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Monday 28 August 2023

Three words will do



As experts warn...


Is there any fellow in that show who can pull things straight? They’re playing the old game in which they are experts, but it isn’t the game the country requires.

John Buchan - A Prince of the Captivity (1933)


7 comments:

DiscoveredJoys said...

Ultra processed foods may well be bad for your cardiovascular system as they contain more fructose and seed oils (containing linoleic acid) to make them keep longer and taste better.

But... if you are less likely to die of a heart attack or stroke you must mathematically be more likely to die from cancer. I suspect no expert can really inform you, as an individual, which diet and life style is best for you, only which ones are more likely to be worse.

A few people die unexpectedly early. A few people drink alcohol every day, smoke, and eat a poor diet, yet live until their 90s. Do you feel lucky?

Sam Vega said...

Surely the Chinese can sort out our diet when they take over what remains of the country.

A K Haart said...

DJ - presumably we are also more likely to suffer from dementia if we live longer and more likely to end up in a care home. It could be said that the lucky ones are those who die suddenly shortly before they are unable to look after themselves.

Sam - I'm thinking rice and maybe more rice.

dearieme said...

As far as I can see there is no definition of "ultra-processed" that makes scientific sense. But whatever it's purported to mean the doctrine must presumably tell you to prefer butter to margarine, the exact opposite of what the diet propagandists were propounding for decades. It must also imply that eggs - boiled, poached, scrambled or fried in butter or lard - are good for you, again reversing decades of propaganda. Milk, cream, cheese - all good for you; yet another reversal.

Anyway if "they contain more fructose" scares you I do hope you avoid honey and, indeed, most fruits.
Apples, for instance, Cantaloupe, Mangoes, Oranges, Pears, Raisins, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Watermelon, Currants.
Blueberries, Brambles, Papaya, Raspberries, ...

In fact if you fear fructose you should shun ordinary table sugar.

A K Haart said...

dearieme - I don't think diet faddists want a definition of "ultra-processed" that makes scientific sense. As you say, it would reverse decades of propaganda. Meat and two veg could become the ideal meal.

dearieme said...

I've never understood "meat and two veg". Do potatoes count as one of the veg, or does the expression simply assume that of course there are potatoes and so mentions only the non-tuberous part of the dish?

A K Haart said...

dearieme - I've always taken it as meat and two veg plus spuds when spuds were roasted round the meat and counted as part of the meat dish. And don't I miss that meal - mother-in-law was a dab hand at it.