Sugar - My disastrous binge and some more thoughts

With all this Healthy food preaching, I would like to make it clear that I am not self righteous. I eat too much sugar myself (although as I've said before, I don't buy many processed foods).  I have sugar in my tea and coffee. I love milk chocolate and cake...and biscuits.  I have tried to give up sugar in my tea but I then just stop drinking it and then eat more chocolate to compensate. It's an addiction, I know this and for that reason I'd like to reduce. 

I had my NHS health check (for the over 40's) the other day and I was very low risk of everything, which was great but I am not sure how clear a picture they get of a person.  I eat healthily, I generally don't consume much sugar on an average day.  My tea and coffees amount to around 2 teaspoons a day and my daily food sugar consumption is pretty low but what is not taken into account is the female monthly binge on chocolate for instance.  This happened to me the evening of my health check and the day after.  

My lovely husband thought that as a treat he would buy me a medium size bar of Toblerone, which he'd seen on offer whilst picking up some milk. I offered him some and he had one, maybe two triangles.  I consumed three that evening. I could have had more but it was already late.  The next day I was busy working and kept nipping back for more, feeling the need for a pick-me-up.  Lunch time came and went and I picked at some more.  Eventually I realised I needed some lunch and must stop eating chocolate.   The same afternoon I downloaded the @sugarsmart app from Change4Life to experiment for my campaign.  Knowing that my cupboards have very little inside that is in their database I started with the Toblerone.  I was shocked....I was appalled....I stopped eating it immediately and asked my husband to remove it or hide it from me.  In each triangle there is 2.2 sugar cubes.  That's about 2 level teaspoons of sugar.  In around 15 hours I ate about 16 teaspoons of sugar.  Something like Toblerone isn't just chocolate, it has the nougat bits inside, which increase the sugar but this makes it even more addictive. 

I have had a wake up call.  I know that on the average day I don't consume a huge amount of sugar but on days like the 'Toblerone day' I have no control. No will power.  Just sugar addiction. 

Yesterday, a friend and I tried the app in her kitchen.  She had a few more applicable products, but not many. Again, it was pretty shocking to see how much sugar there is in seemingly everyday products and 'healthyish' cereals. 

What we concluded (for now) though was that as two mum's who cook from scratch most of the time, the 'occasional' convenience food for that late arrival at tea time is fine.  The days that we will need to monitor are those where they have been with a parent or grandparent who doesn't follow our way of dealing with food or a day of treats.  A hot chocolate, a lolly, a piece of cake, a couple of biscuits....all of those could tip their sugar levels over the edge or way over the edge depending whether they have one or two or more treats.  But, as a wise friend of mine once said to me, as long as you are cooking from scratch, teaching them about food and sugar and not consuming much at home, then the days that are overloaded with sugar will balance out over a week.  Look at the whole week, not just the day.  

I think this is good advice....although I don't think that justifies my Toblerone binge!

I would recommend downloading the app as you may think that you are sugar smart already but like us you might be frightening surprised. 

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January thoughts

So, we are heading towards the end of January. I didn't make any resolutions.  I never do. I'm more of a 'do it for the right reason at the right time' kind of girl rather than 'because it's the 1st of January'.  In the same way I have never dieted, I just make changes to my diet by making more healthy choices. 

In the past couple of weeks I have looked at adding more varied seasonal vegetables into my diet and buying them locally.

I love good healthy food but I didn't grow up loving vegetables like my little boy does.  I grew up in the 70's with a mother who couldn't cook when she got married (she was taught by my dad!) and the vegetables were more often than not, overcooked.  Food was generally very English, meat and two veg.  I loved meat but I only really liked raw veg.  In fact, given half the chance I would have happily eaten all my veg raw but the benefits of raw food were unknown and I was pretty much forced to eat my overcooked veg.  It was often minced in a Mouli-mix into my gravy so that I had fine green bits floating around in the now thick gravy otherwise I would retch over my dinner as I tried to eat them.  I should mention that for the past 20+ years my mum has been a FANTASTIC cook.  However, she feels proud that now, as an adult I eat 'everything' and more.  From my side I really don't think that this success is down to mum forcing me to eat overcooked veg!  Saying that, in spite of the rise of food technology and the influx of more processed foods around that time, we had only home cooked food prepared from scratch generally.  No spaghetti hoops or baked beans, no fish fingers or any of the other ready meals...just home made food.  Perhaps this is the good food education that I received and where mum can feel proud (although I am quite partial to a fish finger, particularly in a sandwich with crusty bread). 

Although I am now a great vegetable eater I don't often buy typically British winter veg like cabbage, sprouts, kale, parsnips, swede, cauliflower etc.  I would eat them with a Sunday roast (at my mum's....crunchily cooked nowadays) but wasn't interested enough to make them at home.  Rediscovering these veggies has been one of the best elements of my social media campaign so far.  Seasonal veg is by far better for us than imported veg.  For me and my tastes though, I often prefer to mix and match the seasonal veg with the imported...or use some great spices. 

My mission over the past couple of weeks has been to try new recipes for seasonal veg in order to make them less boring.  So what seasonal foods have I cooked and how?


CAULIFLOWER

 Cauli tossed in garlic and olive oil and topped with parmesan breadcrumbs (although I usually use Grana Padano as it's cheaper). Yummy...addictive. 












KALE  

Kale crisps...first impressions quite nice but edges get a bit dark almost a burnt taste. Second attempt better but wasn't sure about the after taste and green bits in my teeth.  Other than that pretty delicious.











Various varieties of kale added to an onion, garlic, olive oil, smoked bacon canellini beans and tomato.  Should steam kale first as it was still a bit chewy but delicious. 

BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Steamed in a little water in wok then olive oil added with garlic and cumin seeds to stir fry gently.  Add a little more water at the end if too crunchy still.  This also softens the cumin seeds. Delicious.  My three year old couldn't get enough. 















SWISS CHARD

Steamed until fairly soft and then ground rock salt, olive oil and lemon juice added. Simple and delish. 


















PURPLE SPROUTING BROCCOLI
In a delicious Gino D'Campo recipe for pasta with broccoli rabe (haven't found it here) where cherry tomatoes, lots of garlic and a little chilli are simmered in olive oil then poured over the pasta and broccoli. 















Purple sprouting gratin steamed or lightly boiled and then a béchamel sauce poured over the top which is then topped with cheese. 

















They have all been delicious and the best thing is that my son really enjoyed them too.

More seasonal veg to come this week and I'll be looking a bit further into the issue of children's food education and sugar...as well as my own sugar addiction.

Soon I will begin making pledges to the following issues and perhaps you'll think about joining me!

#EatSeasonal #KeepYaPoundsLocal #BuyLocal  #ReduceFoodWaste #TeachEmYoung #ReduceSugar

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After Christmas lull - A slow start.

Happy 2016!

So, January has arrived, the holidays are over and now it's time to find some energy to ramp up my campaign.  

My Christmas holiday was away so I don't have an excess of food to use up for my food waste interest. Number 1 fail for my campaign.

I came home and immediately went straight out to the supermarket for 'all' of my groceries because it was convenient and I needed to get on with the unpacking, washing and cleaning before hurriedly settling down to some work.  So I've failed on the shopping locally then!  Number 2 fail for my campaign.

...and now I'm wondering why I am not feeling motivated!  

On a positive note I did however feel very disappointed at the dry bag of Kale that I bought from the supermarket and immediately went straight out and bought a beautiful fresh head from the local greengrocer.  I couldn't bear to throw out good food though so instead I found a great recipe for Kale crisps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi9RFJ-soVc) and experimented with those, which were amazing. What this taught me was that we all need to go to the supermarket at some point in our busy lives for convenience...use it if you have to but admit defeat and pledge to try not to buy everything there and rejoice when you have the same discovery as I did, that buying local is so much more enjoyable, fresher and healthier. Just look at this kale!

The week did improve after all and I managed to get to the farmers market and also made a batch of basil pesto for the freezer....and it is the best pesto EVER.

So, other than shopping locally, eating seasonally and reducing food waste, what am I really interested in this January....what do I feel passionate about..what is bugging me that is constantly in the news in the food world...... 'Sugar' and particularly sugar and children.

I have a 3 year old who is increasingly interested in lollypops and chocolate and anything sweet. I have been fairly restrictive over the past 3 years with the attitude of 'what he doesn't know, he doesn't need' but now he is starting to discover and I know that restriction isn't the answer.   Christmas abroad was a disaster on the sugar front.  My little boy ate more biscuits and chocolate than he had ever had in his 3 & a half years.  Often he was able to self regulate but why is it that people think that it is a good idea to fill little mouths with so much sugar!?  As a parent of a boy who loves food and eats his veg as a priority, how can I start to teach him about sugar and how do I manage his intake without being too restrictive and having a counter effect?  If we eat very little processed food, am I over reacting to additional sugar intake?

This month I will be looking into sugar and food education for children #TeachEmYoung as well as maintaining my interest in #KeepYaPoundsLocal #EatSeasonal #EatWellNotDiet #WasteNot.  

Join me to find out more.  

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