Sugar - Sweet Poison? Part II

webmd.com

I've previously written a bit about the chemistry of the simple carbohydrate, sugar in my blog post Sugar - Sweet Poison?  The discussion ranged around white sugar and it's empty nutrition and how other foods can provide sweetness while still being 'good for you'.  Now, in Part II, I'd like to expand on that topic in this post about the various types of sugar and how they are made.

In Australia the main sweetener in our processed foods on in our pantries is processed white sugar (in the US, it's high fructose corn syrup, but that's another story...).

White Sugar

ecvv.com

White Sugar, as mentioned in my post on sugar, is a disaccharide, meaning it contains two monosaccharides, glucose and fructose. In Australia, white sugar comes from sugar cane. Many other countries use sugar beets to make white sugar. Caster sugar and icing sugar are simply white sugar that has been ground to make it finer.

Cane sugar is highly processed, first by crushing the sugar cane to extract the juice. The juice is then mixed with lime and phosphoric acid to adjust its pH to around 7.  The clarified juice is then heated under vacuum to make a syrup. Further heating is done under vacuum to concentrate and super saturate the syrup. It is then pressure filtered through cloth and deodorised using activated charcoal. (1)

The cleaned syrup is then seeded with sugar crystals and cooled. Upon cooling, the sugar syrup crystallises and is then put through a centrifuge to separate the sugar from it's remaining liquid, known as molasses. The remaining molasses can be further processed to extract more crystals, leaving blackstrap molasses. (2)

Raw Sugar

abc.net.au

At this stage, the product is Raw Sugar (a terrible misnomer) which is a light golden colour. So raw sugar is still a highly processed product. The raw sugar is then bleached, sometimes by bubbling sulphur dioxide through the crystals. (1) I'm unable to find out exactly how Australian sugar is bleached. None of the companies explain this process, other than saying that the raw sugar is then 'further refined'. I'm awaiting a reply from CSR. The fact that it must be 'bleached' sounds ominous, though.
Raw caster and golden icing sugar are made from raw sugar. White processed sugar is pretty much 99% sucrose and has a GI of around 65. (3) GI isn't a perfect method for judging a product's health benefits, though. Adding fructose to a product will reduce it's GI, but read more about the problem with fructose below.

Brown Sugar

themanecaptain.blogspot.com

Brown Sugar is simply white refined sugar with the molasses added back in. Now, there's no information to say whether this is the first extraction of molasses with all its health giving goodness, or the less nutritious blackstrap molasses. My guess is that it is the cheaper one. So, the sugar is refined, bleached and deodorised and then the stuff they took out is put back in! If you want to make it yourself, simply add molasses to white sugar until it's fully saturated.

LoGiCane Sugar

csr.com.au

LoGiCane is a brand name from the CSR company promoted as low GI. The CSR company explains on their website that LoGiCane sugar is refined white sugar sprayed with molasses. The molasses slows down the digestion of the sucrose, making it less likely to spike blood sugar. If this is the case, then brown sugar and 'raw' sugar will do the same. 

In fact, if you delve further into it, the molasses is actually treated to remove the nutrients such as minerals, polyphenols and other phytochemicals. (4) So, once again a highly processed product that is more expensive than simply buying 'raw' sugar. This appears to be a marketing ploy, in my opinion.

Demerara and Turbinado are still processed raw sugars, albeit with more molasses left in the final product.

Rapadura Sugar

quirkycooking.blogspot.com

Rapadura and Panela are two different names for the same product, pure unrefined cane juice. The sugar cane is simply crushed and the juice is dehydrated. The nutrient rich molasses with all its minerals and phytochemicals is retained in the final product, making it a far healthier alternative to white, processed sugar or even 'raw' sugar. Rapadura is quite expensive, but can now be found in supermarkets. I purchase it in bulk from www.2brothersfoods.com

Here's a chart showing the comparison of nutrients for each of the sugars. The 'evaporated cane juice' in the chart is that which is processed using heat. 

wholefoodsimply.com

Coconut Sugar

www.cocofat.com

Coconut Sugar, also known as coconut palm sugaris made from the blossom of the coconut tree, that ubiquitous plant that provides so much for so little. It has a low GI, only 35. It also contains a great many nutrients, mainly potassium, iron, zinc, calcium plus polyphenols, inositol (part of a vitamin B complex) and other phytonutrients. (5) (6)  It's a natural product, with very little processing other than collection and dehydration. It's fairly expensive.

Many people are becoming wary of Fructose and with good reason. Fructose is natural fruit sugar, but is also found in sugar.  Sugar, or sucrose, is 50% Glucose and 50% Fructose. Fructose is the monosaccharide which is only broken down in the liver.  The liver will transform fructose into glucose derivatives, storing it as glycogen. The liver can only store so much glycogen. If it's not being used through providing energy, it will be stored as triglycerides (i.e. fat) which is then deposited around the organs in the body. (7)

This concept is being espoused by Sarah Wilson of the "I Quit Sugar' movement. Sarah has an enormous group of followers on her Facebook page and blog. She has published two books on the subject, containing excellent information and recipes. Her concept is a little extreme, though and I don't believe we should deny ourselves certain treats. Life can be hard enough as it is without being unable to eat dessert at a restaurant.

There are many references showing that fructose is indeed a baddy in our diets. Mainly because sugar is consumed in large amounts in processed foods such as mayonnaise, sauces, soft drinks, biscuits and cakes. A study in 2010 showed that fructose consumed as soft drinks and sweetened fruit juices, taken in large quantities did cause weight gain. (8)


My take on the consumption of sugar in the diet is this.

1. Consume whole foods as much as possible. Eat whole fruits, peel as well if possible (obviously not banana peel). If you're making a cake with oranges, use the whole orange - flesh, juice and zest. 
2. Include good fats (coconut, palm, lard, tallow, poultry fat, butter) in your diet to allow for satiety, so you're not hanging out for a chocolate after tea.
3. Limit sugar in all your cooking and use unprocessed sugar wherever possible. Some other options for sweetening include rice malt syrup, maple syrup and honey. Fresh dates can be used instead of sugar in some recipes - e.g. protein balls.
4. Don't consider that every meal must be followed by dessert. Make desserts a special treat. 
5. Make your own fruit roll ups with whole fruit, raw chocolate with cacao and so on. 
6. Finally, don't stress about it too much! Do your best and allow yourself some treats without feeling guilty. 

There's a wealth of great wholefood recipes out there and some great books and blogs, too. Here's a list of recommended reading:

Books:

Wholefood Cooking - Jude Blereau

Nourishing Traditions - Sally Fallon

I Quit Sugar and I Quit Sugar for Life - Sarah Wilson 

Blogs: 

Nourished Kitchen

Teresa Cutter - The Healthy Chef

Whole Food Simply
I Quit Sugar

REFERENCES:
(1) SKIL - How sugar is made: http://www.sucrose.com/lcane.html
(2) https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070515070200AAENMgq
(3) Sugar and sweetener guide: http://www.sugar-and-sweetener-guide.com/glycemic-index-for-sweeteners.html
(4) Product review: low GI cane cugar - Catherine Saxelby's Food Watch: http://foodwatch.com.au/reviews/item/product-review-lowgicane-sugar.html
(5) http://coconutpalmsugar.com/Home_Page.html
(6) Coconut sap sugar: http://www.cocofat.com/about-coconut-products/coconut-sap-sugar/
(7) Precision Nutrition. All about fructose: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-fructose
(7) Metabolic effects of fructose and the worldwide increase in obesity: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20086073

That's all for now, bravo if you've actually read the whole post!!

Megan

Soaked Whole Wheat Bread

I have discussed the benefits of eating grains in a previous post, Grain Pain, so won't go into the nutritional aspects again. In that post, I mentioned that I have a Skippy Grain Mill and was planning to use it to grind my own wheat and use it for soaked wholewheat cooking. Well, I haven't had a lot of time to do this lately, but find myself with some time on my hands again.

I've been experimenting with sourdough, too. Sourdough requires a lot of dedication and planning. If you want to make a loaf of bread, you basically have to start two days before! It doesn't require a lot of hands on activity, mostly just sitting around doing its thing, but when it's ready to have something done to it, you have to be there to do it! So, I'm back to thinking of other ways to use our own wheat to make my bread and am revisiting the soaking idea. I found this recipe at Don't Waste the Crumbs and have given it a go with a few tweaks of my own and using the Thermomix. If you don't have a Thermomix, just mix by hand.  It's not totally wholewheat, but this will hopefully make it a little lighter and less dense.

Here's how to do it:
(Start the evening before)

SOAKED (almost) WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
The Bush Gourmand

480g whole wheat flour, freshly ground if possible
140g white bread flour
240g buttermilk (or use ½ cup yoghurt mixed with ½ cup whole milk)
¼ cup cold water
90g soft butter

Add to the Thermomix bowl and mix on dough setting for about 3 minutes or until the mixture begins to come together. It will resemble play dough.

Place in a ceramic bowl and cover with plastic wrap and leave to sit on the bench overnight or for up to 24 hours. It will look darker on the outside of the dough. Don't worry, this is perfectly normal and the bread will not be dark in colour.

Next morning, continue with the recipe below:

½ cup warm water
1 Tbsp rapadura sugar syrup (Maleo) or 2 Tbsp honey
2 ½ tsp dried yeast
2 Tbsp macadamia or other mild tasting oil

Mix together in a small jug and leave to prove for 5 minutes.
Place soaked dough back into Thermomix bowl - break it up a little. Add the proved yeast mixture and knead on dough setting for 3 minutes.

1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp bread improver
½ tsp Vitamin C powder

Add to the dough and knead for a further minute on dough setting. Remove from bowl and place on to bench or silpat mat. Knead by hand for 5 minutes until smooth and silky. Shape into a round ball and place back into the (greased) ceramic bowl. Cover with greased plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to double in size.

Roll dough out into a rectangle shape.

Once proved, remove dough from the bowl and place onto a lightly floured work surface.

Roll the rectangle up from the shorter side and tuck in the edges.

Place into a bread tin and cover once more with the greased plastic wrap.

 and leave to rise again until it's come up above the sides of the tin.

My bread tin measures 26cm x 11 cm. I bought it online from All About Bread.

Place into a hot oven, around 225C. After 10 minutes, reduce to 200C and bake for another 20 minutes or so. Check whether it's cooked by carefully removing from the tin and tapping the base. It should sound hollow. If not, place the loaf back into the oven straight onto the racks and bake a further 5 to 10 minutes.

I like the top of my bread nice and dark, so very happy with this. If you prefer a lighter coloured crust, preheat oven to 200C and cook at this temperature.
The loaf feels nice and light and has a wonderful texture.

...and it's delicious with lashings of butter and my homemade dried apricot jam.

Megan

Food Plans, Diets, Dietary Restrictions etc...

I've been in absentia from The Bush Gourmand blog for a while as my studies have kept me occupied over the Christmas break and into the New Year. As most would know, food holds a great deal of importance in my life and I love learning about different foods, cooking styles, diets (not the weight loss kind, more of the eating plan style) and how food heals.

One unit of study, in particular, kept me busier than others as it revolved around food and health.  The Applied Food of Medicine module also incorporated four practical sessions where a cook showed us how to prepare and cook a variety of different ingredients.  During this time, I also attended a Raw Food Class at Radiant Being in Albany where I took home a few ideas.

Immersing myself in the incredible variety of food plans and diets over this time has led me to explore the following: The Paleo Diet, Low FODMAP, Raw, Vegan, LCHF and the Wholefood Diet. A brief explanation of each of these follows.

Paleo is based on the concept that Palaeolithic Man was amongst the healthiest of early man. The diet of the Palaeolithic was vegetable and meat protein based. No grains are included in this diet - the theory being that our digestive system wasn't designed to absorb grains.

melvfitness.blogspot.com

Many experts have discounted the theory, stating that archeologists have discovered remains of grains in the stomachs of ancient Palaeolithic peoples. Others say that the diet is nutritionally fairly sound, but has nothing to do with the cave man.
My take is that I don't hold with any diet that removes an entire food group. Grains are a valuable source of phytonutrients, B Vitamins, minerals and fibre. They just need to be prepared correctly. See my post, Grain Pain for more information.

Low FODMAP was developed by Dr Sue Shepherd in 1999 after her PhD research revealed that limiting Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols in the diet helped those suffering from IBS, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  The theory is that this collection of molecules found in foods can be difficult to digest by some people. They then pass through the digestive system undigested until they reach the large intestine. The bacteria which normally live there then ferment/digest these sugars and create all those nasty symptoms that IBS presents. 
Many fruits and vegetables are removed from this diet due to their high fructose, lactose or sugar alcohol levels.

blogkatescarlata.com

For those diagnosed with IBS, I'm sure they're willing to do anything to reduce the symptoms, so this could be a lifesaver for many IBS sufferers. For those who self diagnose, they risk cutting out foods with valuable nutrients in their diets.

Raw is pretty self explanatory with the rule that nothing must be heated over 40C. The theory is that live enzymes in fruits and vegetables are destroyed by heating. Many foods are dehydrated to obtain a texture that is palatable and to provide some variety. Many recipes are ingenious, using soaked flax and chia seeds to bind seeds and nuts together for a type of cracker that substitutes as bread. 

fitandwin.com

I can't imagine what it must be like to subsist on a completely raw diet.  Just the organisation and preparation alone would be difficult. I found the flavours way too intense, with many foods marinated in tamari, a wheat free soy sauce. I believe that my family's diet has plenty of raw food in the way of fruits, salads and nuts without having to go the whole raw food journey.

Vegan diets are totally vegetarian with no animal products at all. This includes eggs, honey and dairy products. 

blog.fattonybmx.com

I had quite a discussion about this on Forum Thermomix with a person who decided to put her family on a vegan diet for a month. If you have time, have a read here. Some people have deleted their comments for some reason. As I've said in my comments on the forum, removing an entire food group in my opinion, isn't a smart move. Valuable nutrients are found in animal products and our bodies were designed to consume these. Here's a brief excerpt of one of my comments: 

"Sometimes removing dairy products will make people feel much better. A lot of people are intolerant to either the casein or to the lactose in milk. I think a balanced diet should include a little animal protein, a lot of vegetable protein, some grains (prepared properly - soaked, fermented or sprouted if possible) and plenty of good fats, including animal fats.

I don't like diets that remove an entire food group. Humans are omnivores and our digestive systems are designed to manage all types of foods, unlike gorillas and horses. 

The issue of poor digestion and assimilation often comes about when we eat foods that haven't been prepared correctly or that are highly processed. There's nothing wrong with going vegan for a month. It can be quite de-toxing, just as eating raw for a week can be. But, all my studies indicate that it isn't good to continue such a diet. Perhaps it lowers the incidence of bowel cancer, but so does a good omnivorous healthy diet. Unfortunately, not too many people understand what this actually entails!"

LCHF stands for Low Carbohydrate High Fat and is probably one of the better options out of all the ones I have looked at so far. The fats that are recommended are the highly saturated animal fats and coconut oil as well as the monounsaturates such as avocado, macadamia and olive oils. PUFA's (polyunsaturated fatty acids) are out of the diet due to their tendency to be highly processed during extraction and the fact that constant reheating and cooling (as in the deep fryer of a fast food restaurant) creates cell-destroying trans fatty acids. The low carbohydrate part of the diet refers to high GI foods such as sugars, white rice and white flour.  

eatingacadamy.com

In my opinion, this isn't too bad for a person who is healthy and not carrying a lot of weight. It could be abused easily by the use of too much fat and too little of the healthy carbohydrates such as good sugars (maple, rapadura etc), good wholegrains etc. I certainly agree that we should avoid PUFA's and use good fats in cooking and food preparation. I also agree with the reduction of processed starches such as white rice.

Wholefood Diet is one in which there is little or no processing involved. The ingredients used are complete. For example whole grains, whole brown rice, raw, unprocessed sugars, unpeeled fruits and vegetables. Good fats are included as are full cream dairy products, raw honey and free range eggs. The diet advocates organic produce over supermarket produce. This depends on people's economic situation and availability of organic foods. A Whole Foods Diet encourages fermentation and soaking of more difficult to digest foods such as grains.

weeklygroceryshopping.com

This is my preferred diet over all others that I've investigated. It incorporates aspects of the Raw Food Diet and the LCHF diet without being as restrictive. It can be difficult to follow all the time due to many factors such as availability, preparation time and family food preferences. (My nearest and dearest still prefers commercial biscuits, jams, ice cream and chutneys over home made. It's the addiction of salt and sugar.)

For those trying to lose weight, this would be the way to do it. Of course, portion control is important, but simply removing processed food from the diet will make a huge difference to the way the body deals with the foods eaten. Once processed sugars, (particularly High Fructose Corn Syrup) processed starches, processed sauces, jams, dressings and processed take away foods are out of the equation, the body will begin to heal. Once the healing process takes place, weight loss can begin, followed by more energy, stronger immunity and a general well being.

Even removing some processed foods can make a difference. Start by not buying any take away chips and making your own instead.

themanyfacesofspaces.com

Home Made Chips or Wedges

Cut a couple of whole potatoes into wedges or chips and steam, simmer or microwave until just cooked.  Heat dripping, coconut oil, ghee or duck fat (or a combination if you like!) in a narrow, deep saucepan.  Use either a frying basket or a slotted spoon to place chips carefully into hot fat. Cook until nice and golden and crisp. Drain and sprinkle with sea salt. Enjoy straight away. 
Obviously, enjoy your home made chips every now and then, not with every meal.

Spiced Banana Pecan Muffins

I've been going through my massive collection of cake and biscuit recipes and adapting the ones I love to make them much healthier.
By healthier, I mean no refined sugars and less reliance on white wheat flour. Not too difficult at all, really.

My latest baking effort today is a delicious muffin, using a couple of those lovely little bananas we've been getting in the shops lately. They were the last of a large bunch and were only really good for cooking.

Annoyingly, this quantity made 7 muffins. I have two 6 hole silicon muffin trays. Next time, I'd make 1 1/2 times the quantity to at least get 10 muffins.

Spiced Banana Pecan Muffins

150g white spelt flour

50g wholemeal flour (or spelt if wanting wheat free)

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

60g melted butter

½ cup coconut sugar

½ cup plain yoghurt

2 small ripe bananas

2 eggs

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Topping

¼ cup rapadura 

½ cup pecans

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp mixed spice

Preheat oven to 200C. Line deep muffin tins with fancy schmancy muffin papers (this is so you can use the paper to remove them from the tin when cooked. If you turn them out, the topping comes off!)

Blend topping ingredients in food processor or TMX until crumbled. Set saide.

Place flours, raising agents and spices into processor, sifter or TMX and blend together. Set aside.

Melt butter in microwave or in TMX on 60 for 1 minute, speed 2. Allow to cool a little.

Add bananas and sugar to melted butter and blend together. Add yoghurt and eggs and blend until smooth. 

Stir in flour mixture, blend on speed 3 using spatula to assist or blend in processor in short bursts until mixed. Stir in pecans with a spatula.

Pour into muffin papers and sprinkle with topping. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until they spring back when gently pressed. Place on wire rack to cool.

Split in half and butter, sprinkle with golden icing sugar to serve. 

Does fat make you fat?

My answer would be yes and no.

My recent research into fats in our diet has shown up a number of misconceptions, many of which are perpetuated by organisations such as The Heart Foundation and Nutrition Australia. These 'facts' are then transposed down the line by nutritionists, then journalists and they turn up in our magazines, online articles and newspapers. Basically, these organisations are saying that eating fat contributes to heart disease and obesity.

Advice such as 'cut the fat off your meat', buy low fat yoghurt', 'use low fat milk' etc leads people to believe that all fat is bad for you.
Has this fat phobia made a difference to the general population's health? Not as far as I can see. People are still overweight and sick. Diseases such as diet related diabetes are rampant.
In an article from Raisin-Hell (Is the Heart Foundation's Advice Killing us?), the following information should make us think:

The AusDiab (Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle) study has been monitoring the health of a random selection of 11,000 Australian adults since 2000. The results of the 12 year follow-up were published this week. (mid-August 2013)
The update shows that the number of us with Type II Diabetes has increased by 41%; that obesity has increased by 22%; that almost half of us now have chronically high blood pressure (this is despite a 30% increase in the use of medication to control it); and that the average 25 year old gained 7 kg on the scales and 7 cm round the waist; all in just over a decade.

So what is the solution? All my research tells me that we must consume fat in our diet. Fats provide energy and are vital as building blocks for cell membranes and for hormones and hormone like substances. Simplified, cholesterol comes from (mostly animal) fat. Cholesterol is a type of sterol, sterols are hormones.
Fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K are only made available to the body by a process that uses dietary fats.

Sally Fallon, in her book, "Nourishing Traditions. The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats" (I know, it's a great title!) discusses a theory that began to be espoused around the 1950's known as the 'lipid (lipid = fancy name for fat/oil) hyphothesis'. The theory, developed by researcher Ancel Keys, stated that there was a direct link between the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the diet and the incidence of coronary heart disease.
Fallon comments that since this research was first published, there have been numerous subsequent researchers that pointed out the flaws in his data and conclusions. But it was all too late. The vegetable oil and food processing industries promoted this original theory since they would be beneficiaries of the move away from competing traditional foods.

Fallon also discusses Nathan Pritikin's low fat diet craze. Those who managed to stick to it for any length of time suffered from a variety of health problems with many suffering depression and experiencing vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The other complication, believe it or not, was weight gain!!
Pritikin himself commited suicide when he realised his low fat diet could not cure him of leukaemia.

The Heart Foundation in Australia endorses a low fat diet, encouraging the use of margarine instead of butter, polyunsaturated vegetable oil instead of saturated animal fats and low fat everything. Yet, the Heart Foundation tick applies to many highly processed sugary empty calorie foods (eg. Milo Cereal with 27% refined sugar) seen in the supermarkets today.
In fact, during my research, I've come across a petition from wellness practitioners asking the Heart Foundation to stop promoting these sugar laden high calorie cereals. Find the article here. An excerpt from the webpage petition says the following:

 "Honestly it just seems absolutely ridiculous that a health authority like the Heart Foundation whom many of the public trust and listen to, advise to eat a diet made up of mostly processed carbohydrates in the form of cereal, bread and pasta, consume margarine and toxic oils, processed sugar filled foods filled with additives, preservatives, colours and flavours and which are devoid of essential nutrients and products that contain aspartame. How can they honestly say that this will protect people against cardiovascular disease?"

The article goes on to state that researchers, nutritionists and authors have all come to the conclusion that eating fats from natural healthy sources such as grass feed animals, free range eggs etc will actually contribute to protecting against heart disease.
Sally Fallon, Dr Sandra Cabot, Mary Enig and Cyndi O'Meara are amongst these authors and researchers. These are my go to authors when I want to find out the facts about nutrition.

Here's a link to an excellent article written by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon on the Weston A Price (a dentist and nutrition researcher) Foundation website: The Skinny on Fats

The 'yes' part of my answer to the question on whether eating fat makes you fat, comes about from eating the wrong sort of fats coupled with the way in which the fats are presented. For example, if you eat deep fried sugary doughnuts regularly, then yes, you will gain weight, from the trans fats in the hydrogenated vegetable oil used for frying and the sugar contained in the doughnuts!
If you eat a lot of highly processed foods with added fat, then yes, you will get fat.

But, if your diet consists of wholefoods, including whole eggs, full fat dairy products, free range red meat with a little fat, free range pork with some of the fat, free range chicken with the skin and you use monounsaturated oils such as olive, avocado or macadamia in your dressing, butter on your vegetables and coconut oil, duck fat, lard, butter and tallow for cooking, then, no, you shouldn't get fat. You will find that you won't consume such large portions as you will feel fuller and more satisfied with a diet rich in good fats in combination with whole fruits, vegetables and whole grains and legumes (prepared correctly).
In contrast to a low fat (usually highly processed and high sugar) diet, you will be much healthier and have great skin and hair.

If you're still with me after all that reading, congratulations! Will you be changing the way you look at fats?
Please leave a comment below, I'm interested to hear your views.

Healthy Fast Food

Is there such a thing?

In your own home, yes. From a Fast Food place? No, I don't believe so.

In undertaking a little research for the wholefood unit that I'm taking as a part of my Nutritional Medicine course I found a great website called the Healthy Home Economist. Sarah, an American woman writes about the dangers of processed foods in our diet. She has posted a great video showing how to teach your children at a very young age not to ever want to eat fast food. She basically purchases a Happy Meal from the drive through at McDonalds, then gives her child the toy from the box. She then tells the child that the rest of what is in the box isn't food, and will make them very sick if they eat it. She removes the burger and drink from the box and places it in the rubbish bin, reinforcing the fact that the contents of the box belong in the bin, not in their stomachs.
This can be done from as young as 18 months, she says, and is a very powerful lesson. After all, the child only wants the Happy Meal for the toy inside, as the McMonster marketing gurus know. So, buy them the toy, but throw the burger away.
A very interesting way to teach children the value of fast food.
Here's the link to the video: Mom vs Fast Food

So many people tell me they only have Maccas and KFC and HJ's occasionally, when they go to Perth or Albany, for example. The more I learn about the rubbish that's churned out from these fast food joints, the more I wish I had never, ever allowed my children to put any of it past their precious lips.
However, it's too late now, they all love it. Not so much Maccas or KFC, but HJ's is a definite favourite. Though, my daughter is more keen on Wok In A Box and those sort of chain fast food places now. So much healthier and nicer!

When I was a child, our favourite take away food was Fish and Chips. This was a Friday night special treat and Dad would have to go down the street to buy it because it was Mum's night off from cooking. The fish and chips of my childhood is nothing like what most fish and chip shops serve now. The chips were hand cut and cooked in beef fat, a healthy, high smoke point stable fat. The fish was coated in a light and crispy batter and also fried in beef fat. There were no additives, stabilisers, preservatives or artificial colourings. It was just plain food. Still high in fat, but a once a week treat.