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Sorry to be boring on a subject not really relevant to us forumites - but this is an very in depth survey of Fast food and insight into to the industry. Including a huge amount on modern marketing using sMS etc

http://www.fastfoodmarketing.org/media/FastFoodFACTS_Report.pdf

What sort of stood out for me more than the normal growth in FFeating was that in the last few decades most items introduced in ff outlets are 2 to 5 times bigger.!!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

and for htose societies where food is industrialised

A deficiency of dietary omega-3 may explain depressive behaviors

January 30, 2011 How maternal essential fatty acid deficiency impact on its progeny is poorly understood. Dietary insufficiency in omega-3 fatty acid has been implicated in many disorders. Researchers from Inserm and INRA and their collaborators in Spain collaboration, have studied mice fed on a diet low in omega-3 fatty acid. They discovered that reduced levels of omega-3 had deleterious consequences on synaptic functions and emotional behaviours. Details of this work are available in the online version of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

In industrialized nations, diets have been impoverished in essential fatty acids since the beginning of the 20th century. The dietary ratio between omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid omega-3 increased continuously over the course of the 20th century. These fatty acids are "essential" lipids because the body cannot synthesize them from new. They must therefore be provided through food and their dietary balance is essential to maintain optimal brain functions.

Olivier Manzoni (Head of Research Inserm Unit 862, "Neurocentre Magendie", in Bordeaux and Unit 901 "Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée" in Marseille), and Sophie Layé (Head of Research at INRA Unit 1286, "Nutrition et Neurobiologie Intégrative" in Bordeaux) and their co-workers hypothesized that chronic malnutrition during intra-uterine development, may later influence synaptic activity involved in emotional behaviour (e.g. depression, anxiety) in adulthood.

To verify their hypotheses, the researchers studied mice fed a life-long diet imbalanced in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. They found that omega-3 deficiency disturbed neuronal communication specifically. The researchers observed that only the cannabinoid receptors, which play a strategic role in neurotransmission, suffer a complete loss of function. This neuronal dysfunction was accompanied by depressive behaviours among the malnourished mice.

Among omega-3 deficient mice, the usual effects produced by cannabinoid receptor activation, on both the synaptic and behavioural levels, no longer appear. Thus, the CB1R receptors lose their synaptic activity and the antioxidant effect of the cannabinoids disappears.

Consequently, the researchers discovered that among mice subjected to an omega-3 deficient dietary regime, synaptic plasticity, which is dependent on the CB1R cannabinoid receptors, is disturbed in at least two structures involved with reward, motivation and emotional regulation: the prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens. These parts of the brain contain a large number of CB1R cannabinoid receptors and have important functional connections with each other.

"Our results can now corroborate clinical and epidemiological studies which have revealed associations between an omega-3/omega-6 imbalance and mood disorders", explain Olivier Manzoni and Sophie Layé. "To determine if the omega-3 deficiency is responsible for these neuropsychiatric disorders additional studies are, of course, required".

In conclusion, the authors estimate that their results provide the first biological components of an explanation for the observed correlation between omega-3 poor diets, which are very widespread in the industrialized world, and mood disorders such as depression.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-deficiency-dietary-omega-depressive-behaviors.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/foods-rich-in-omega3-fatty-acids-a143527

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Hey what about the good stuff other than fish? And it must be tricky living in a port ME to have to eat fish : 0. Anywya it is probably like taking low dose aspirin - its always has some effect no matter how late you start.!

Sources of Alpha-linolenic Acid

Since the body cannot make ALA, this fatty acid must be consumed in the diet. Approximately 35 percent of ALA found in food is converted to EPA and DHA. Good sources of ALA include:

  • Flaxseeds and flaxseed oil
  • Soybeans and soybean oil
  • Walnuts
  • Brazil nuts
  • Soy nuts
  • Olive oil
  • Hemp seeds
  • Pumpkin seeds

Omega-3 fatty acids are not only found in fish, nuts, seeds and oils. Fruits and vegetables that are good sources of omega-3s include: kidney beans, navy beans, tofu, winter and summer squash, certain berries such as raspberries and strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, romaine lettuce, and collard greens. Wheat germ and free-range beef and poultry are also good sources of omega-3s.

If foods rich in ALA are the only dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, it is important to limit saturated and trans fats in the diet as both can interfere with the conversion of ALA to EPA and DHA.

The US and Canada with a huge number of lakes should be able to provide a lot of fresh fish anyway. The other thing is the cutting out of the fats that decrease omega 3 fats take-up

In contrast, the absorption and subsequent metabolism of EPA and DHA are reduced when large amounts of other polyunsaturated fatty acids are present. Meals rich in vegetable oils, such as soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower and cottonseed oils, provide substantial linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid that competes with omega-3s. Vegetable oils rich in monounsaturates, such as canola and olive oils, have much less linoleic acid, so they do not interfere with omega-3 metabolism. Western diets contain 10 to 20 times as much omega-6s as omega-3s. Widespread use of vegetable oils, especially soybean oil, contributes to this highly imbalanced intake of these two fatty acid families.

For strict vegetarians, supplements produced from microorganisms or marine algae are sources of EPA and DHA. Marine algae vary widely in their content of omega-3s ranging from 17% to nearly 50%. The content of alpha-linolenic acid compared with EPA also varies widely (3% to 24%). Marine algae are not commonly available in the U.S.

http://www.fatsoflife.com/omega-3-in-fish-food-and-supplement.php

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  • 4 weeks later...

Pig cheeks ... ugh ... I once had a pasta dish at a restaurant that contained pig cheeks. They were like little pork flavoured fat strips (way worse than bacon, even!) in my pasta dish. I left all the little bits in a neat pile on the side of my plate.

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Sorry, did you mean - EeK!

: )

Any meat can be ruined. My wife disapproved highly of pork belly to the point of never having eat it or cooked it, and todaY I pointed out one of her favourite chefs said :

I sometimes think that if I could have only one piece of meat it would be a piece of pork belly. It has everything I look for – crisp skin, chewy fat, tender meat and masses of flavour. It also happens to be one of the cheapest cuts. I often just whack it in a very hot oven, leave it for 20 minutes or so, then turn the heat down and let it cook very slowly. Sometimes I leave the ribs in, other times I get the butcher to bone and skin it. A real carnivore's cut, this one – wonderful with masses of steamed greens at its side.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/11/nigel-slater-recipes-pork-belly

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Hemp hearts (the inside of the seed) are readily available at organic markets and online. They remind me of pistachios in both taste and texture.

I wanted to ask you, Bugged, how are they served up? Are they roasted like nuts, or something else? I am finding it hard to picture them as being substantial enough to justify the toil of preparing them. The few hemp seeds I ever cracked were virtually all shell and empty inside.

Michael

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You can eat hemp hearts like you would flax seed or chia seed (brand name Salba). They're all similar in size. The package I have suggests sprinkling it on salad, and that's what I've done. But I've also just poured a handful and eaten it straight up. That's when I can taste the similarity to pistachios.

Look at the product pics online. This is the brand I've tried...

http://www.manitobaharvest.com/

And this is the brand my best friend orders off the internet...

http://www.hemphearts.com/

Gotta love the home page of this site. I think someone was smoking the hemp leaves when they designed this page.

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Look at the product pics online.

Er, I fear these may be considered commercial links. I'd hate to see you get an infraction for this.

They seem pretty pricy, even for a snack. I'm not sure they would be legal in the US anyway, even though free of THC. The laws are not strictly rational in this area...

Michael

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1 CRISP BELLY PORK ROAST

Ask your butcher to score the skin finely for this, as the crackling is essential. The first brief roasting at the higher temperature is necessary to set the crackling on the route to crispness. I rather like a pile of Chinese greens, lightly steamed, with this.

SERVES 5-6

belly pork – 1-1.5kg, boned, skin intact and finely scored

For the rub: garlic – 3 cloves

light soy sauce – 2 tbs

groundnut oil – a tbs

salt – 2 tsp

Chinese five-spice powder – a level tsp

Put the pork in a china or glass dish. Peel and crush the garlic to a paste, stirring in the soy, oil, salt and five-spice powder. Spread this paste over the skin and underside of the pork. Leave it to marinate for a good 4 hours, if not overnight.

Set the oven at 220°C/Gas 8. Place the pork in a roasting tin then cook, skin-side up, for about 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 200°C/Gas 6 and continue cooking for a further 40-50 minutes till the skin is dark and crisp. Leave for 10 minutes to rest before carving.

Actually we had only 380grms bit it was really very very nice. Only marinaded for an hour and served with rice [with added tiny tomatoes, peas, raisins, and peanuts making the rice more yummy .... and probably nutritious]

An incredibly cheap meat but really first class meal.

And pig cheek talk here:

http://thegraphicfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/01/recipe-pigs-cheeks-in-cider-with-roast.html

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