too. 

Costco delivered two bottles of Chosen Foods avocado oil via DPD and it arrived smashed up. I sent photos and got a refund. Re-ordered and as it's on offer effectively I paid about £2 😁

Kirkland Signature 100% Italian Extra Virgin olive oil 2 litres has just gone up from 15.49 to 20.99 which sounds outrageous, but it's certified traceable Italian and if you divide price by 4, still cheaper than many 500ml bottles in supermarkets. 

MrsStepford

Iceland now carries kombucha and organic baby food as well as PDO cheeses such as Feta, Halloumi and Parmigiano Reggiano.

I was looking for wild caught fish that hasn't been processed in China, when I spotted that Young's kipper fillets with butter, have new packaging. Closer inspection brought the welcome news that Young's has ditched the stomach irritant annatto norbixin and replaced it with paprika extract, curcumin, which is healthy.  

Kippers are herrings and yes they can be found in the Mediterranean. Husband is chuffed because he loves kippers and at 1.60 per box they are great value. 

JIL

MrsStepford said:

Husband is working from home tomorrow  so I did an Iceland order which will include chestnut and button mushrooms, watermelon chunks and melon medley from Del Monte, sweet potato chips, Halloumi, Feta, kombucha, nuts, dried herbs, Tetley decaf tea, a whole Keelings honeydew melon and a jar of Spanish style Chicken Tonight. Yes it's got modified maize starch and sugar but they are the only nasties. Carbs are 6.9g per 100g and we will get two meals ie four portions, out of the jar for 1.67. 

15th February.  
I'm really not trying to be picky but it wasnt a use up. 

Hence my comment that peanut butter can be part of a Mediterranean diet.  Even the healthy lifestyle of our Mediterranean neighbours has some leverage for "treats" 

I go back to my original post 80/20. 

MrsStepford

Husband found a jar in the larder which didn't come from that order so yes a use up and yes you are being picky. Peanuts contain lectins.

Bad news #1 from the Slow Food Movement newsletter. The European Parliament voted on 7th Feb, to allow new GMOs to be deregulated, without requirements for labelling, traceability or safety checks. More research on this will be necessary. 

New study from American and Australian universities in the British Medical Journal, confirms that ultra-processed food does harm human health. That's bad news for people who can't avoid it. It does provide scientific evidence, for those trying to eat clean and getting scoffed at, however. The study involved several million people, not just a few. 

MrsStepford

Lidl offers from today:

Deluxe whole British duck 2kg Red Tractor certified 8.99

Italiamo Coppa Piacentina DOP 90g 2.29 
Antico Frantoio Extra Virgin Olive Oil 100% Italian 500ml 5.49 have seen this in Thomas DeLauer's kitchen
Monte Veronese DOP cheese 150g 2.49
Piave Mezzano DOP cheese 150g 2.49

Loads of food...pizza, Provolone, Mozzarella, antipasto, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, salami, chocolate-covered pistachios, focaccia, calzone, melanzane parmigiana, bruschetta, gnocchi, minestrone, prosciutto crudo, Mortadella, arancini..a veritable feast. However, a lot of the oil used will be rapeseed or sunflower (both inflammatory) and some of the cheese is factory made. 

Maître Prunille eat me Pruneaux d'Agen dénoyautés 40g. Got these from Bonnebouffe, my local French food importer, in Ashford. Best tasting Agen prunes I've ever had. The 40g snack pack is just the right size. 22g carbs but we aren't going crazy strict on carbs now. It's weird that we have both lost belly fat this week.

ETA in the Lidl leaflet, there's a 1 kilo bag of Laila dried chickpeas for under £2 and a Salter slow cooker for 24.99. Also Natco paprika 2 for 1.50

MrsStepford

My cousin in Vancouver sent me a recipe for Mozzarella-stuffed zucchini and we're having those with baked sweet potatoes with Mexicana cheese, for supper tonight. 

Husband will try to get some Italian cheese at Lidl. At the moment he is eating white Cheshire cheese, from Iceland, which is on offer for £2. Not Mediterranean but it pre-dates Cheddar as the oldest English cheese. So old, in fact, that the Romans took a fancy to it. Allegedly, the reason that Chester is a walled city, is that the Romans were keen to defend Cheshire cheese makers. 

We are halfway through our first Kirkland Signature certified 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2 litre jug. It passes the back of the throat cough test, it's quite a lot more peppery than Filippo Berio. Husband is chucking olive oil and freshly grated by him Parmigiano Reggiano DOP over any veggies. The top shelf of my upright freezer is stuffed full of Parmesan wedges and has been for months. So that's one stockpile going down. 

HouseMartin567

MrsStepford said:

Lidl offers from today:

Deluxe whole British duck 2kg Red Tractor certified 8.99

Italiamo Coppa Piacentina DOP 90g 2.29 
Antico Frantoio Extra Virgin Olive Oil 100% Italian 500ml 5.49 have seen this in Thomas DeLauer's kitchen
Monte Veronese DOP cheese 150g 2.49
Piave Mezzano DOP cheese 150g 2.49

Loads of food...pizza, Provolone, Mozzarella, antipasto, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, salami, chocolate-covered pistachios, focaccia, calzone, melanzane parmigiana, bruschetta, gnocchi, minestrone, prosciutto crudo, Mortadella, arancini..a veritable feast. However, a lot of the oil used will be rapeseed or sunflower (both inflammatory) and some of the cheese is factory made. 

Maître Prunille eat me Pruneaux d'Agen dénoyautés 40g. Got these from Bonnebouffe, my local French food importer, in Ashford. Best tasting Agen prunes I've ever had. The 40g snack pack is just the right size. 22g carbs but we aren't going crazy strict on carbs now. It's weird that we have both lost belly fat this week.

ETA in the Lidl leaflet, there's a 1 kilo bag of Laila dried chickpeas for under £2 and a Salter slow cooker for 24.99. Also Natco paprika 2 for 1.50

I’ve never bought a whole duck before, only duck breasts - which I do enjoy. Can you please advise how many meals you would get off a 2kg duck, and what you like to use the ‘leftovers’ for?

Thanks

tooldle

Luckily the EU are great at keeping their website up to date. No need to go searching for it, I’ve added the links for you below. Happy Reading.
 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20240202IPR17320/new-genomic-techniques-meps-back-rules-to-support-green-transition-of-farmers
And, the underlying research is here https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2023/754549/EPRS_BRI(2023)754549_EN.pdf

The BMJ is open access. https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310 This is a review paper and concludes

Conclusions

This umbrella review reports a higher risk of adverse health outcomes associated with ultra-processed food exposure. The strongest available evidence pertained to direct associations between greater exposure to ultra-processed foods and higher risks of all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease related mortality, common mental disorder outcomes, overweight and obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Evidence for the associations of ultra-processed food exposure with asthma, gastrointestinal health, some cancers, and intermediate cardiometabolic risk factors remains limited and warrants further investigation. Coupled with existing population based strategies, we recommend urgent mechanistic research and the development and evaluation of comprehensive population based and public health strategies, including government led policy frameworks and dietary guidelines, aimed at targeting and reducing dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods for improved human health. 

 I’d like to add, I don’t see anyone ‘scoffing at those who wish to eat clean’. I do see misinformation being shared. My advice to you being, always read the relevant research papers behind the headlines. If it is not your field of specialist knowledge these papers might be hard to wade through. There are plenty of us on MSE involved in research and generally speaking researchers are keen to talk about their respective fields. This is not my field, i’m in Engineering.

tooldle

Thanks @JIL, I try to be balanced. As an ex researcher myself I shudder at some of the things I see presented as fact, via social media. Food is a complex issue and it is (in my opinion) easy to go down the rabbit hole, believing a particular approach is the right approach. 

Fish comes up a lot on this thread. Avoiding preservatives is one part of the picture. As consumers do we think of how the circumstances of capture and death impact the product. I guess most don’t and I mention it only to demonstrate a complete picture would show a complex set of circumstances. Cherry picking one particulr circumstance over the other may well be an unreliable indicator of the healthiness of any product. 

I have a consultant friend in the relevant field, who won’t allow their kids to drink any cola products.