Sugar: Is it truly, scary stuff?

 

Image via Pasja1000 of Pixabay

Tragedy? Indeed!

The workers at Canada’s massive Rogers sugar factory workers are on strike. Thank goodness though everyone managed to get through Hallowe’en, and children could get their bags of sweet goodies safely home. 

But now there’s a sugar shortage starting. Over the years I’ve cut down on sugar in our house. A five-lb bag will last us a year. But I still love creamy cakes. Love the way you have to smash through a solid sheet of sugar on the top of crème brûlée for dessert. So sugar in the pantry doesn’t count!

We often don’t know how much sugar we consume. This stat from the American Heart Association is quite interesting.

“American adults consume an average of 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day, more than 2-3 times the recommended amount for men and women respectively. 

“This adds up to around 60 pounds of added sugar consumed annually. That’s like six 10lb bowling balls”. Sounds extreme, doesn’t it?

Has sugar changed?

I ask this simply because growing up in Zululand, South Africa, I recall eating a lot of sugar. It was just what you did. 

Meals were never complete until you had the dessert after your lunch or dinner. It gave the parents ammunition to exhort children to eat their vegetables and main meal ingredients, otherwise “no dessert!”

In our large family hunger before a meal would drive you to get a slice of bread, open a can of sweetened condensed milk, and spread a couple of liberal spoonfuls on it. I know now that amount would have been about 60 mls. The sugar content then would have been about 6 teaspoons of sugar per snack slice. Yikes!

We used to frequently make fudge. It was of course almost pure sugar, mixed with cocoa, and a bit of water, brought to “soft ball” stage over heat, then spread out on a pan to cut into sugary squares. Yum!

Now, with a microwave, you can make lovely, perfect fudge in just a few minutes. You need the can of sweetened condensed milk of course, and some chocolate chips. Add pure vanilla, just to feel virtuous. Microwave 1 minute, then let it all melt together. When that’s happened, spread it quickly into a 9x9” pan. Restrain yourself, wait until it has cooled, then cut it into squares.

So, going back to those early days…what happened, health-wise? Nothing, short and sweet. We all grew up slim and healthy. So did everyone else I knew. But this was in the days before development of many food chemicals that are now interspersed with the sugar, in food as well as candies.

Obesity was such a rarity that I only knew one fellow student with it. My parents spoke to us about it, explained she had a medical condition, and told us very firmly never to mention it to her, and to be very kind.

These days, I see so many folks obsessed with different diets. Obesity is a huge concern in developed countries. Sugar is blamed for so much of the ills of society. But is it the main culprit?

I’ve never really been able to square away those early sugar habits and complete lack of obesity with what I know to be true at this much later time, the 21st century.

Life has sped up since I became an adult. It’s hard to get a break from the relentless speed of it. But strangely, in between gym sessions, or lounging in a recliner, depending on your choice, people seem to feel virtuous when they manage to shy away from sugar. It has become a “guilty pleasure.”

I must admit I find the practice of trick-or-treat quite deplorable. Yes, it’s fun for everyone to dress up, but really, should you send your children to beg for copious amounts of candies to put in huge bags? What does it mean? The sad thing is, this year folks had to decide between their need for groceries and buying candies at exorbitant prices to please their kids.

It might have been easier on the wallet to make some treats, but the sad truth is that is no longer acceptable. Anything homemade will be weeded out and discarded by caring parents who know that dangerous things can be included in homemade “treats”.

Inside those beautifully wrapped, delicious and harmless-looking Mars bars you have other interesting ingredients though.

Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, corn syrup, lactose, malted barley extract), Milk ingredients, Modified palm oil, Cocoa butter, Cocoa mass, Cocoa powder, Salt, Soy lecithin, Dried egg white, Artificial flavour. Please refer to the product label for the most accurate nutrition, ingredient, and allergen information.

Let’s look at Twix

Ingredients: Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Pgpr, Artificial Flavors), Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Palm Oil, Corn Syrup, Skim Milk, Dextrose, Less Than 2% - Salt, Cocoa Powder, …

So some of this stuff I'm willing to bet you’ve not heard of, and most definitely don’t have in your home kitchen. Pgpr isn’t a word, for starters.

Unfortunately, for the following information, it’s hard to translate this science -speak into language that most folks can understand.

PGPR is a mixture of esterified products manufactured by the esterification of polyglycerol with condensed castor oil fatty acids. The brief 3-step manufacturing processes is as follows:

1. Polyglycerol preparation: Glycerol is heated to above 200 ℃ in the presence of an alkali catalyst to produce polyglycerol. 

2. Condensation of the castor oil fatty acids: Castor oil fatty acids (synthesized by hydrolyzing castor oil in water) are heated to above 200 ℃ to create interesterified ricinoleic fatty acid chains of varying lengths. 

3. Esterification: Then polyglycerol mixed with interesterified ricinoleic fatty acids to produce PGPR with different chain lengths. (1)

Voila! There you have your unpronounceable polyglycerol polyricinoleate.

Sugar is indeed the first prime ingredient in these candies, and of course that’s a whole lot in those bags of candies. 

Palm oil farming is causing rapid deforestation of the tropical forests of Brazil, and other tropical areas. This destroys animal habitats, in addition to wreaking incredible damage to life on our planet and climate change.

There is a really good discussion of this here: What is Palm Oil? Facts About the Palm Oil Industry

Image via VickiW

So, there’s a lot going on in those bags of candies! My parents used an opportunity to help us become aware of a problem. They trusted us to use it wisely and kindly to help someone.

Can you teach a child to recognize some words on a label when they shop with you? Sugar is one. Palm oil might be a good choice for discussion of their future. Just hope they don’t ask you about any of the mysterious other ingredients in the lists above!

Children love discussion with parents and grandparents, or any adult prepared to give back-and-forth friendly talk with them. It lasts so much longer than chatting on social media.

Time passes quickly. Always seize the opportunities to talk with children. They are your future.

Regarding sugar: my parents taught “moderation in all things”. 

A special week!

I love to walk down the little creek. Imagine my delighted surprise to see that salmon are returning to spawn. What an interesting amazing show from Mother Nature. 

Then, amid the splashing of tails on the gravel rock bed, there are amazing reflections and colours in the water, away from the fish.

Image via VickiW

Thanks for your visit and hope you'll be back soon!

VickiW

Beef & Barley Soup: Some thoughts...

 

Image via IndigoBunting of Pixabay

Chilly weather perfection...

Dearly Beloved has been looking forward to some hearty beef barley soup. Trouble is, I couldn’t find the barley, and the beef is now incredibly expensive. I wondered if there is such a thing in a can. There is. Of course I read the labels! I’ve even provided a couple of the ingredient lists for you to read.

Sometimes it’s tough to make sense of these ingredients, never found in a home kitchen, created by food scientists in their well-stocked labs. 

So this week we’re finding out if the veggies in my home fridge can be as tasty as their commercial competition, and how much effort I need to produce my version of Bob’s longed-for soup.

Convenience version: Mitchell’s beef-barley soup

Ingredients: Beans (navy, adzuki, mung), Barley, Soup base (salt, corn syrup solids, dextrose, wheat flour, sugar, canola oil, corn starch, onion powder, beef extract, guar gum, spices, herbs, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, natural flavours, turmeric, caramel), Red lentils, Dried vegetables (carrot, potato, onion, green pepper, red pepper, leek), Onion, Garlic, Herbs, Spices (mustard).

May Contain: Tree nuts, Peanuts, Soy, Eggs, Milk, Sesame, Oats, Sulphites.

Couple of interesting chemicals here. Always read the labels.

By the way…where’s the beef?

Progresso Beef-Barley Soup

Ingredients: Water, Beef Broth, Cooked Diced Seasoned Beef and Modified Food starch Product (beef, beef broth, hydrolyzed soy protein, modified food starch, salt, sodium phosphate, natural flavor, maltodextrin), Carrots, Barley, Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Celery. Contains less than 1% of: Dried Peas, Modified Food Starch, Corn Protein (hydrolyzed), Sugar, Salt, Soybean Oil, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavor, Caramel Color, Potato Starch, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Spice, Maltodextrin, Beef Fat, Beef Extract, Calcium Chloride, Citric Acid.

Questions?

What is beef extract? 

It’s extracted by the test tube folks from porcine pancreas, bovine heart. Very tasty.

Hydrolysis means scientifically breaking the substance down into tiny pieces with water. No, You can’t do this in your kitchen. 

How much salt should you have in a day?
Less than 800 mg.

Canned soup is a processed food that owes part of its extra long shelf life to lots of added sodium. One cup of Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup packs an amazing 960 milligrams. As with other prepared foods, try to find low-sodium options. When you make your own soup it has only the amount of saltiness that you choose to put in the broth.

My Beef Barley Soup

These are the fridge clearing ingredients today! You want to use whatever veggies you have in your fridge. This was my collection.

Image via VickiW

To the vegetables I added some prepared garlic, some barley,
and the remains of a bottle of strained tomatoes. You can feel okay about using some ready prepped ingredients. Just read the labels

The beef was an unusual bargain, so that was appreciated. It was ready cut, and four packs at $5 each. Bought two chicken and two beef. One teaspoon coarse salt, and a liberal amount of fresh ground pepper.

Image via VickiW

I used my trusty pressure cooker for this soup. Took me 10 minutes to prep everything, ready for the pot.

Final step–I added the barley on top, then mixed the whole thing up. Added the water mixed with the broth cube, about five cups. Sneakily added a big dash of Worcester sauce for its wonderful umami flavour.

You can use an ordinary pot, or a slow cooker, or like I did, use my beloved pressure cooker.

This was the moment of truth, and delicious aroma, not to mention taste!

You can always adjust the soup with more water if it is too thick, and add salt and other flavourings from your pantry.

Image via VickiW

But, this isn’t the end of the story. 

Those fridge leftovers have given us 8 good meals. Bob enjoyed a second-to-last cheese scone with our dinner tonight, zapped for 20 seconds in the microwave.  One left for tomorrow. This is really fast food.

These containers are frozen for the future.

Image via VickiW

Talk about convenient food. Reheating is easier and faster than bought soup. And we don’t need any chemical processes to give us flavour. 

A view from the balcony...

Image via VickiW

Just a peaceful duck couple today. There are many of them in the little creek just a stone’s throw from the balcony. 

The trees are losing their autumn coloured leaves. All too soon they will be bare again.

Food scientists taking over?

 

Image via artursfoto of Pixabay

The war on food

We’re seeing first hand,  the terrible war events taking place in the world and how important food is for everyone living. It’s the gasoline for your body. 

But humans, being who they are, the more food can be provided at the least cost to the masses, the wealthier the food conglomerates get. Money is at the bottom of it all. 

Food has changed. So has people’s health as they consume processed non-food.

We have to find our own ways to afford food and prepare it.

But how?

It seems once you jump on the processed food bandwagon, it’s hard to get off again. Those tempting-looking packages show food like you would love to serve yourself and your family.

They’re supposed to be the same thing, you see. After all, how could you go wrong with mac and cheese? Or mashed potatoes? Or shepherd's pie? Turns out it’s easy when you buy them. Take a look at the almost-all reveal of ingredients in bought, frozen offerings.

☙ Mac and cheese

Image via VickiW

☙ Mashed potatoes

Idaho® potatoes, sunflower oil, corn syrup solids, salt, mono and diglycerides, sodium caseinate, maltodextrin, natural flavor, dipotassium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, soy lecithin, artificial color. Freshness preserved by sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bisulfite, citric acid and mixed tocopherols.

Contains: Milk, soy.

☙ Shepherds pie

Topping: potatoes (contain sulphites), cream (milk ingredients, dextrose, microcrystalline cellulose, carob bean gum, cellulose gum, carrageenan, polysorbate 80), butter, salt, spice, water, caramel colour. filling: ground beef, corn, onions, butter. sauce: water, enriched wheat flour, beef base (beef, beef stock, salt, flavour, potato flour, caramel colour, corn oil, spices), salt, flavour (contains salt, canola oil), dextrose, spices, caramel colour, garlic powder, onion powder.

When I make these items I know only my limited kitchen-friendly ingredients go into what I cook. 

One of my good friends said she was too embarrassed to cook her own cheesy scalloped potatoes, because next to Betty Crocker’s they just don’t match up in taste, and her family doesn’t enjoy them. So this is why!

☙Potatoes

Enriched Flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Corn Starch, Maltodextrin, Salt, Onion*, Potassium Phosphate, Modified Whey, Vegetable Oil (canola, soybean, and/or sunflower oil). Contains 0.5% or less of: Whey, Garlic*, Celery*, Cheddar Cheese* (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), Monoglycerides, Lactic Acid, Nonfat Milk*, Calcium Lactate, Color (annatto & turmeric extract), Sodium Phosphate, Blue Cheese* (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), Chicken Broth*, Natural Flavor, Silicon Dioxide (anticaking agent), Buttermilk, Coconut Oil, Pea Protein Isolate, Rice Flour, Spice. Freshness Preserved By Sodium Bisulfite. *DRIED

Are you rolling your eyes as you read my clumsy attempts at warning here? After all, you know your government and its associations would never allow health-endangering substances to be sold in your local food establishments, or do you? 

I care, because I’m seeing the destruction of our civilization through the food that goes into their bellies. There’s solid evidence that all the high-tech additives in “convenience” foods have links to cancer. I now have five younger friends with different types of bowel cancer. 

This would have been unheard of before all the present day scientific advances in food ingredients. These foods have become so common in our lives that many who prepare them from packages actually think they are “cooking”.

Image via LucasJackson1 of Pixabay

The same chemicals that are found in our processed food are found in cosmetics, paints and glues, plus other products that we wouldn’t really care to eat. It’s estimated that a minimum number of these is 6000.

It’s hard not to write in terms of gloom and doom on this topic. You read about “tipping points” in climate change. More of the same in the plastic and other pollution in the oceans. Can you imagine being a sea creature, forced to try and survive in this far-from-pristine environment? 

Or being a farmed salmon, swimming in waste and antibiotics, then bought by consumers because it’s so much cheaper than wild-caught fish? 

Seems like I’ve digressed here. After all, this article is about our food, not the battle that sea animals face. It’s worthwhile remembering though that many humans depend on those creatures for our own food. We’re intertwined, no matter which way you look at it.

Groceries are in the news these days. Prices have increased exponentially. It doesn’t take more than one trip to buy food to realize this. Sure, it would be nice if you had unlimited money to buy only organic food, at four times the price of the regular stuff on offer, but comparatively few of us can do that.

At this time researchers and biologists are warning about microplastics. Those are the tiny, pretty beads found in so many products these days. They serve one important purpose for food manufacturers. They add to the weight of products, therefore increasing the profitability for these gigantic corporations.

It’s worth telling you at this point that it’s actually quite impossible to avoid the global mess food manufacturers have inflicted on all of us. Manufacturers, food scientists, marketers and governments do not have our health in mind. The only thing that matters in their world is profit and money. Nothing else. 

What I have written here is just a tiny, skimming look at our modern food situation in 2023. It will not get better. The barn door closed after the horse escaped. We’re beyond the tipping point.

From a personal point of view, there are things you can do for yourself and those you care about. You cannot completely avoid processed food or ultra-processed food. Organophosphates mean that even supposedly organic foods can no longer make that claim.

☙ Read the labels. Know that any items on them you aren’t familiar with should make you pause, and possibly find another.

☙ Try to buy sauces, etcetera, in glass bottles. Plastic disintegrates into microplastic pollution that will be a curse for thousands of years. 

☙ Try some simple home recipes, made with familiar ingredients in your kitchen. They taste better, and are always way cheaper.

☙ Find folks who know how to cook, and learn to scratch cook from them. Lots of internet folks for this!

Thanks for reading. This affects us all. I’d love to hear your views on scientifically processed food.

Whorled Tickseed (coreopsis verticillata)

This lovely little rock plant grows just under my window in our new home.

It spreads, and is a lovely cheerful yellow. Seems strange, but it’s actually a tough little relative of the sunflower.

Image via VickiW

Moving: The grief, the joy

 

It’s been six months! Can you believe it? 

So many people warned me about the trauma of moving. They all seemed to be aware that, next to a death, moving is considered #2 on the trauma scale. 

I wouldn’t have considered a move unless the pros and cons list of doing so indicated it would benefit us in the long run, believe me. I blithely thought things would be sorted pretty quickly once we were in our new home. 

Nevertheless, we are both considered beyond our prime at this time. I wrote to my Dr. Lovely. Remember her? It may be worth a click here.

Reason being...

She left her practice after deciding she could no longer “doctor” by being forced to adhere to minimum patient times and realizing that massive amounts of paperwork were not an advantage to patient care. She decided archaeology was a much more interesting possibility at that time, so she jumped into that.

Anyway, when I contacted her, she didn’t give me the doom and gloom stats about picking up and leaving. She just told me she was so happy we could leave under our own terms and conditions, and advised us to find enjoyment in the new place as soon as possible. “Adventures are good”, she said.

Perks and challenges

Our new home is beautiful, in an old-fashioned way. It’s a condo, built 40 years ago. It’s very roomy, just the same square footage as our previous detached home. 

No ocean view here, but some splendid mountains, enormous trees on 10 acres of land. Wild life, mostly squirrels collecting nuts and burying them at this time. Ducks, herons are plentiful. Gorgeous gardens, and I even managed to bring a couple of tubs containing some saffron corms. They are flowering on the balcony this month.

There’s one major thing missing. The wonderful friends who are still such a part of my life. This past Monday I had phone calls from six of them. We had such joyful and close friendships.

Give and take

Since moving I’ve come to wistfully realize the importance of those friends, but also the relief of knowing that caring, younger family members are nearby, with no intervening ferry considerations when you would like to plan a visit.

Needs change as you move along with the years you’ve survived this life.

We are fortunate. Online friends have not experienced our disruption, and have for the most part kept solidly in touch. Our former neighbours still manage to make phone calls on a regular basis. If only they knew how reassuring that is!

Trauma

Six months on, I realize now it’s the emotional trauma of moving that really plays havoc with your mind. This is when the loss of what you had combined with what needs to be altered in the new place for your comfort. And yes, of course I give myself a swift metaphorical slap on the head, knowing our comfort here is amazing, when compared to the present wars in the world. But there is a hollowness in my heart.

It’s the kitchen for me. Forty years ago some demented, but possibly well-meaning guy built this one. I think of it as a kitchen box, and I’m inside it. Seriously, how did he think I would ever manage to do anything with these particular upper cabinets behind the fridge?

Image via VickiW

The Sunshine ceiling hangs over my head in the kitchen. I’m sure at the time it was carefully framed in. There are fluorescent bulbs in it, and thin panels that you can only hope will remain where they are positioned, quite low over your head as you move about.

Image  via VickiW

A peninsula juts out from the wall, Upper cabinets above it succeed in providing storage spaces, even if they do rather block the view out to the eating nook and the lovely outside beyond.

It has taken so long to find the people who we hope will magically transform this old space for us. We know it’s going to be a long haul, but it will be good to just know there is some action and interest ahead with this project.

There’s a wall that must be knocked out to provide extra entrance and exit to the kitchen. I love open plan. In particular, I’m imagining what a difference it will make in this kitchen.

The most urgent build at the moment though is a large bookcase to house all the books that are such an important part of who we are. Fortunately, we’re expecting to have that completed next month. It is a huge trial to have two lockers full of things still stuck away in boxes. The books and the kitchen tools, our friends of a different type, are greatly missed. This wall is where the custom bookcase will go.

Image via VickiW

Seasonal adjustments

The days are short and darker now. The rain is gradually helping to recover from the drought, but there seems to be a long way to go. How quickly those years pass! 

 It seems just so recent that we would have been able to manage these projects ourselves, but now it’s a relief to know others are in charge.

Writing is essential for my well-being. You, the readers, make it even more interesting. Thank you for reading, and never, ever give up. Hope you’ll enjoy the new adventure of kitchen redesign, estimated to start in December.

Squirrels and crows mingle on the lawns, the squirrels digging in nuts, and the crows digging them out again. I want some of those walnuts too, and will have to visit the dollar store to buy a nutcracker. These nuts were collected over the last few days, on the other side of the little creek. On closer examination, they don’t actually need a nutcracker. You can just give them a hammer tap, then peel them with your fingers. I think they are Carpathian walnuts because they are quite thin-skinned.

I’m hoping to use them in our first Christmas cake here!

Image via VickiW

Image via VickiW

Thank you!

Your visits are always appreciated and I hope you've found the content interesting and helpful.

Vicki

Your body's mega microbes

Image via Julien Tromeur of Pixabay

I don’t profess to know much about the more in-depth workings of our bodies. Like many older folks, my long-term memory is vastly better than my short-term recollection of events.

To make it even more interesting, I seem to draw on the long-term memory as I make comparisons of then and now.

Then

Right through school as I grew up in a small Zululand village in South Africa, I can only remember one obese student. My parents explained she suffered from a medical condition, and we were to be kind, not ever mentioning her weight. 

Now

Fast forward now. Obesity has become so commonplace that stats from the World Obesity Foundation predicts more than 51% of the world (four billion people) will be obese by 2035. It is literally becoming a huge, weighty problem, from both economic and health standpoints.

Every week I notice the foods that crowd shopping carts in the supermarket, so many in packaged items, huge amounts of fizzy drinks. These are all ultra-processed foods. If they are your main source of nourishment, your prognosis of health is not too good.

But why?

Like most folks, I thought the simple secret to obesity was caused by over-consumption of food. 

That was before I started to realize that food itself has changed. I wrote about this here.

As my interest in this topic grew, more facts about our digestive systems grew. It seems not only good food is important for health, but knowledge of something called a microbiome helps to support it.

In fact, you don’t even need to have a dog or cat in your life. Your personal microbiome can be looked after and appreciated with the nourishment and caring you provide.

I’m guessing most of us don’t really think too much about the trillions of microorganisms that live in our bodies. Usually, they live together quite peacefully. The only time we think of them is if there is an infection. That’s when we team up with a doctor to kill the offending ones with antibiotics.

How much is a trillion? 

Short and sweet--1000 billion (1,000,000,000,000) is 1 trillion. Those tiny microbes seem to practice tolerance as they glom together. They all have a lot of work to do, so that keeps them busy and out of mischief, as long as their host bodies (that’s you) treat them fairly. This huge collection of microbes is referred to as your microbiome.

Scientists seem to agree that our microbiomes are considered by them to be a large organ in the body, weighing from 3-5 lbs, in most cases.  Imagine!  All those tiny microbes are distributed throughout your body, but mostly in the large and small intestines.

You can see by this that what you eat would have a huge effect on your microbiome. Your DNA determines your beginnings of it when you’re born, but later on it’s your diet and where you happen to be on our planet that continually helps in its health protectiveness or its lurch towards your ill health, depending on the balance of your particular microbiome.

It’s pretty well established by the food scientists now that their Ultra-processed foods  (UPF) have achieved their objectives of creating new taste delights and convenience for global appetites. Intertwine those guys with the marketers the lawyers, and the internet. Now you’ve really created a whole new nutritional system for humanity.

OpenClipart-Vectors of Pixabay

If you don’t really care to treat your precious microbiome to UPF, knowing they’re not real foods, there are some defensive measures you can take.

Admittedly it takes a while longer to do your food purchases. But it may be worth it for the sake of your body.

• Read the labels. Learn to make sense of them.
• Walk around the perimeter of a grocery store, and buy your whole, unprocessed foods there. ( this used to work quite well, but now I notice those convenience foods aggressively intruding there.) You may see an entire freezer case of pizzas at rock bottom prices. Spices, dressings, meats already lathered in sauces ready for you to use. 
• Feed your gut microbiome with prebiotic foods, like apples, artichokes, bananas, barley, oats, chia and flaxseeds, alliums like garlic and onions, beans and legumes, green and black teas, and even cocoa. Adding chia seeds to oatmeal, cooking with a generous amount of garlic and onion, incorporating chickpeas into a salad, can all help your health.

Then again, some members of the microbiome team really appreciate you providing them with fermented foods like kefir, yogurt with live active cultures, pickled vegetables, tempeh, kombucha tea, kimchi, miso, and sauerkraut.

The essence of all this is that much research is going on to give people the help they need to eat satisfying food. It’s very well documented now that sugar should be eliminated. Sugar-free artificial sweeteners are also apparently just as much a problem, according to several studies in the Canadian Medical Journal Association. They are linked to weight gain, not weight loss.

In those days, so long ago, we ate lots of sugar. It was always cane sugar. There weren’t artificial sweeteners. There weren’t processed foods. There was no internet, so countries weren’t subjected to ultra-processed advertising. Countries all used their own local whole foods to a major extent.

So, it’s confusing. Probably the best bet is to remember the size of your stomach, and not overfill. Eat a variety of whole foods, but not too much. 

What you eat is going to either delight your microbiome, or stress it out trying to cope with food that it doesn’t recognize as being real food.

Autumn’s new arrivals

I love to cross over the little bridge in the mornings, and see the different stages of plant life. Animals too, the squirrels, as they gather walnuts and bury them for the winter.

Saw these fascinating fungi amid leaves dropping quietly from the massive trees.

Alemy

Hlasek Images via VickiW Image via VickiW

A one-pot wonder in your kitchen!

 

Image via  Clker-Free-Vector-Images of Pixabay

A taxing endeavor

It’s true. Moving from one place to another is traumatic. Downsizing from a detached home to a condominium is an adjustment that must be made, and it’s slow. Realizing that structural changes are necessary is not easy, but must be done on our forty-year old new home.

It’s all a process. At the moment things like books, favourite kitchen equipment are locked away until we complete our kitchen redesign plans. We are looking at months of work ahead, even with the best scenario.

I miss my food processor, but it’s in a box somewhere. We have two storage lockers. They’re both full. 

The most amazing kitchen equipment I have, stored for the time being on a chair, is my very well used pressure cooker. Since our move I’ve used it almost every day. 

It’s not one of those old ones that has a jiggling little weight on top as it comes to pressure. It won’t explode, as happened in those old days. It is able to perform several functions with willingness and accuracy. You just have to push the right buttons, and always have a half cup of liquid in the bottom of it if you’re using the pressure cooking function.

One pot cooking at its finest!

At my family’s insistence I briefly tried one of those everything-done-for-you services. The idea of someone else doing the prep work for a meal was very tempting. 

I’ve always felt a sous chef would be lovely to have. Someone who would prepare all my ingredients. Plus of course, someone else to wash all the pots and pans involved in each meal.

So these prepared ingredients would definitely fit the bill. They were fresh veggies, plus any spices and condiments needed for a particular meal.They were carefully packaged, and delivered in a large bag, complete with freezer pack to keep them cool. You took one bag, and returned the previous one.

The meals were delicious. You followed their beautifully coloured enclosed recipe cards step by step. An admirable way to teach beginner cooks. 

Not a good match

I dutifully tried this way of cooking about three times. You have to give things a try before you decide it’s not for you. 

The big downside with the system was my recycling container filled up very quickly with a lot of packaging involved. It was amazing. It was well- thought out. The best thing would be that it encouraged cooking for novices who otherwise would be spending their money on take-outs or restaurants. But the dealbreaker was that they didn’t send someone to wash plates, pots and pans afterwards! 

Crucially, in my case, I seemed to be using every pot and pan to produce these meals. My pressure cooker stood reproachfully and idly on its makeshift chair. None of my cabinets are large enough to hold it. 

Image via VickiW

A closer look...

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Works for me!

Finally, I decided it was enough. No more fussy cooking for me. No more incredible amounts of packaging filling up the landfill. Regretfully, I opted to use my large knife for food prep. I should never have parted from my food processor. But there just isn’t enough counter space in the new-but-very old kitchen. 

It’s cutting board days for me now. I’m blessed to have a good space to work in. I have a fridge, a dishwasher and a range with oven. Not much to complain about.

I carried the lonely pressure cooker to the stove. I plugged it into the receptacle on the stove. I think insta pot ones came after mine. Who knows, maybe they copied mine? But what I do know is in all the time since moving, and after getting partially organized, I’ve enjoyed a grateful daily cook with Polly, my mostly pressurized superb kitchen friend. 

Not only is she adept at pressure cooking. Sautéing, steaming, slow cooking and keeping completed dishes warm are also in her repertoire.

This morning Polly made perfectly cooked rice, in preparation for a shrimp fried rice dish later on. It has to be chilled before I use it. It is my last cook with her. Took 3 minutes cooking time, 10 minutes after pressure release.

Image via VickiW

A bitter-sweet parting

Yesterday, thinking of my gratitude for this wonderful little appliance, I decided to give Polly away. I have cooked with her for 13 years now.

One of my dear friends has a smaller kitchen than mine, and fewer “things” than I have. I called and asked if she’d like to own a well-used but very good pressure cooker. She’s now excited to wait for the arrival of the UPS driver.

At the same time I ordered an instant pot. It is remarkably similar to my beloved Polly, but with more bells and whistles. In addition to all the things previously described, I will now be able to do the following: 

• Sous vide
• Make yoghurt
• Bake
• Sterilize

All 10 functions in one sleek appliance that doesn’t take up much space.

If you’re a person who believes in mainly cooking with unprocessed foods, and who has a horror attack when seeing in shopping baskets what many families consume on a daily basis, a modern pressure cooker is a great tool to help you. 

Modern pressure cookers reduce cook times by 70%, and use way less energy. Their programming ensures that your meal results are usually perfect, but there is a little bit of a learning curve, as some dish components need a few more minutes than others. But as you get used to it, it’s a fascinating and enjoyable way to cook.

Quite honestly, I can’t think of a downside!

Starting over

Amazing how little things can mean so much!  Just give those dormant saffron corms a little bit of moisture, and they perk right up! The rains have begun. In two days the shoots appeared, even with a couple of flowers!

It’s not the same as having thousands of corms, as I had before we moved, almost five months ago. But it’s fun, and hopefully my two large pots will serve as a place for saffron multiplication in the near future. The blossoms smell and look beautiful.

Image via VickiW

Ultra-processed food: The low down

Lunch on the go...

School has started again. For senior students, it seems to mean important face-to-face conversations again, mostly at lunch recess times. The other day I found myself in the midst of several young school folks, all buying and sharing fast food ( fried chicken, pizza, etc). I watched them for a few minutes, then asked one of them if kids still pack a lunch for school?

He sized me up quickly, and realized immediately I meant no harm, was just a relic from the dinosaur age. Maybe he even had a grandmother who asked these same ridiculous questions?

From him, I gleaned the fact that no, kids no longer pack a lunch. It’s not “cool”. The peer pressure would be unbearable.

I watched as the “kids” pulled out numerous $20 bills to pay for the food. In a rash moment, I asked my new friend how they have so much money. His eyes shushed me, then he said “They all work for it.” 

Era abilities and preferences

Times have changed. I couldn’t help but think, as older folks are annoyingly apt to do, that this little event would never have happened in my life at my friend’s age.  Everyone packed a lunch. No thought of buying it. 

Lunch was a sandwich, and hopefully some fruit. The sandwich was made with leftovers from yesterday, or several days ago. Some were good enough to share. No ham from the deli. There was no deli!

My fascination with discovering this new teen species increased as I saw there is a kind of hierarchy in sharing lunches now. If you’re popular, you get a share of the actual fried protein. If you don’t cut it, you’re lucky to get one crispy French fry, and everyone laughs at you. Such is the cruelty of youth.

Stats

From academic studies, we can find information about this type of meal that I saw. Fried Chicken, pizzas, and virtually anything children love to eat, are ultra-processed foods. This is a very large, complicated topic, but it’s importance is probably one of the major issues facing the global community today. Eating habits have changed throughout the world, as food conglomerates extend their reach to make more money. Disease is way up, health is way down.

Fact of the matter, we’ll just look at the US for this stat, although it’s applicable to most countries now.

A large 2021 study of 33,7795 youths, aged 2-19 years, showed consumption of ultra-processed foods increased from 61.4% to 67.0%. Unprocessed, or minimally processed, foods decreased from 28.8% to 23.5%.

As I looked at this new-to-me group of youngsters, buying and gorging down their ultra-processed meals, I couldn’t help but observe only two of them were not noticeably obese.

Another interesting study from Canada discusses the links between ultra-processed food and chronic diseases: Study links diet of ultra-processed foods to chronic disease risk

A quality perspective

Strange how some events that seem minor can have lasting effects on people. Talking to the teens is one. It completely changed my thoughts regarding this situation of ultra-processed foods. Then, this email, from a dear friend in Sechelt, came across my desk the other day.

Hi Vicki,

I was in IGA for some yogurt, for the probiotics therein and happened upon an artichoke, different isle, but sometimes you go where your feet take you, and into my basket it went. When I got home I thought I'd better cook up that lovely thing before it languished in the back of the refrigerator, alone and forgotten because I seldom think of artichokes. 

Anyway, I got out one of my few remaining cookbooks to check on the proper timing, but no luck. Nothing on artichokes. 

Pawed through another cookbook, again nada. \

Brought out the Victory Garden cookbook and surprisingly.....nothing at all on artichokes. But, because it is a cookbook and therefore worthy of at least a quick scan, I ruffled through several pages and lo! What did I find under "beets"!? I found your darling recipe for Vicki's Bolognese Sauce, darling, because you actually took the time to photocopy your favourite tomatoes and dried mushrooms. For some reason, this discovery made me very happy.  

I didn't have Bolognese sauce in my mind at all, but I did immediately feel a jolt of true friendship and a closeness that was absolutely delightful. 

You can be very sure of what will be simmering away in my little kitchen tomorrow. Not a single mushroom on hand, so today is out of the question. 

Much love, S.

Here’s the recipe...

Images via VickiW

Moving forward

I have decided to write more fully on three topics that folks need to hear about in these crazy, chaotic times we find ourselves in. I want to promote more about 

• Ultra-processed food 
• Climate change
• Kindness

Zuch

I had no idea what this was! 

At first, I thought it might be vomitus from an animal. Then, I thought it might be excreta. But no, it’s little fresh nibbled chunks, possibly spat out by some animal. 

Possibly zucchini? 

Nah... Everyone likes zucchini!

Zucchini?
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