The Truth About Food

Yep....I buy absolutely everything possible organic - but still wondering a bit about when I ran boiling hot water over an organic apple that looked a bit "shiny" to me recently and I did look a bit like a coating of wax was coming off it (even though it was labelled as "organic" and even though it was British). That had me wondering about whether Apeel has been sneaked into food even that one is paying over the odds to know it is healthy/only the food it says it is.

Farzanah

I agree with what you say about increasing knowledge about the gut microbiome and its importance JaneA. Has anyone done the Zoe diet?

I am toying with the idea of the Zoe programme as I have read a couple of his books, and had the recipe book as a Xmas gift. I am fascinated by the subject of our gut biome and how it affects our health, both physical and mental. Our gut is our primitive brain, we all use the phrase 'gut instinct' don't we.
I know not everyone has the same interest as me, but it is, in my opinion, a mistake to just dismiss this as another food fashion.

The Royal Institution lectures are always fascinating and educational. I've tried to watch every one that comes along, even the ones that go way above my head! I can always learn something, even if it's how NOT to jump to conclusions about the subject matter!

CariadAgain

Sounds like they've been re-running old ground (ie well-covered before) to me.

What I think would be useful would be a programme on how to spot "food fakes" - ie most honey sold in Britain, much olive oil, etc. I feel like I've had to learn bit by bit what the signs are as to what constitutes "food as described on the label v. a fake" and it's a bit painstaking.

BTW - does anyone know if that thing about a lot of Chinese white rice isn't actually rice - ie it's a fake made of plastic - is true? I've done enough checking round the Net that I've just thrown out the last of a packet of noodles from China just-in-case....and I'm certainly suspicious that it may well be true....

Did you watch it?
If not, how can you possibly comment?
Well I know you can, but I mean, meaningfully

I think there's a problem now, led by a push back from food manufacturers, that the label UPF is providing something to argue over rather than be seen as flagging up a problem with the large scale production of food which is not giving us what we think it is.
The key point is to look at the ingredients list and if it's very long with a list of ingredients you've never heard of it may well be made up of substitute ingredients that are cheap first and nutritious (maybe) second.
From the days of cornflakes, manufactures have tried to think of ways of producing food cheaply as the prime objective. UHP People doesn't need many pages to start laying out that ice cream is a kind of foam, that starch is used in many industrial processes as well as food and that German scientists tried out UHP first on food which they knew was toxic and which they gave to German troops knowing full well that anyone who ate it for long would die but well, they were going to die anyway...

I've been interested in quality food and food production for a long, long time probably since the 1980s when I wrote to my then-astonished MP about carrot pesticides and why they were not good for human consumption.

The problem is world wide and supposed 'choice' has brought as many problems as it has solved and has contributed to corruption, absurd shortages and inequality. I'm suspicious of Chinese products too and I fear for the lives of plantation workers in chocolate and coffee plantations worldwide.
www.resurgence.org/magazine/article3035-the-true-cost-of-cheap-food.html
Probably climate change is eventually going to sort it out with our demise, I hope we leave some kind of habitable world for other species.

CariadAgain

Sounds like they've been re-running old ground (ie well-covered before) to me.

What I think would be useful would be a programme on how to spot "food fakes" - ie most honey sold in Britain, much olive oil, etc. I feel like I've had to learn bit by bit what the signs are as to what constitutes "food as described on the label v. a fake" and it's a bit painstaking.

BTW - does anyone know if that thing about a lot of Chinese white rice isn't actually rice - ie it's a fake made of plastic - is true? I've done enough checking round the Net that I've just thrown out the last of a packet of noodles from China just-in-case....and I'm certainly suspicious that it may well be true....

The hoax about Chinese rice being made of plastic is about as true as the stories about GM being used to grow strawberries crossed with fish to produce fruit which would withstand cold. Cariad it's absolute nonsense!

CariadAgain

Sounds like they've been re-running old ground (ie well-covered before) to me.

What I think would be useful would be a programme on how to spot "food fakes" - ie most honey sold in Britain, much olive oil, etc. I feel like I've had to learn bit by bit what the signs are as to what constitutes "food as described on the label v. a fake" and it's a bit painstaking.

BTW - does anyone know if that thing about a lot of Chinese white rice isn't actually rice - ie it's a fake made of plastic - is true? I've done enough checking round the Net that I've just thrown out the last of a packet of noodles from China just-in-case....and I'm certainly suspicious that it may well be true....

Cariadagain Do you read anything in posts above yours? The Royal Institution Lectures, are a series of lectures run by the Royal Institution since 1825, yes, that is correct 1825. They aim is to introduce a scientific subject to a general audience, in particular children, over a series of 5 lectures.

However useful a,programme about fake foods might be, it is totally irrelevant to the Royal Institution and the purpose of its lectures. Here is a link you may find helpful en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Institution_Christmas_Lectures

Notagranyet24

I think there's a problem now, led by a push back from food manufacturers, that the label UPF is providing something to argue over rather than be seen as flagging up a problem with the large scale production of food which is not giving us what we think it is.
The key point is to look at the ingredients list and if it's very long with a list of ingredients you've never heard of it may well be made up of substitute ingredients that are cheap first and nutritious (maybe) second.
From the days of cornflakes, manufactures have tried to think of ways of producing food cheaply as the prime objective. UHP People doesn't need many pages to start laying out that ice cream is a kind of foam, that starch is used in many industrial processes as well as food and that German scientists tried out UHP first on food which they knew was toxic and which they gave to German troops knowing full well that anyone who ate it for long would die but well, they were going to die anyway...

I've been interested in quality food and food production for a long, long time probably since the 1980s when I wrote to my then-astonished MP about carrot pesticides and why they were not good for human consumption.

The problem is world wide and supposed 'choice' has brought as many problems as it has solved and has contributed to corruption, absurd shortages and inequality. I'm suspicious of Chinese products too and I fear for the lives of plantation workers in chocolate and coffee plantations worldwide.
www.resurgence.org/magazine/article3035-the-true-cost-of-cheap-food.html
Probably climate change is eventually going to sort it out with our demise, I hope we leave some kind of habitable world for other species.

When my partners brother was being treated for cancer his consultant told him that if there was one food he needed to buy organic it was carrots because of the pesticide that was used on it. So we’ve bought organic carrots ever since.

MayBee70

Notagranyet24

I think there's a problem now, led by a push back from food manufacturers, that the label UPF is providing something to argue over rather than be seen as flagging up a problem with the large scale production of food which is not giving us what we think it is.
The key point is to look at the ingredients list and if it's very long with a list of ingredients you've never heard of it may well be made up of substitute ingredients that are cheap first and nutritious (maybe) second.
From the days of cornflakes, manufactures have tried to think of ways of producing food cheaply as the prime objective. UHP People doesn't need many pages to start laying out that ice cream is a kind of foam, that starch is used in many industrial processes as well as food and that German scientists tried out UHP first on food which they knew was toxic and which they gave to German troops knowing full well that anyone who ate it for long would die but well, they were going to die anyway...

I've been interested in quality food and food production for a long, long time probably since the 1980s when I wrote to my then-astonished MP about carrot pesticides and why they were not good for human consumption.

The problem is world wide and supposed 'choice' has brought as many problems as it has solved and has contributed to corruption, absurd shortages and inequality. I'm suspicious of Chinese products too and I fear for the lives of plantation workers in chocolate and coffee plantations worldwide.
www.resurgence.org/magazine/article3035-the-true-cost-of-cheap-food.html
Probably climate change is eventually going to sort it out with our demise, I hope we leave some kind of habitable world for other species.

When my partners brother was being treated for cancer his consultant told him that if there was one food he needed to buy organic it was carrots because of the pesticide that was used on it. So we’ve bought organic carrots ever since.

Do you really think the only food grown with pesticides is carrots?!

I believe that fruits are in the top 10 with residual pesticides. Top of the list is strawberries, but second is spinach! There are also nectarines, apples, pears, and tomatoes as far as I can remember. I know washing doesn’t remove all pesticides but it helps a little. I know some people don’t even wash strawberries!
Root vegetables are not top of the list. Shockingly some produce have as many as 7+ residual pesticides.

www.pan-uk.org/dirty-dozen/

This is a good source of information. I don’t think anyone would be so limited as to think there is only one pesticide to worry about. My little anecdote was about the 1980s!!!

Good to know about this Brexit benefit!
www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/uk-fails-ban-pesticides-outlawed-use-in-eu

Farzanah

I believe that fruits are in the top 10 with residual pesticides. Top of the list is strawberries, but second is spinach! There are also nectarines, apples, pears, and tomatoes as far as I can remember. I know washing doesn’t remove all pesticides but it helps a little. I know some people don’t even wash strawberries!
Root vegetables are not top of the list. Shockingly some produce have as many as 7+ residual pesticides.

Thanks Farzanah it's shocking isn't it, I always buy organic if I can.

The 3 lectures were excellent. They are on iPlayer. I shall watch the 3rd one again. Amongst other useful information they demonstrated the 3 ingredients for strawberry ice-cream - strawberries, cream and milk. they then made Strawberry ice cream as if for the shops. There were all sorts of things in it but none of the real ingredients. They also demonstrated how an orange fizzy drink hides the amount of sugar in it and has no orange. a learning curve.

Thanks for the reminder to watch these Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. If they capture the attention of the younger generations as they consider their futures and careers that’s brilliant.
As for those of us who have long been and are still learning - the evidence that things in nutrition have changed is in the wave of obesity that has rolled across the world in my lifetime. I read Yudkin’s ‘Pure White and Deadly’ back in the day on the misuse of sugar and now the dominance of a few major food corporations producing cheaper-but-worse edible products is in direct conflict with people- and climate-supporting health. The growing interest in all round healthy food is a great development.

Notagrannyyet24. I’ve just signed up to pan uk which is very informative. The main concern appears to be imports, especially now we’re out of EU, particularly India.

Cariadagain
Thanks for the laugh Re the plastic rice 😂 hilarious.
I didn’t think anyone over a certain age 😉 believed that joke.

Farzanah

*Notagrannyyet24*. I’ve just signed up to pan uk which is very informative. The main concern appears to be imports, especially now we’re out of EU, particularly India.

Are you aware that EU fertiliser companies are exporting this poison to countries that don’t have restrictions on pesticides because they can’t sell it in the EU
These countries then export the fruit and veg to us.

No I wasn’t. Is there info available re this please?

Hell no. What's good for you or not food wise seems to change every other day. Eating plenty of fibre sounds like common sense. How the body procesesses food I learnt when I was at school and then again at college. What the body requires to survive I also learnt at college.

petra

Cariadagain
Thanks for the laugh Re the plastic rice 😂 hilarious.
I didn’t think anyone over a certain age 😉 believed that joke.

Here is the BBC News report on this myth www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-40484135

These are Royal Society Christmas Lectures - not some weird, crazy scientist trying to sell a new dieting fad!
I’ll be watching Part 3 shortly.
P.S. I would be wary of anything from China.

janeainsworth

Monica Nutrition isn’t a new science. The Manual of Nutrition, published by HMSO, was first published in 1940.
Then, the main concern was preventing vitamin deficiency & ensuring adequate intake of protein & calories for a largely manual workforce & the healthy development of children.
I think what is relatively new is the increasing knowledge about the importance of the composition of the gut microbiome and its impact on many aspects of health, and recognition of the role of the food industry & advertising in adversely affecting modern diets.

The Science of Nutrition Simplified by Dr David Davey Rosewarne was published in 1929 and there may be books published even earlier.

Farzanah

No I wasn’t. Is there info available re this please?

Here is one article. I picked it up as I’m a member of Green Peace. There is a very good article from them online.
It’s not only us that are in danger but they are killing bees at an alarming rate.

argymargy

MayBee70

Notagranyet24

I think there's a problem now, led by a push back from food manufacturers, that the label UPF is providing something to argue over rather than be seen as flagging up a problem with the large scale production of food which is not giving us what we think it is.
The key point is to look at the ingredients list and if it's very long with a list of ingredients you've never heard of it may well be made up of substitute ingredients that are cheap first and nutritious (maybe) second.
From the days of cornflakes, manufactures have tried to think of ways of producing food cheaply as the prime objective. UHP People doesn't need many pages to start laying out that ice cream is a kind of foam, that starch is used in many industrial processes as well as food and that German scientists tried out UHP first on food which they knew was toxic and which they gave to German troops knowing full well that anyone who ate it for long would die but well, they were going to die anyway...

I've been interested in quality food and food production for a long, long time probably since the 1980s when I wrote to my then-astonished MP about carrot pesticides and why they were not good for human consumption.

The problem is world wide and supposed 'choice' has brought as many problems as it has solved and has contributed to corruption, absurd shortages and inequality. I'm suspicious of Chinese products too and I fear for the lives of plantation workers in chocolate and coffee plantations worldwide.
www.resurgence.org/magazine/article3035-the-true-cost-of-cheap-food.html
Probably climate change is eventually going to sort it out with our demise, I hope we leave some kind of habitable world for other species.

When my partners brother was being treated for cancer his consultant told him that if there was one food he needed to buy organic it was carrots because of the pesticide that was used on it. So we’ve bought organic carrots ever since.

Do you really think the only food grown with pesticides is carrots?!

No, not at all. I don’t think I said that
?
But the pesticides used on carrots and the way they react with it appear to be particularly bad. And, as we can’t afford to buy everything organic we just made a point of buying one thing that an oncologist had made a point of singling out from the many fruits and vegetable available. And organic carrots don’t seem to be a great deal more expensive than non organic so it’s something we can stick to.

I think some GNs have misinterpreted the original post. Please watch the programme first!