I'm currently just over halfway through my latest book, Chris van Tulleken's Ultra Processed People, and I'm finding it absolutely fascinating, although there's so much to take in that it's taking me far longer to read through than perhaps it should.
One of the things he states in it right at the beginning is that you should continue to eat all your normal foods while you're reading the book, in the same way that a lot of people did with Allen Carr's book 'Easy Way to Stop Smoking'. This worked well for a friend of mine who had tried to give up smoking for years before finally reading the book and then quitting, so I knew that it worked.
Reading and still eating all your usual foods does make you a bit obsessed with reading the labels and I have already found a few things that I thought were the healthiest and really they are not ... the bread rolls mentioned last week for instance. I think moving forward I will be picking my poisons carefully, keeping in my diet the ones that I love the most and finding alternatives where possible for others.
These 'No Chicken' Garlic Kievs from Aldi are delicious and make for a quick evening meal when I'm not all that hungry, so they will stay ... unless I can find a suitable alternative for them.
I usually fill the dish up with peas when I have these with either new potatoes or rice, but I just wasn't in the mood that evening. So simple it was.
Every morning I have a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon, after drinking this the slice of lemon gets popped into a glass of water and left in the fridge for another drink later in the day. On the days when I don't have any lemon slices left ... I can't always get unwaxed lemons in town, and even washing the waxed ones thoroughly leaves a film on the water, so you know the wax is still there ... I have been using a dash of bottled lemon juice.
I had never read the label until last week!!
My old bottled lemon juice on the right ... and my new one on the left.
This is the ingredient list from the old lemon juice bottle.
One thing really jumped out at me so I Googled it to see just what I had been consuming.
This really jumped out at me:
Safety
Potassium metabisulfite can irritate skin, eyes, and respiratory tract.
Yesterday, as you might have noticed on the last post I bought a bottle of this instead.
Ingredients: Organic Lemon Juice.
Now that's better. 😀
I hope to be making lots of little changes like this over the course of the next few months.
Now it's time to get the vacuum cleaner out ...
Or maybe I'll just go back to my book. 😄
Happy Sunday everyone.
Sue xx
Haha - that last sign has my name on it too!!
ReplyDeleteI have a bad reaction to Sulphites and also histamines and have to be careful with leftover meat from a home made meal - the longer it has been cooked, the higher the histamines. Unfortunately our middle daughter has that allergic gene from me (but not the asthma that goes with it, thankfully). She had a very bad reaction to wine with sulphites in recently so will have to be careful now.
Several bloggers have mentioned that book. I have always looked at labels but baked goods without them - well, not so straightforward - WHAT is in that Apple Danish from Greggs that I couldn't resist? Their tuna/onion/mayonnaise roll that I get for a lunch out sometimes isn't too bad, but I bet the bread ingredients wouldn't be ideal. I rarely buy ready meals but am no evangelist, I just normally try and cook from scratch as you do. It's those don't feel like cooking nights . . . I had better look at the label on the prawn and lemongrass fishcakes I got from Lidl last time we were in Carmarthen. I'm not a great one for quiche - though my home made version is really good and actually tastes of something. The supermarket ones just have no flavour at all. That is surely quite hard to achieve - tasteless food!
Just recently I am suspecting that I am getting sensitive to sulphites, after a couple of small glasses of wine I am feeling generally just yuk.
DeleteThe book is brilliant, not a diet fad book or anything like that just a good, very well researched food expose that is long overdue. We have been fed too many lies by the food manufacturers for far too long. Tasteless foods would be remarkably easy to achieve when they are UPF... but by adding just a few more synthetic ingredients they can soon add that flavour back, so there's no need to worry. ;-)
Label reading, which I've also been doing a lot of lately, is really alarming isn't it? Both because the ingredients list is so long, and because they're often made up of chemicals or things with long names we've never even heard of. It really does make me wonder exactly what it is we've been eating, and how much these things contribute to our health problems. And the amount of sugar that is in things, with names like dextrose, maltose, etc to disguise the fact that it's actually sugar, is scary too.
ReplyDeleteThe more I read the more worried I am that I have been lied to for so long. The research in the book is pointing towards these foods causing a lot of the health problems we are facing at the moment in most of the world. When I found out years ago that all 'oses' are sugars I was shocked at some of the labels I went on to read.
DeleteI am always shocked reading bread labels compared to just the flour ingredients. Hadn’t realised that about lemon juice!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that I am learning all this at the moment. I will be making lots of little changes for sure.
DeleteSo shocked to read the lemon juice label too! I remember reading an ingredients list from a Mr Kipling cake long ago, there were no real ingredients just numbers! Worrying! Bread no longer goes hard, must be full of preservatives and umpteen additives.
ReplyDeleteI haven't eaten a Mr Kipling cake for years they were all far too sweet for me, and very over-packaged. I have not found a loaf yet that isn't full of additions we really shouldn't be eating in our diets. Even the sourdoughs in the supermarkets are not genuine sourdough loaves.
DeleteAs Sooze says, once your eyes are opened to what we are eating it can be rather alarming. Like you I am approaching this as 'baby steps', just one little bit at a time.
ReplyDeleteKyiv alternative - have you come across these? Sorry not vegan, but full ingredients if you scroll down page.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/all-vegetarian/goodlife-mushroom---spinach-kiev-with-a-creamy-garlic---cheese-sauce-x2-250g
I bought these once by mistake and had to pass them on to Alan, I can't eat them as they have various milk products in them. Although the ingredients may sound innocuous, these are definintely as UPF as the Aldi version.
DeleteSue - this is so very interesting - all these chemicals being added to foods without us really noticing, definitely making me read labels! thank you
ReplyDeleteOn the house cleaning front how about setting a timer for 20 minutes doing as much cleaning as you can, then abandon the rest and settle down with book, crisp sandwich and a cold drink of water……
Country Cook
It's not even just the chemicals being added to the foods that is the problem it is also the ultra processing of food to turn it into a profit driven commodity rather than a life sustaining one.
DeleteI don't set a timer but I do usually try and do at least one house cleaning thing a day, with my back I do have to pace what I can do and rushing to do things in set time frame could be very detrimental. There's just me so I don't make that much mess. :-)
Who would have thought that there are all those ingredients in a bottle of lemon juice? Frightening! I juice lemons and freeze small portions in ice cube trays. That might be worth doing with your organic lemon juice if it has a short shelf life.
ReplyDeleteI know ... ridiculous!! That's a good idea, if I am getting close to the 14 day use by date after opening each bottle, I will pour some into my ice-cube trays. Thanks. xx
DeleteI must admit, I don't read labels, perhaps I should start. Is it ok if I eat the half tin of spag hoops I have in the fridge?
ReplyDeleteI didn't used to that much, but I am a convert after learning what I'm learning.
DeleteGolly, that's a shock reading the lemon juice label and I hadn't really thought about sulphites in wine either (although I don't drink it very often now) I'm still not feeling very well and I'm more and more convinced that it's something in food which is upsetting me. After 73 years of eating chemicals is it any wonder?
ReplyDeleteI like a slice of unwaxed lemon in a drink of cold water. I was lucky enough to get a bag of them on offer last week and will be slicing and freezing some to make them last. A great post Sue x
It's the only way I have lemons, in either hot or cold water as a drink. I don't usually like lemon juice added to foods or sauces. Perhaps you could do a minor version of the Whole 30, and go right back to basics with your food and try to find out what's upsetting you.
DeleteI don't think I would have the patience to do the Whole 30 diet properly but I am trying to eat more simply including more protein like fish, plain steamed vegetables and a piece or two of fruit per day. No snacking and just one mug of tea in a morning. I'm finding that a small amount of lactose free cheese a couple of times a week is ok too. If I can just get my energy back I'll feel better.
DeleteRe unwaxed lemons.....I read somewhere (can't remember where) recently that supermarket value range lemons are unwaxed, as they don't want to spend extra money on the wax! Who knew?!
ReplyDeleteSome of them are, but in our Aldi the cheap 'Wonky Lemons' are usually very sad specimens.
DeleteI do try to read the labels of what I purchase but get frustrated when alternatives do not seem to be available. It boggles the mind all of the faux foods we consume. I will be buying this book!
ReplyDeleteIt's a very good book, but one that's best read in small doses while you absorb all the information. Highly recommended.
DeleteThank You!
DeleteSulphites give me headaches for sure, which is a nuisance because they're in lots of stuff.
ReplyDeleteIn summertime my housework schedule goes to pot but I'm sure I'll catch-up in the autumn:-)
Alison in Wales x
As long as the sun doesn't highlight the dust too much I tend not to let it worry me, I'd rather be outside tying up my courgettes and cucumbers. :-)
DeleteThanks for the book recommendation. I'll check to see if our library has it. Your blogs are always informative.
ReplyDeleteIt's well worth a read, I should imagine it will be popular at the library.
DeleteDitto, Sue. I'm reading it slowly and steadily.
ReplyDeleteHave you found the ZOE channel on YouTube. There's some very, very interesting videos on it, not just about about ultra processed 'food' but also things like IF, the role of protein, diet vs exercise and all sorts. It seems very sensible indeed.
Yup - I've started label reading more carefully too. I used to just check the calories but it's all taking a lot longer at the moment. It's all a total eye opener.
xx
It's the only way to read it isn't it. A few chapters and then the rest of the day to absorb the information and think about things.
DeleteYes, I have heard of ZOE as I've watched a lot of Tim Spectre's interviews and various lectures, he and Chris van Tulleken and Zoe Harcombe have worked together extensively. But I doubt I would join in the ZOE programmes, £299 for the tests and then £300 per year seems a bit steep!
The calorie myth is well and truly debunked in this book thank goodness.
I’ve been avoiding as far as possible processed food for years. It’s very difficult to do so altogether. I’ve read this book and believe that it’s brought together all the concerns and information that various healthy eating proponents have been saying for years. Way back in the late 70s my mother-in-law used to shop in the only whole food shop in the city and she often warned that society was “going to hell in a handcart” with what they did with so called food. Looking at the trolleys in the supermarkets today I think even she would have been shocked at the utter rubbish people but and eat. It infuriates me when people whinge that they ‘can’t cook’. If you can read, you can cook.
ReplyDeleteSadly, and despite what many criticise the young for, it’s people my age (60s) whose trolleys are most loaded with junk. Youngsters in my family seem to have better awareness of healthy eating (although they also have a penchant for takeaways)! I last had a takeaway in 2014 at a celebratory event. Regards, June
My daughter is seriously allergic to the metabisulphates - potassium and sodium. They are used in all anaesthetics as a bleaching / preserving agent and it is such a problem for her having dental treatment that requires an anaesthetic - luckily she has never needed an operation. Processed soya is thought to be worse than eating lean unprocessed meats and is affecting thyroid function to the extent that a once very rare cancer is now on the rise because soya blocks thyroid function. If I eat processed soya I would need to increase my thyroxin medication. The new increase in the Plant food meals on offer is not actually as healthy as people thnk it is. In fact it is a bit of a con that manufacturers and supermarkets are profiting from. Healthier soya is tofu, tempeh and miso that is not processed. The Zoe project is interesting and they are uncovering some amazing things. Basically they are saying that the best and most healthy food is the least processed (even bread being a processed food). My SIL has become a member but actually I am a bit wary of it being a money making venture as it was first introduced in the American part of Zoe. I have issues with the fact they do not retest and how complicated and time consuming the personal diets are.
ReplyDeleteSince the 70's and recently after my thyroid cancer I have had quite an interest in good nutrition and read many books and research papers and it is a minefield - and since the 70's our diets have got far worse with so much processed food, take aways and ready meals and our chronic diseases more prevalent - but you also have to be happy with what you eat no point in having healthy food and being miserable.
PS The organic bottled lemon juice does not have all the preservatives in it and you are advised to drink lemon in water through a straw to protect the enamel on your teeth.
Happy reading and eating!
Lemon juice? Who'd have thunk it?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been at home for 8 days and the house is an absolute sh*t tip, I blame the cat! xxx