Things I notice

Some possibly interesting stuff... not really about weightloss or bands, but about food. Bit eco-food warrior!! Kind of a rant at commercialism.

Before we start, you know I am cutting MSG from my food, but I, as an MSG-sensitive individual, I consider the term "MSG" to include any and all glutamic acid that has been freed from protein through a manufacturing process. Thought I had better make that clear so that where you read MSG read 'glutamic acid freed from protein in any form'

Milk
Whole full fat milk has 64cals 100g (natural occurring MSG)
Semi skimmed milk 50cals 100g (MSG+)
skimmed milk has 37 cals 100g. (MSG++)

And for general information:
UHT Whole milk (MSG +++)
UHT Semi Skimmed (MSG++++)
UHT skimmed (MSG+++++) - what I was drinking!

When I have a coffee, I used to use skimmed UHT milk. I used to buy 40 x 1 litre cartons at a time so that I would have enough milk for the month. We used 1.5 litres of milk every day as a family (which is about 3 pints)

We now drink Full Fat Whole Organic milk so as to minimize MSG and we find we are using 1 and a half pints per day. This is HALF the milk EVERY DAY and it tastes better, is the most natural form of milk out of all of them, as opposed to the most processed which we used to drink. I thought we would use more milk if anything, so this is interesting to me.

When I have a coffee, it no longer has to be half a pint of milk in the cup to make it milky the way I like it. I now have a literal 'dash' of milk and let it cool down. When I first started using it I was putting in the same amount of milk and it was disgustingly creamy and horrible. I quickly adapted, and to get the same colour and taste I have to use exactly 1/4 the amount of milk that I used to use.

So what does that mean in general?

Well we are taught "drink skimmed milk, its less calories and you will lose weight"...

That's utter crap. I have just done an experiment - you know I am an anal retentive already right? I used to use 100mls of Skimmed milk in my coffee. It filled 1/4 of the cup with milk every cup I had. This meant I would use 37 calories a cup. I know this because I am anal.

Now, however, I use 25 mls of Whole Milk in each and every cup. 25mls of Whole milk is ONLY 16 CALORIES A CUP! I am actually CUTTING my calories by more than half by having whole milk!! Now who would have thought that?

I have always thought that skimmed milk was a great way to sell water, but this just makes me really angry. I am so fucked off with the MAN right now its unreal. It was the same when I was looking into the shit labeling of Muller lights. You have to have a frigging maths degree to work this bollocks out.

What has less calories - 200ml serving of Whole Milk or 200ml serving Orange Juice?

Well yes you are right, Orange juice has less. There are 86 calories in a 200ml glass or orange juice. There would be 134 on the same glass of whole milk.

But think about that a little more. How many people go and have a glass of milk as a supplimentary healthy drink? No one but kids. How many people think that having a glass or 3 of orange juice a day - in excess of their usual diet -is good for them? I know several people who drink skimmed milk in their coffee and tea because its good for them, but get through a 1/2 litre of orange juice a day. Its marketed as being good for you, which I am sure it is in moderation, but its not the health drink its purported to be. I am not saying that milk is either, but I just think its interesting that there are serious flaws in the marketting of products we eat regularly. There is money to be made, and that makes people very strange.

I have been completely satisfied these last 2 weeks. Everything I eat has really satisfied me. I have even cut down on my coffee intake as it now tastes like it comes from Starbucks and seems to be more satisfying in a way.

I had yoghurt with honey for breakfast - full fat organic stuff - and I was not hungry all the way to lunch. If people are full and content they are not going to buy products and make the companies money.

All this low fat stuff is crammed full of shit in one form or another, and the satisfaction doesn't last. to me that's a bit odd. I am really glad I cut out MSG because its kind of made me realise a lot of things and they have really pissed me off.

Here's another horror. I have cleared my pantry out of all MSG containing products and, although it looks bare now I know there is nothing in there that will tempt me. I gave all my stuff to a friend who was quite willing to relief me of it. My freezer however, has home made things that do contain OXO or a few frozen meals etc which I just cannot bring to throw away. they are not readily in my face, so its not a worry. I have lots of meat in there and other things, and once its gone its gone. It will gradually be replaced with stuff from the organic butchers Johnson's of Oldhurst.

The other night I cooked a bit of a roast. I had 4 chicken breasts from Johnson's and 1 left over from Tesco. There are 5 of us, so I shoved them all on a baking tray and put them in the oven as usual. they were all the same size give or take for general variation in chicken boobs.

35 minutes later I go to get them out of the oven as I usually do, and The Tesco one was cooked and, as happens to meat, it was about 1/4 smaller from shrinkage. the other breasts were not cooked. they were all the same size and I had to give them an extra 20 mins until the juices ran clear! The Johnson's breasts were more than double the size of the Tesco one.

This was a real annoyance. The small wizened and hard chicken breast from Tesco and 4 plump juicy breasts from Johnson's sat on my chopping board. I served it up and actually gave myself the wizened one, although I now knew it must have been chock full of water and fillers and god knows what else, but simply because there was no way I could have eat a whole Johnson's breast.

Well funnily enough no one else could either! Even DH left some chicken. He said it was SO dense and filling. He could have gone halves. Charlotte left most of hers and Sue left half of hers. DS gave the rest of his to the dog.

So the meat from tesco (Lakeland Frozen chicken fillets) cost £9.22kg. The Johnsons ones were - wait for it - £7.94kg!!!!! Frigging Cheaper!!!!! I just rang them, so I know its correct (did I say I was anal).
Now the sad thing about this is that I bought frozen ready bagged chicken. If I had bought fresh organic breasts from Tesco today they were a staggering £17.49kg. the ones I think everyone would normally buy - Tesco healthy living ones - are £10.99kg .

They are ALL dearer than Johnsons and they all taste like shit, and shrink to half the size. We have a case of selling water again. I honestly couldn't remember what the chicken breasts were at the butcher shop, so I called them and found out. But had he said £15kg I would still have thought that was a bargain because there was double the meat there at the end of cooking. I was even flabbergasted at the price.

To be honest I am finding stuff like this across the board. It has been so hard to go additive free and even get normal healthy meat and vegetables at a reasonable cost. Doing this needent cost the earth, and nor should it. Its a hell of a lot more work though. But thats just it, its easier to go with the Man.

Today I hopped on the scales and saw the 16 stone 8 again. The curse is all finished and water levels are returning to normal again thank heavens and everything seems to be still on a downward trend.

Couple this with every day having some kind of home made cake, real butter, whole milk, home made bread and then a selection of fruit and vegetables and cereals that are additive free... I am more satisfied, and the band also has to cope with less food as a result and there are no calorie rich sauces helping it all slide down there. I had very mild cravings for chocolate during this months curse, and it was satisfied by a square ( a SINGLE square) or Peruvian 70 which has absolutely nothing in it but cocoa mass and cocoa solid. Unreal.

I would urge anyone struggling with the band as I have, to look at your diet again. Obviously different countries have different laws and guidelines and names for stuff, and I am in the UK. It might be easier to avoid stuff like this in other countries where there is more of a home grown mentality... like Canning or Bottling for example. You cannot buy a pressure canner in the UK. full stop. This means that you MUST buy or cook often all your jarred foods. Most people nowadays don't even know how to cook these things so buying them is as fundamentally basic as buying bread or eggs. Bought jarred foods are now a basic shopping need as opposed to a convenience or luxury.

The book I hired at the library actually said "Do not can your own vegetables as fatal results could occur as the high temperature required for canning these items cannot be reached". Well, sorry that's just wrong. It CAN be reached, by a pressure canner which you cant buy in the UK. Going to the Czech republic taught me the lesson of what wanton wasters of food we are. Everything was canned, dried or pickled there. Everything that ever had a biological life. Why isn't this way of preserving made public knowledge? The book on canning I bought is an American one! Yes the Brits make chutney, or pickle or jams, but not canned ratatouille or mustard greens and bacon, or baked beans etc. We have to buy them. Maybe they are worried that people wont do it correctly and the health risk of Botulism etc... But I think its more risky to eat all this canned shit with god knows what in.

Yes its hard work baking bread each day, cooking from scratch, remembering to drain your veg water into a bowl rather than down the sink, making cakes daily, shopping in 15 different locations for ingredients, but out great grandmothers weren't fat. And they didn't go to work either!

Buy eating processed foods, we have to join slimming clubs, look for different foods that are low fat and taste good and buy umpteen different things and then feel bad because its not satisfying and go out and have a chinese takeaway and then feel guilty and still hungry and eat junk food and then go back and spend more money on the gym and slimming clubs.... ad infintum.

Our great grandmothers were not fat, cooked from scratch did not go to the gym, and as is commonly suggested they didn't do manual labour either... that was the men. Granny was at home with the kids and the kids were looked after ok and the community as a whole was better.

I am not suggesting that the worlds problems are created from MSG, its just funny how my thoughts run in logical low to weird knock on effects.

I know that they died of heart attacks and high cholesterol etc life in general was harder with lack of vaccum cleaners and washing machines, but then they didn't have the amount of furniture to polish or the amount of carpets to clean . But then even 50 years ago - with these mod cons - obesity wasn't the crisis it is now so I well know its a balancing act - But a very interesting one at any rate.