Archive for the ‘processed food’ tag
Retraining Your Palate
Our recent ancestors didn’t have to worry about all the processed food on offer these days. It didn’t exist.
We’re told we eat too much meat. Our grandparents or great-grandparents were more likely to eat a lot more vegetables than us, and possibly not eat meat every day. It was considered a luxury. Modern farming methods have bought the cost of meat down a huge amount in real terms.
Nowadays many people tend to base a meal around the meat, and the vegetables are a very poor sideline.
The average chain restaurant will often serve up a 12, or 16 ounce steak, that is done to perfection, and the sides are a limp unappetizing microwaved previously frozen dish of carrots or green beans, pretty much devoid of taste. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Aiming for your dinner plate to consist of 2/3rds of vegetables and one third meat would really be a healthier option, and less expensive too.
Try different vegetables, and different ways to cook them. It’s easy nowadays to find recipes online to cook just about anything, and it doesn’t have to be expensive gourmet cooking either. Sometimes the simple methods are some of the best. For example, try boiling rutabaga, and then mashing it up, with a little butter and black pepper. It’s quite delicious, and you can use the water as vegetable stock for gravy, of even recycle it on your plants.
You can retrain your taste buds.
Switch from white rice to whole grain rice; from white bread to whole wheat bread. We did just that at TGFC. Whole grain rice took a little getting used to, but now, if we have white rice, it seems tasteless and bland.
That’s another plus point with unprocessed foods. They often have more natural flavor, so you don’t need to add all that extra salt or sugar in any case, so you’re not only getting the extra goodness from the unprocessed product, but also less salt and sugar, which is always a good thing.
It’s not just US
The United States has long had a reputation for being a nation full of overweight junk food eaters. Of course, that’s not true, and the US isn’t really far ahead (if at all) of nations like the UK, in the amount of take-out junk food they consume, and the amount of processed food that they buy.
However, what might surprise some are the concerns being raised in countries like India. As the average consumer in India gets more disposable income they too, are turning more and more to Western style junk.
In Madurai, in southern India yesterday, the Health Minister, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss said, “The union health and family welfare ministry would continue its war against junk food, alcohol, tobacco and drugs as they are mainly responsible for making India “the capital of diabetes, heart ailments and obesity”.
Hello Stevia
Ever heard of it? TGFC suspects that many people haven’t. It’s been used as a zero-calorie sweetener for many years in other countries, but the US FDA has taken its time on approving it, on the grounds of safety.
Perhaps, it was more a case of the food processing giants not wanting to make a switch from products such as Equal and Splenda?
Coca Cola and Pepsi are ready to include it in some of their drinks, and it’s now been given approval for use.
What is Stevia?
It comes from the Stevia plant. The leaves are naturally sweet, and the products derived from these leaves are highly concentrated.
The jury is still out on what effects existing artificial sweeteners have on the body, and of course there is, of yet, no long-term data available for Stevia.
TFGC’s take on it is still the same, use natural cane sugar, and use as little as possible. Work towards cutting sugars and/or sweeteners from your diet.
Quit drinking soda of all kinds, and drink more water instead. Watch out for restaurant items, and eat fresh and not processed food.
eyebee
