Refined Carb Killers on the Rampage

In response to:Meet Your Meat.

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 22:36:15 +0200

Horrors ! I haven't eaten meat for more than thirty years but this does not make seeing these animals suffer any easier.

*shudders*

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:49:33 +0100

Glad to see see I am leading from the front again :))

Sounds like you need a rest and some fun in your life :)

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:47:16 +0100

Hi A, y'r one step ahead of me, I've only just figured whats going on & why folk cant see the mainpage, so have copied & pasted the link to it.

Am up to no good, 'fraid A. It's the dark energy season. Many people dying and cracking up. Too much wine & work shifting the DVDs, not enough kinky sex or money.
Some things never change :)
Hope you and Spanish instructor are mutually beneficial ;)

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:35:47 +0100

Rude turner! LOL!

Just cut and paste the link to this page into the other post and then people can click through and find their way here :)

I was only quick off the mark as I had been on Blog posting a Rant! Then I scrolled through the 40 odd "friends" posts to see what has been going on.

Hope to maintain the 10st mark throughout the festive season - have 3 "festvie meals" to attend next week alone. The week before Christmas though I am off so I will get to the gym for 90 minutes daily so I don't think there will a problem. :)

How are you and what have you been up to?

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:30:09 +0100

Hi A. Thanks 4 that. I think I did write "scroll down the main page to the cheese update". Or are you suggesting something else? Am not 100% au fait with Windows etc.

Now! With the cheese abstinence, yr 10st target should be no sweat :) Was going to post you the news\ I had just updated the FPI blog cheese-wise, but you are pretty quick on the trigger these days.

Re Turner Prize, if I had half my brain removed I might stand half a chance. Plus also become an arse pan to Serota of course, if you excuse my rude turner of phrase ;)

In response to:FOOD POISONING INDUSTRY - Cheese Update.

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:13:49 +0100

Oops! Ignore my previous post. I had not realised that you were referring to a separate posting. I took the link straight to this page from blog.co.uk

Now that I have gone direct to your blog I can see the article you refer to.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:01:02 +0100

Interesting stuff on the cheese Mike. There are plenty of Bloggers on diets who could do to read this but you need to put a link to it in your original posting earlier today so they can get here :)

In response to:FOOD POISONING INDUSTRY - Cheese Update.

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:54:10 +0100

I do not know if this has posted correctly. I could not find the main article.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 18:56:38 +0100

I can see where you're heading and I enjoyed your article. The problem is this: We have to find a common denominator. Tell the Italians they can't eat cheese. Tell the Danish they can't eat Pork. Tell the British they can't have sausage and mash. What's your point? Must we go low fat in every way? Must we be vegetarians? Can we convince the World--or little Britain?

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 11:47:23 +0200

Hi interesting post -for me we are all connected to the earth and the earths cycles -we should therefore eat food in season -the natural balance of things is imperative -this is why we are experiencing problems with nature and resources -if a vegetable doesn't grow naturally in summer or winter then it has to be grown under unatural conditions not good for us not good for the planet. Boycott supermarkets and shop at your local farmers market or get an allotment like we've just done -we are going to grow our own.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 14:08:29 +0200

Thanks for the reply Michael. The respect is mutual.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:23:37 +0200

Babak;

Many thanks for that. I can't really comment authoritatively on your "foods in season" query. I'm not a dietician, nor have I studied the subject 100% thoroughly, I'm simply presenting one side of the diet argument that, by experience, I know something about.

From what you say it would seem to make sense to eat more carbohydrate-rich foods in the winter because the body would need more energy to keep warm. And from the standpoint of our evolution through animals, as they obviously only eat seasonal foods, it would seem more sensible (in tune) if we, at least partially attempted to follow suit.

Most westerners by the time they reach 40 have abused their pancreas (slowed their insulin production) with an over-consumption of sweets and refined flour products such as cakes, buscuits, pasta, pizza, cereals and rice. Therefore their metabolisms are slowed up, meaning their bodies are more likely to have to store these carbs as fat. Especially since most have also got out of the habit of excercise which tends to speed the metabolism up somewhat. Hence the rapid increase in obesity in both young and not so young in the west.

Professional atheletes, during training at least, can deal with almost any level of carb intake in their diets because they will burn off the calories very fast in training. Also they will need a higher intake of carbs just prior to ther training, for the fast energy burn (race) they are about to attempt.

Nice to see you on blog.co.uk, Babak. Please keep posting your views about Lebanon etc. It is important that people hear the non-Zionist stance in all this.
Many thanks and respect to you.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 17:28:37 +0200

This is very interesting, as I am bereft of knowledge in this subject matter, can I ask if you think there is any scientific benefit to eating only foods that are in season? In the Middle East, it is considered - largely out of reverence to ancient traditions - that it is unhealthty to eat food out of the natural cycle.

This I would assume lead to greater carb intake during the colder months and less during the hotter months. Yet atheletes, who try to maintain fitness levels all through the year, would give no regard to eating foods in or out of season. I am wondering where the science would lie?

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Sat, 20 May 2006 14:01:05 +0200

I agree with most of that V, except that yes, ketone bodies are toxic, that's why they are ejected from the body through fat-rich urine. When these natural fat-burning hormones are shut down by large ingestion of refined carb foods, the fat has nowhere to go but store - and that includes as cholestrol in the arteries.

You seem to have got the wrong end of the stick, I'm not advocating abstinence from carbs, just pointing out that the highly addictive refined flour group of foods are an unrepresented culprit in the development of obesity. ( The pizzas, the pasta & rice, the cakes, the buscuits/crisp snacks.)

And I'm suggesting there is a political agenda at work to keep this info from the public. Of course that is understandable given the input into the economy these addictive rubbish foods make.

Just that our bodies don't seem to have yet evolved to cope with these artificially carb-high foods in any volume. Before 1800, everyone on the planet followed a low carb high fat and protien rich diet. There was very little coronary heart disease then, even with all that fat in the diet, you may note. Plus all our evolutionary ancestors, reaching all the way down the evolutionary chain, eat likewise.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Sat, 20 May 2006 00:05:32 +0200

And there I was thinking you were just bashing the refined carbohydrates on this blog but in fact you don't seem to be in favour of any type of carbohydrate rich food.

"The body is very well adapted to burn the calories in fat for energy because it produces a natural fat-burning hormone, as do all animals of course."

Say for instance, you are implying that we follow a low-carb diet as part of a healthy lifestyle. In view of the above statement you have made, that we look to a fat rich (protein rich also?) diet as an alternative for energy... it may be worth noting,

- Firstly, low carb diets lower glucose and insulin (our body's main energy source)
- Alternative pathways are turned 'on' to provide energy (as you suggest)
- The alternative pathway, that breaks down fat, produces ketone bodies
- Ketone bodies represent a state called ketosis

The bad thing is, ketone bodies are toxic. It is not a natural by-product of fat metabolism. For efficient fat metabolism, a sufficient amount of carbohydrates are needed. When your body is in ketosis, it has effectively gone into starvation mode. Prolonged ketosis can be dangerous as it can change the acidity of your blood beyond the level that your body can tolerate. This can eventually lead to serious damage to your liver and kidneys.

Another metabolic pathway your body will turn to if you undertake a low carb diet is to deplete the healthy stores of glycogen in our muscles. The weight loss will be from muscle loss and dehydration caused by this. Muscle loss will be rapid and cannot be rectified by eating more protein because the insulin levels will be low and the synthesis of the protein will cease. Loss of muscle slows the metabolism dramatically meaning fewer calories burnt.

The fact of the matter is, these pathways are last resorts for our bodies in times of starvation (I guess so we can survive long enough to find food, like animals). A diet low in carbohydrates would NEVER be recommended by a health professional as an alternative to a healthy balanced diet because of the serious health risks posed.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Fri, 19 May 2006 07:44:11 +0200

Hi Velvet, many thanks for the comments, you have obviously studied food science to a degree.

In answer to your points. .
1) " Due to its core ingredient, wheat, then of course white flour is a ingredient naturally rich in carbohydrates... and actually the majority of this is complex (slow burning), not sugar as you make out. White flour is 49.3% carbohydrate and only a meager 2.6% of that is sugar."

. . . .The high carbohydrate percentage in any food ingested will initiate a speedy metabolic reaction in the body. Foods over 20% carbohydrate-rich are both rare to find and rarely eaten by animals in the wild ( our evolution ). These man-manufactured foods are alien to our make-up. Nowhere did I say flour products contain sugar.

2) I agree about the extraction difference between white & brown breads. You can subtract the fibre % in any food against the carb % to give net carbs. That's one reason why high fibre foods are healthier.

3)"Since you are implying white flour is nutritionally similar to sugar.. . ." I never mentioned nutrition anywhere, I am highlighting the destructive effects of high carbohydrate foods on the body.

4) The wholegrain foods are of course healthier in vitimin and fibre terms, but they are also high in carbohydrates. Fortunately they are more filling and do not create such severe cravings as the highly refined varieties of them.
Nevertheless, volume consumption even of wholegrains will also lead to overweight unless combined with very high levels of exercise because the carbohydrate calories convert to blood sugars very quickly.

5) Re. Cheese. High fat diets are the evolutionary norm. The body is very well adapted to burn the calories in fat for energy because it produces a natural fat-burning hormone, as do all animals of course. High carb' foods are proven to switch off this hormone production in the body and so all un-used calories are stored as fat on the body and in the arteries as cholestrol.

6) See comment 2 on beef.

Hope this goes some way - enjoy your snack.
It's about portion control too Velvet, " a little bit of what you fancy etc . . ."

Cheers

Mike

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Fri, 19 May 2006 01:11:54 +0200

"And it contains nearly as high a % carbohydrate level as sugar itself. In other words it's very fast-burning and will store as fat and arterial cholestrol unless you're digging up roads all day or something."

Due to its core ingredient, wheat, then of course white flour is a ingredient naturally rich in carbohydrates... and actually the majority of this is complex (slow burning), not sugar as you make out. White flour is 49.3% carbohydrate and only a meager 2.6% of that is sugar.

The main difference between flours, white, brown and wholemeal is the extraction % rate of the grain. For a flour to be labelled 'white', it will include 75% extraction, brown will include 85% and wholemeal 100%. The real difference is the fibre content where wholemeal will obviously provide more, gram for gram.

Since you are implying white flour is nutritionally similar to sugar... white flour is 49.3% carbs, 8.4% protein, 1.9% fat, 2.3% dietary fibre and contains 1,100mg/kg calcium, 16mg/kg iron, 2.1mg/kg thiamin. Of no nutritional value? I think not. Actually 100g of white bread contains more iron than 100g of brocoli... and the same amount of fibre per 100g as leeks and spinach.

You recommend we base our diet around,

"Salads, Fresh Veg ( small portions potatoes!) Fish, Eggs, Fruit ( smallish portions), cheese ( almost zero carbs but loads of calorie-energy), Meat ( not beef)"

You fail to suggest healthier alternatives to refined carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread, wholewheat pasta, brown rice or other foods containing wholegrains.

The calories in cheese will be derived from the high content of fat (there is also significant levels of cholesterol in some cheeses). In a balanced diet, dairy products should be relied upon for calcium and protein, not for energy.

You don't give any other reason to avoid beef other than it is bad 'karma' to eat it. Are we analysing nutrition or expressing personal (religious) opinions? In reality, beef and other red meats are good sources of protein, iron, zinc, vitamin D and selenium.

Just a thought from a 9st, avid Eastenders fan and couch potatoe... dipping a KFC deep fried chicken wing into a tin of Tate & Lyles Golden Syrup.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 18:09:31 +0200

Many thanks Nubian S. Yes, there is more awareness recently about the danger of sugar but very little on the white flour front. The pasta /pizza/ white bread danger is really underplayed because we tend to eat much more of it, pound for pound, than sugar.

And it contains nearly as high a % carbohydrate level as sugar itself. In other words it's very fast-burning and will store as fat and arterial cholestrol unless you're digging up roads all day or something.

I don't think the Government dare challenge the food industry on white flour just yet. If people latch onto that as they are doing with sugar, it will affect the economy to the tune of billions. But there again so already is the expense to the NHS in treating obesity, heart disease, strokes, T2 diabetes, depression and dental treatment -if anything even greater.

Not to mention ordinary folk's suffering. There are many in society who look to the Government and act on what they recommend as being true. They are the real victims in all of this as they sink ever deeper into their couches with those goodies on the side, to watch East Enders.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:03:12 +0200

I battle with food all the time. I do not buy any processed food tend to cook food from scratch. I refuse to go to any burger bar and give them my hard earned cash to slowly kill me.

I completely agree that the Government pushes increased levels of activities instead of educating the public on the real dangers of 'bad' food. However, I don't think that is is solely the responsibility of the Government. There is too much information available for free thinkers to make informed decision about themselves and those they are responsible for.

Brilliant Blog!

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 12:29:11 +0200

Thank you Charlie. I don't think the average person in the street is aware of how addictive and destructive refined sugar and flour products really are to their systems, it's very underplayed in education, news and advertising.

And yes, if you are talking of cigarettes, that's a bit more obvious these days, there are many anti-smoking action groups plus health warnings on the packets.

But there's too much massive food industry profits at stake to tell the truth about these refined foods, even though they are killing hundreds of thousands of people - as they have become entrenched in western society's eating habits.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:07:09 +0200

Nice and informative bolg.But u also know it very well that most of the people know this things that these are very harmful to enhale but they are doing.I think we should take some step to make people aware of these things..........

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 08:39:24 +0200

In studying the Vedas, the oldest wisdom scripture and guide to living in the world - again not promoted in the west - it mentions it is offensive to kill cows because they provide so much for human society when alive. That's why cows in India are protected, even cherished. Krishna also honoured them as being very special animals. I'm not a Hindu but it makes sense to me personally, that's all.

In response to:The Food Poisoning Industry - Big Profits out of your Misery

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:50:51 +0200

I agree with everything you say here, apart from the beef thing. Why Do you say it's bad karma to eat beef?