Being overweight increases incidence of cancer

I believe Abbatoir inspectors will check for antibiotics and it would be very unusual for any farmer to try that, the penalties are high.

I think you're correct absent that growth hormones have been phased out since 2012. Well spotted, but there are restricted antibiotics, etc which farmers are supposed to allow time to leave the animal's system before the go for slaughter.

Some farmers are more conscientious than others about thud.

Yeah. Those work. I'd eat 'em.

I thought growth hormones were banned in the UK. Isn't that the reason why meat cannot be imported from the USA, much to the chagrin of American agribusiness?

crun whatever floats your boat! I have a fondness for Excel too, but I usually use it for balancing books etc

Food wise if it's got more than one added ingredient, then to me it's processed. Pork is just pork, but ham is treated with salt for example. But unless it's organic the pork may have impurities too such as growth hormones.

But not all processed food is equal. Formented foods such as aged cheeses, some yoghurt, sauerkraut are positively good for you IMO.

But it can all get too complicated, so each to their own.

I took it that she does eat the foods that she linked to above?

www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=266075169&sc_cmp=tp4_aff_1503186

www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=266075307&sc_cmp=tp4_aff_1503186

Do those links work for you, jingl?

Why don't they work for me?

crun I misunderstood you there. I thought that was a list of foods you do eat. Sorry.

The links are working for me thanks.
I take what you mean by an unhealthy diet rather than a unhealthy meal.

I too am aware how much fat[is it healthy fat?] that there is in nuts.
I am not bothered much about salt. I have low blood pressure, and about the only useful advice seems to be to have salt. We use a breadmaker[well husband does] so assume there is not that much salt in the bread.
I suspect my sugar intake is too high though.

Absentgrandma no doubt the doctor would have told him . You can guarantee that it would have been a French wine anyway.
My OH had gout a few times; the trigger was oily fish!

that was to crun

The fish pie would be a blooming sight healthier than pasty or pizza. Those links don't work btw.

All my food today was made from scratch, but I would have been much better off with Ninathenana's daily menu, which seemed pretty health-conscious to me. For lunch I was force-fed samosas, lamb and potato curry, chicken curry and chapatis by my friend, as a thank you for teaching her how to use the internet. Plus home-made pistachio and almond biscuits with every cuppa (so 4). For tea I have finished off the Eton mess my DD1 made and brought over for our Mother's Day lunch - I'm supposed to have given up sweet stuff for Lent, but can't abide waste . I still have a quiz night supper to try to resist at 10pm. I'm kept in check by the 5:2 regime and after a day like today actually look forward to my fast days!

Soon it’s difficult to answer that because it would depend on your idea of what counts as processed, what counts as healthy, and how much of them you’re proposing to eat. As Ben Goldacre said “there’s no such thing as an unhealthy meal, only an unhealthy diet”. I don’t eat chocolates, cakes, or the sort of ready meals that you put in the microwave because they cost megabucks and contain very few calories. (The price of this per calorie is about 5.6 times higher than the average I’m paying for an evening meal.)

Here are a few examples:

Mexican Burger
Vegetable Burger
Cauli Cheese Grills
Sausages
Pasty
Quiche
Pizza

but I also cook things like chlli con carne, spag bol, curry, roast veg, roast chicken, stew etc.

People often mention salt but my salt intake is a third lower than the average Brit, and 35% of that comes from bread not ‘junk’ food, even though I eat the lowest salt bread on the market. About 30% of the fat in my diet comes from nuts. See what I mean about jumping to conclusions?

Mamie... a previous French doctor, treating OH for gout suggested he should drink better quality wine. Cheap wine, he said, was not good for gout. Afterwards OH said he was tempted to ask which which he recommended..... Chateau Margaux, Mouton Cadet, or a well- oaked Rioja.

Apologies for going off -thread

OK jane. I'm probably trying to make myself feel better about the fact that I found two of these in the fridge left over from the weekend, and we have just had one each. And soooo delicious they were too!

I found this article interesting.
healthinsightuk.org/2015/03/16/cuddly-dietitians-in-cosy-embrace-of-industry-fat-cats/

Oh right. I did wonder who the "sweeteners" people were. However! I still agree with the final conclusion, i.e. that it is overall calorie intake that determines weight gain/loss, regardless of whether those calories come from fat, sugar, complex carbs, or whatever. So long as you are getting all the necessary nutrients, of course.

Sugar is bad for the teeth, I'll give you that much. But I think a little here and there makes us feel good.

From the review that you quote jingl
"Although Dr. Lustig makes a case in the introduction of the book that he is free of any biases or conflicts of interest, this is not entirely true. This book itself represents a potential conflict of interest. If Dr. Lustig is accepting any form of payment for sales of this book, it is in itself a conflict of interest and could introduce a potential for author bias that is either purposeful or unintentional. Even if all proceeds are being donated to charity, a bias could be induced since the charity of his choice would stand to gain from the book’s sales. Furthermore, the potential notoriety that could be gained from publishing the book could result in subsequent financial gain for the author through speaking engagements, future book deals, etc."

So anyone who writes a book is biased simply because they receive income from the sales of the book?


I see the review you quote jingl comes from the website sweetenerstudies .com which appears to be the website of the Corn Refiners Association.
From the website:

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) is the national trade association representing the corn refining (wet milling) industry of the United States. CRA and its predecessors have served this segment of American agribusiness since 1913. Corn refiners manufacture sweeteners, ethanol, starch, bioproducts, corn oil and feed products from corn components such as starch, oil, protein and fiber. You can find out more about the CRA on its website, Corn.org.

Well who would have thought it!
The very people who make High-fructose corn syrup, which Robert Lustig exposed as a predominant cause of obesity.

No bias there then!

Sigh.
I struggle with my weight and have done for years. Partly due to depression and anxiety, partly the medication I'm taking for it, partly comfort-eating. We cook from scratch almost all the time, and have as balanced and healthy a diet as we can, with plenty of vegetables - unless we're eating out, when I am tempted by National Trust cake or scones but I do have a tendency to eat several biscuits or chocolates rather than just one, or snarf a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk at one sitting. The twin demons of fat and sugar!

I am struggling with the 5/2 diet but at least it's preventing me from getting out of control again and I have very gradually lost around 5 kg (not much, I know, given my dreadful BMI, but it's better than nothing).I have a few more stones to lose, to my deep shame (and sorry, I still get confused still with metric and imperial weight!)
I'm really trying to keep more active and if we aren't out somewhere, I do lots of gardening. I am worried about my weight and my health, but I'm not sure how I can make more lasting changes that stick - I do find it very difficult to stick to exercise routines.
My BP is OK but my cholesterol isn't - 7.5 around 18 months ago and I'm due to have it tested again to see if it's improved. Very high, I know
I intend to continue with the diet for as long as it takes even if I 'cheat' sometimes. Homemade veggie and lentil soup for us tonight, followed by grapefruit

this makes interesting reading About Robert Lustig's demonisation of sugar. But it's very long, so perhaps just read the conclusion.

absent, there's no justice is there!
My GP's either asking me what I want her to do or trying to make me take statins 'just in case'
I have low BP (100/50), low cholesterol and am not over weight BMI 22.

crun, I often think that I could learn a lot from you!

Can you give examples of the healthy processed food?
My diet probably isnt too bad, but I dont like cooking much, and prefer culinary short cuts.

Our French doctor never asks about alcohol either. Our retired doctor used to discuss the best wine bargains in the local supermarket though.
Our doctor is about how successful our low carb diet is though, but has recognised how well it has worked for both of us.

My doctor(French) is obsessed with me not eating "Lardons, fromage and charcuterie" which the French themselves stuff down like there's no tomorrow. I'm a good stone overweight but that's not why she nags me It's when my BP is slightly high. It's high because I sit in her flippin' waiting room for at least half an hour even with an appointment (an empty waiting room I might add) getting up tight because I know I'm going to get the third degree about my salt intake And you know what? She never, ever asks me how much I drink.... which I find is a stock question with UK GPs. Mind you, thank God she doesn't or I'd be in for an even bigger b....cking!

"Wow crun that sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon"

It was, but it took a bit more than an afternoon. I enjoy playing with Excel any way, and it's really interesting to see what's what. Maintaining it takes about 1% of the total time spent shopping, cooking, eating and washing up, which must be negligible compared to the time some people spend fretting over one fad diet after another. It's also negligible compared to the time I would have spent learning new recipes to cook from scratch if I had just jumped to conclusions instead of establishing the facts first. The moral of the tale is find out exactly what the problem is before you start trying to fix it.