Ideas On Breakfast

Breakfast  convenienced foods comprises the most competitive food industries, all vying for a credible health status, marketing to consumers from all walks of life whilst quietly (oh its in amoungst the small print all right) exploiting our addiction to sugar...vast amounts of it! Even porridge is unpalatable for most people unless intensly sweetened and or topped with honey or jam. To this I put my hand up sheepishly, even though I am currently designing ways of getting around this problem, natures way, having  made it through lent without any desserts, sweet snacks and added sugars or preserves. The first step is admitting you have a problem! Now for the next step. Breakfast!

All manner of savoury options are on the menu in a wholesome diet. there are however 4 things to look out for.
1. Avoid sweet sauces such as, baked beans, barbeque sauce and Ketchup.
2.Select wholemeal and wholegrain breads
3.Balance any fats and oils used for frying with lean cuts of bacon for example or fiber such eg serve  spinach and  tomatoes in an omelette or on the side of a full English.

Limit intake of cured and smoked meat products to a maximum of 2 servings a week and balance it with 2 servings of oily fish a week.
1.Fried sardines, like kippers, make a perfect replacement for bacon or sausages.... A tin only costs 50p


For those who really love their daily breakfast cereal, you will have to break free of the high sugar levels that got you addicted to this so called healthy high fiber life -style. I do not  however recommend that you go for the savory choice every day, due to effects of salt levels on blood pressure, and carcinogenic/ bowl related effects of cured and smoked meat and fish. Variety is after all the spice of life. Try making peanut butter a healthy regular. I recommend Meridians whole peanut butter from Holland and Barrett....worth every penny for quality and purity!

Amongst my favorites are
2. An egg and peanut butter toasted  sandwich (Tescos bake a really nutty, crumbly and light-textured farmhouse multigrain loaf which makes for a delightfully crispy toast) ,
3.Peanut butter and banana malted roll,
4.Peanut butter and date paste in a freshly baked ciabata rolls.

The virtues of porridge are well documented including low GI and satiating effects. It is a comfort food and more than qualifies for a prominent place on the breakfast menu. However to eat it the traditional Scots way means excess salt consumption and the fashionable way is highly sweetened (plus added fruit etc). So here's a wholesome and tasty way to have it.


5. Porridge mountain, milk lake, chocolate lava breakfast. 1 serving, 400Kcals

1/3 cup of oats porridge (rolled or full grain), 1 small sliced banana, 1/3 cup dairy  milk, mixed and microwaved for 1m 30s to 2m in the cup. If lactose is a problem, use  soya milk, preferably Alpro as it doesnt have a beany flavor.

Next pour 1/3 of a cup of milk into the porridge bowl.and spoon the cooked porridge on top of the milk 'lake'

Make a dent in the top of the porridge 'mountain' and place about 2 tablespoons  of chocolate sludge (made in bulk with 5 heaped teaspoons of 100% cocoa powder *1 mixed to a thick ketchup consistency with warn water and kept in a suitable container in the fridge. This can be adequately sweetened with 5 teaspoons of date paste*2)

If you prefer the smooth creamy mouth feel of an homogenous  emulsion, then simply mash the bananas well (with a fork) and mix all the above ingredients together before microwaving it for 1 and a half to 2 mins. The chocolate can also be replaced by a sprinkling of cinnamon if anything.

Date paste replaced with saltanas or other dried fruit-chopped finely if large. It tastes better if you release the natural sugars from the dried fruit by soaking them  in warm water for half an hour to rehydrate them  (the water level just covering the top of the dried fruit), then keep them in a jar in the fridge.  They almost form a natural jam after 2 days of being in the fridge making them taste sweeter! A bulk stock will last at least 10 days.

I am not so fond of cooking dried fruit that becomes sharper upon heating and hence reserve chopped prunes and apricots to go with Greek yoghart and served with Jordans Museli (no added milk, sugar or fat) for a cool summer breakfast....(Plus fresh melon  if desired).

Notice I have not asked you to use semi skimmed milk although this is an option. However if you use whole milk, (dairy fat, especially from grass fed cows now has the stamp of approval of the scientific community) you are less likely to miss the sickly sweetness you're so used to and have come to consider as normal.



I recommend a balance between soya and dairy milk intake in small doses,  because as documented in many adults, (some racial/ethnic populations  more than others) large amounts of  lactose tend to have undesirable digestive effects. This fits a theory based on 'Natures Own Optimum  Nutrition' ( NOON.... for convenience, not for a cult following  as I am not attempting to claim any ownership of  maintenance diet that we are naturally adapted to in evolutionary terms. In other words its just there, but we've lost sight of it for all the clutter! )
So in nature , milk is designed for infants with underdeveloped digestive systems and a high level of lactase enzyme for digesting lactose. Hence limiting ourselves to having porridge with splash of milk about 2-3 times a week can't be such a bad thing especially as there are alternatives like soya milk. Similarly my limitation on excessive use of soya are based on its flatulence inducing effects and, for men especially, estrogen like compounds could be a problem.

Notice that there are no demonic groups of food to be expelled outright in our omnivorous diet. Neither are there any glorified foods for unlimited consumption.

Just optimum amounts of each food required by our bodies. We should perhaps be more attentive to our bodies response to eating  as wholesomely as possible and adapt a new menu that suits  our individual needs.

 And here, note too that there are bound to be some inherited (genetic) or environmental (due to upbringing or long term exposure) variation (subtle or otherwise) between populations and individuals. http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_5.htm.

*1 I recommend Bournville cocoa powder for purity and quality.
*2 I have discovered that dates can be easily obtained at affordable prices when bought with the stones. They are a naturally occurring high sugar, low water content fruit which have characteristics like set honey, but with plenty of fiber. I like them for sweetening hot dishes/deserts and for making my own  chocolate paste/sauce. They have absolutely no sharpness or bitterness. Just pure sweetness although a very delicate unique and pleasant date flavor is detectable  A bulk paste can easily be made from 20 finely grated dates (throw stones away) to 20 teaspoons of water mashed into a smooth consistency and as with chocolate paste, kept in the fridge for 10 days. You cannot OD on sugar in the form of dates or date paste because of the fiber. Trust me you will know about it if you try (and those who use prunes for the same reason will concur)!

Losing The Sweet Tooth

WHY SHOULD WE?

Cutting calories is not the answer because "a calorie is not a calorie". The effect of a calorie in sugar is different from the effect of a calorie in lean grass-fed beef. And added sugar is often disguised in food labelling under carbohydrates and myriad different names, from glucose to diastatic malt and dextrose. Fructose – contained in many different types of sugar – is the biggest problem, and high-fructose corn syrup, used extensively by food manufacturers in the US, is the main source of it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/20/sugar-deadly-obesity-epidemic

HEALTHY OPTIONS?

An article in The Times On Sunday (05-05-13) revealed that many of the so-called healthy options sold in supermarkets contain similar amounts of sugar per serving than a can of coke! Thus includes High fiber breakfast cereals and sauces used for supposedly savory main courses. Many of these products boast a low fat and low salt content, plus no artificial x,y,or z oh and made with real fuit etc. Surely the health revolution is well underway.

Alas it is only business in the food industry that is booming, even though there's a recession on which should force people to buy less and make their own food from carefully sourced first ingredients....you would think.) thank you very much. I too am a full time working mum and am fully aware that working ours have extended to breaking oint and invaded our family lives on every level. We barely have time to dash around the supermarket for the weekly shopping once a week, let alone read the small print on the food labels! So who really controls what the average Brit is of necessity putting inside his body? They keep very quiet about the increasing amounts of sugar, in the form of glucose and fructose sugars that they have increasingly been adding to foods for which the authentic counterparts would never have called for. Should a  sweet and sour sauce not be sweetened with sugar ? Only a table spoon added of unrefined cane sugar (the pulp on this occasion is humanly indigestible  to a dish for 6 goes a long way in South East Asia so what's going on? We've demonised fats such as coconut   oil and blamed fat for being fat for so long that whatever has beed lost in mouth feel, fat soluble natural flavoring compounds and the general satified feeling at the end of the meal is now being replaced and drowned out by highly concentrated levels of sugar. It not only distracts us from the boring taste of the dish with its poor quality ingredients, but high levels of sugar also act as a preservative,, extending the shelf life of the product. A win win situation for the food industry. We have now become accustomed to that intense sugar burst and crave it when its not there. In fact in many cases  we neither care what food should taste like in the authentic sense, nor the historic sense both of which should concern us if we're to achieve the low levels of obesity and western diet related diseases shown by the populations who invented these dishes in the first place!

In the following posts I will be embarking on an adventure to rid myself of my desire for snacks and deserts made with added and refined sugar. My definition of refined excludes pure fruit juices (sans the rest of the edible fruit), all forms of non-white sugar, all syrups and honey (separated from the beeswax/honey comb).

I will attempt to rediscover suitable natural wholefood replacements and either device or find interesting recipes including ways of compensating for unavoidable bending of  rules due to time, money and social constraints. In the process I will be weaning myself from pre-prepared meals, sauces and shortcuts such as frozen pastry.When the menu is well developed, it then falls on me as a mother to reeducate my family's palate, as far as possible (without ruining their social lives), which up to now has been mainly  nurtured by the  Food Industry in more ways, both subtly and blatantly, than I ever imagined. The plan will hopefully be that the quality and impact of the food will do most of the talking for itself!

I will be interjecting with more reflections on this wholefood philosophy as they occur, and will update you not only with the Scientific evidence I find, but also with how I am coping with these changes myself.  

Natures Guidelines

The Protein-Fat partnership
I have noticed that in nature, protiens come with various amounts of fat ranging from 4g/100g milk ( relatively low due to a high water content) to an average of 50g in nuts ( possibly due to the high protein content eg about 25g of protein in peanuts and high fiber content also present. Fiber appears, and you will know this fron experience, to be the best appetite control mechanism preventing over consumption.  The main point I am making here however is that most animal protein sources such as fish, meat, eggs and dairy products all come generously clad in fat!

 I am therefore suggesting that we have evolved to eat these nutrients together and that our palat for fat does not mearly have something to do with our nutritional fatty acid and triglyceride requirements but is also associated with proein requirements, digestion and that our feelings of hunger and satiation have evolved around this healthy partnership. Eating the fat on its own is not a natural human compulsion and so rather than removing the fat, enjoy  it with satisfaction, as part of a well balance meal which, according to guidelines published by most reputable nutritional bodies eg the BNF (largly based on studies which correlate saturated fat intake with cardiovascular disease) includes an average of 20g of saturated fat (1.5 tblespoons and equivalent to approximately 200 calories a day). http://www.netrition.com/rdi_page.html. The rest of your fat intake (a total reccommended daily ammount of 65g and  approximately 600 calories/day (30% of your calorific intake) should then ideally come from unsaturated fat sources such as oily fish, seed, olive, and avocado oils.

No Carbs Without fiber

Fiber on the other hand tends to occur in combination with carbohydrates and with plant proteins (as pointed out in the example of nuts.) Examples range from fruit to grains and pulses. Fiber appears, and you will know this fron experience, to be the best appetite control mechanism preventing over consumption. Remove the fiber and  you tend to feel less full, hence the urge to eat more. The latter can only be a good thing if you're an extreme athlete,  or worryingly underweight. So by default, should we not be eating the whole fruit rather than just drinking the extracted juice as if feeding an infant without teeth? Similarly  what business do we have extracting the sugar and consuming it in vast quantities whilst throwing away the skins (which is where the bulk of vitamins and minerals are found) and the flesh with its soluble and insoluble fiber ( our natural appetite suppressant.) ? Eat too much fibre and the bloated sensation, flatulence, slight tummy upset with frequent visits tot the loo will tell you all about it! It takes a whole lot more refined sugar and hence calories to reach this point of discomfort and for for some people, the cut out switch has all but disappeared  Instead a sugar dependence akin to addiction has developed.


Can these patterns and combinations that naturally occur in our food sources be the nutritional blueprint found in human DNA that is designed to make us best adapted to life on this planet? Surely these are not mere subliminal messages or coincidence but according to the laws of evolution, they have everything to do with how we ought to be eating in order to ensure the success of our species! In a world where we have tampered with our food from its genetics to its finished composition, and in a world where geography places no limits on the variety of choice we have on the menu every day,  looking to nature alone to provides us with solutions to our modern dietary woes would be an ignorant thing to suggest....On the other hand have others (with superior health records and life expectancy  from various religions or cultures not already led us in this direction?

To my mind this is suggestive of an hypothesis that goes something like this:
1.Our human omnivorous diet/digestive system has evolved around these food sources in their natural form.
2.Our digestive system and metabolic systems have not changed much over the 200 000 years that humans are  estimated to have been on earth.
3. Humans have altered the natural compositions quite dramatically eg extracting and refining sugars, hence consuming them in large concentrated doses, separate  from the fibre with which they naturally occur.
 Or, as in the case of fats, skimming the cream off and separating it from dairy proteins, extracting plant oils instead of eating the entire seed/nut complete with the plant protein.
4. Urgo, the human body has not had enough time to evolve to suit a refined diet, and is highly unlikely to since to do so results in all manner of dietary diseases. Only the fittest survive, so the whole foods diet is destined to remain the optimum form of nutrition for human kind, regardless of our indulgent and addictive traits.

The question is how do we turn  the clock ' back to the future'and render ourselves modern day time-tabled,button pushing, tv watching,  car driving, logging on, texting and gaming hunter-gatherers....... for the sake of restoring nutritional harmony between nature and ourselves.

The answer as with everything else is sever our dependency on The Man (this of includes the big supermarket chains) , and take responsibility for every ingredient that we put inside our body. The food industry was never going to and never will have our interests at heart so why do we sacrifice our longevity and wellbeing for the convenience they offer? Like the addicts they have turned us into we fall pray for their salt and sugar logged, nutrient and fibre depleted merchandise. What for? To save money? You know that this is false economy both in the long and the short term.(I will elaborate later on) To save time? Now who are you kidding? What you really mean is to save you the energy  expenditure.......the very reason you are not burning all those excessive calories you're consuming! Oh but I have to direct my energy elsewhere...Then I can only surmise that you do not love life enough to make health, fitness and longevity your top priorities. Or have you taken you eye off the ball? The clocks ticking, but you think you can get away with abusing and neglecting your body indefinitely, under the pretext that your having fun! Thats what they they all say when they start on drugs......A bit harsh and judgemental? You decide.

If you can afford your own nutritionist and cook or frequent an organic/ whole foods restaurant for most of your meals, then all power to you. But for the rest of us mere mortals we are faced the challenge of finding a way to maintain an optimum weight and a healthy lifestyle whilst juggling work, family and personal interests, hopefully without becoming social misfits or joining any particular lifestyle group, religion, or  cult.

This is my current endever.

Personal Energy Requirements

I am a 44 year old women, of average ( for a multiracial  British population) weight (60kg) and height (1.64m).

My job is neither sedetary nor manual (teaching, so moving on my feet for the majority of my day, 6am to 8pm) including a 30m intense work out 4 days on week-days and approx 3hrs of power walking/swimming at the weekend.

According to the BNF my estimated BMR (energy ecpenditure when resting) is 1.1kcal per min x 12hrs of sleeping and sitting/day;
when on my feet my energy expenditure is 1.6 x 1.1 for my general activity level for 10.5hrs/day and
 1.8x1.1 for an average of 30m intense exercise per day ( the equivalent of 60min moderate intensity).

My estimated total energy expenditure is 792+ 1108+120= 2020kcal/day on average. This is based on my sex, age, weight and activity level using the established data  and not according to direct measurements.

According to Department of health recommendations young people should have 60mins at least moderate intensity exercise/ day 5 days per week or more. For older people its 30mins/day of at least moderate exercise (advice published as part of their campaign to reduce Britain's obesity levels).

The Premise

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/20/sugar-deadly-obesity-epidemic

5 RULES OF THUMB:

1.Its okay to eat fat with a good protein source because this is generally (with a few exceptions in fruits such as olives and avocados)how they occur in nature. However be mindful of a healthy fatty acids intake: roughly 5%-10% sat 15% mono/omega and 15% polyunsaturated fatty acids and an average of 30- 40%  of calories in total.

2. Eat fibre with carbs. NO EXTRACTED SUGARS OR ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS.

3. Break the rule once or twice a week/special occasions if you must, with a small snack size treat eg desert straight after Sunday roast dinner and/or glass of wine or 2, twice a week, preferably taken with a well- balanced meal which helps the  liver to metabolise it more efficiently .

4. Fast for 18-24hrs once or  twice a week in whichever manner you can manage to cut your calorie intake by 2/3eg a 600 calorie supper as the only meal that day).

5. Maintain an active lifestyle (eg moving on your feet for most of the day as opposed to sedentary activity.
Match intensive exercise sessions to occupation eg a sedentary occupation requires more than the statuary 3 times a week for half an hour of doubling your resting heart rate whereas a manual labourer may not require  any supplimentary exercise to maintain a strong heart and lungs.

These rules may help weight loss and subsequent maintenance as part of a reduced portion healthy  diet plan for life as per the studies into the health benefits of caloric restriction. They may also have self regulating ways of  controlling weight according the well documented bulking effect of fibre and the satiating and sustaining effects of low GI (slow gradual energy release from energy sources) . The easiest most straight forward way of making this happen is to eat whole foods, nothing added or taken away except for inedible bitter and humanly indigestible cellulose such as husks and banana skins etc. This incidentally results in maximisation of nutrient intake from foods and the hence revitalisation and slowing down of the aging process.

Refines foods contain many empty calories, and most vitamins are contained just under the skin of plant foods. Additionally there is the undoubted benefit to control of type 2 diabetes, improved bowl function and prevention of a myriad of diet related diseases including several types of cancer...to name but a few pluses.

My premise for this diet plan is that nature has designed food in such a way that there are clear pointers on how to eat food stuffs that occur in nature and obvious signs of the inedible. If we keep insisting on isolating substances that should be eaten together with the rest of the food source, dietary imbalances will occur.

This essentially  means no added extracted sugars or extracted fats, unless a minimal amount is used for the frying stage of cooking. In this case some very low carb veg which also have negligible fat eg greens, spinach, cucumbers, mushrooms etc served alongside the meal will compensate for refined carbohydrates like white rice and lean cuts of meat can compensate for added extracted oils. Scientific data confirms these GI lowering stratergies to be effective.  Even honey should be eaten with the honey comb to lower its GI.

My current thinking is in a dynamic state of ongoing literature research and self experimentation. However my ideas are hopefully based on a pretty solid scientific background, since I have an MSc in Nutrition from Kings College London and have been keeping abreast of the latest and well renowned  peer reviewed studies, which hopefully I will be able to site on this blog, when I go into more detail.

However, I admit to somewhat going out on a whim here, and if I have overlooked any important facts, scientific studies etc or if you have any personal testimonies or practical ideas on weaning ourselves off the sweet tooth and extracted fat/oil thirst that is ingrained in our culture eg delicious wholesome recipes, natural substitutes etc, I would be delighted if you could share these , and enguage in some healthy discussion/debate on this forum. Who knows where this could go or what it could lead to.

Bon voyage!