The Truth About Food

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?!

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.

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

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!

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....

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

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!

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.

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.

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....

I think there is a misunderstanding here growstuff. We probably agree more than we disagree. I wasn’t making a point about UPF but additives such as sugar in foods which are hidden and quite unnecessary. Of course a balanced diet with plenty of fresh foods with limited meat, sugar, salt and carbs is the healthiest.

I've been a member of Zoe and although I no longer subscribe I still follow it. It's not a diet as such, I lost a few kilos but I now eat less meat, more fruit and veg, low GI carbs and have a wider variety of foods. What's interesting is that I seem to be less of an apple shape although my weight hasn't changed much. I have always cooked from scratch but I avoid UPF except for the odd bought biscuit. I also don't eat much sugar on the basis that it only provides calories, there's no other nutritional benefit to it.

Farzanah

growstuff Sugar may not be an ultra processed food but is added unnecessarily to many that are and other food stuffs too. Read the label on some soups!

You don't need to tell your grandmother to suck eggs. The point I'm trying to make is that being ultra-processed is not in itself a reason to avoid foods, nor is not being ultra-processed a reason to eat foods without restriction. The label itself is misleading.

If the idea were to avoid ultra-processed food, there would be nothing wrong with eating spoonfuls of plain sugar. Obviously, that would be ridiculous. Sugar (and too many carbs - even starchy ones) are bad for people in excess, however non-processed they are.

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

growstuff Sugar may not be an ultra processed food but is added unnecessarily to many that are and other food stuffs too. Read the label on some soups!

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.

HousePlantQueen

Whiff

I didn't watch it as become jaded over the years . This foods good for you then it's not . Drink this it's good for them it's not .
These programmes are only made to make the company making them and presenters money.

Just use your common sense and have a balanced diet. No wonder children and young adults have eating disorders .

Although I agree that foods go in and out of fashion, this is worth a watch. I read his book about UPF (ultra processed food) and it was an eye opener, even though I thought I was quite clued up.

The programme I watched wasn't about UPF, although I expect the next one might be.

Farzanah

I don’t think this is the same as a food fashion. I haven’t seen the programme yet but have recorded it. I have been doing a lot of reading about the food industry, because I’m preparing a presentation for my U3A group. There is clearly much wrong with the modern diet in this country (as with many other developed countries) 64% of adults are either obese or overweight in the U.K.

For example there is an addiction to sugar particularly, which is added to many food stuffs, including savoury. Label reading can hold many surprises. I believe our modern diet is making us sick, and weight reducing drugs are not the answer, but less reliance on processed food is.

But sugar itself isn't considered an ultra-processed food, which is one reason I think that concentrating on the ultra-processed content of food to the exclusion of all else is misleading (as is calorie counting or absolute demonisation of any food group).

I don’t think this is the same as a food fashion. I haven’t seen the programme yet but have recorded it. I have been doing a lot of reading about the food industry, because I’m preparing a presentation for my U3A group. There is clearly much wrong with the modern diet in this country (as with many other developed countries) 64% of adults are either obese or overweight in the U.K.

For example there is an addiction to sugar particularly, which is added to many food stuffs, including savoury. Label reading can hold many surprises. I believe our modern diet is making us sick, and weight reducing drugs are not the answer, but less reliance on processed food is.