Wednesday, 24 February 2016

We all love food, but it can kill us!


4 February



How much food do you eat? How often do you eat, and what do you eat? These are not idle questions as the new show on BBC1 is showing. Some time ago I bought and began reading a book, Reverse Your Diabetes, which I didn’t finish, I shall start it from the beginning later today. But that new show is opening my eyes quite a bit on food all round. Take breakfast for example; for years I never used to have it at all. Then Jan came into my life and to encourage her to eat more, I started having breakfast with her. After a short time, I had become so used to it that when I missed it, then I really felt not having it. This was shown to be normal in the show yesterday where a family did the same as a test, whereas I had done it to encourage Jan.



The idea behind the show is to investigate the truth, or myths of a number of claims about food. One such myth is the annual media scare about barbeques which are supposed to cause cancer because of the usual burning of the meat products. Well, yes, burnt meats can cause cancer if eaten in large amounts, but the amount of burnt meats needed to do so, is so large it is most unlikely that will happen in our normal summer weather. The programme said that in the main, we don’t need to dump our barbi. In our case, it doesn’t matter seeing as we rarely have a barbi these days, simple because of the amount of food we eat, it isn’t worth lighting one up.



Portion size is something else that the show majors on. We are all guilty on this, whether our portions are too big or too small. The recommended daily calorie count for an average man is 2500 per day. The key word is ‘average’ is the key. Every one of us of course are individuals with our own needs and that 2500 calorie figure can’t be relied. There are so many variables to allow that figure to be taken as the standard for everyone. I’m not very active at all so 2500 calories would be far too much for me, yet the guys who have just emptied out bin would probably need a lot more, so does our postie.



When Kile is here with us, he is given the same portion size as me; but is that too much for him or not enough for me I wonder. He will be here after school tomorrow and I’m planning to have half pizza with him, and some square garlic bread I found in Asda a few weeks ago. The half pizza between us has come about because Kile was leaving some of his half when we had a full one between us. Add in the garlic b read and it’s really too much for him.



Friday I’m thinking of a beef curry for us two, but what Jan is going to have I don’t know. Her appetite has never been big, in fact it’s very low. She is also very fussy about she eats. Jan likes plain food, pizza and curry are a big no-no for her. A plate of home-made chips is fine, chip shop chips are a no-go. Sausage is fine, as is minced beef or a roast dinner and don’t forget MacDonald’s! Mild cheese only for Jan and oh yes, sweet and sugary things are a hit – but not a lot of any of it. That does tend to limit my choices a lot of the time, mainly because I do most of the cooking.       



In the first show they showed a bunch of chard. I’ve seen it in various supermarkets so if I see some today, I’ll give it a go. The other item that I seem to see every time I put the telly is avocados, something else that is on our shopping list for today, but just one though, just in case we don’t like it. There are a lot of different food that we haven’t tried, or fancied to be honest, so I shall slowly try a few new items to see how Jan gets on with it.



All this is fine at home of course, but all of us can be tempted once we go out. I love Cornish pasties and I find it hard worth to walk past those pasty shops on most high streets these days. When did you last buy fish and chips out in town? Jan went out and bought some the last time Kile was with us the first time in about a year. My plain cod and chips was so large that I could only get through half of it. It was far too much for anyone and cost far too much. It’s

the same in pubs isn’t it? Whetherspoons offer a doubling in portion size for around £1, does anyone really need twice as much? And so it goes on … … …



Today’s photo …

A plain simple salad I had last year some time.

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