Is marg and vegetable oils ......

[wildirishrose]

Bad for you?

Wow, I can't believe there have been cries of woo on this subject. It's all plain biochemistry.
Anyway, just a quick note on the juice debate. The problem with juice is not additives. It's the speed at which a bolus of fructose enters the bloodstream. For example: if you were to eat six oranges it would take you about half an hour, assuming you had to find them ripe on a tree, pick them, peel them and eat them. So the sugar in those six oranges slowly enters your bloodstream over a period of half an hour or so. Now, a glass of orange juice contains the juice of six oranges. But you drink it in five seconds. All that sugar floods into your bloodstream very quickly. This is not good for two reasons. First, it places a burden on blood glucose homeostasis. Second, fructose can only be metabolised by liver cells. So all the sugar from the orange juice must be processed by the liver. Fructose in large amounts, such as a glass of fruit juice, damages hepatocytes in the same way alcohol does.
Eat your fruit, don't drink it.

So what's best for sandwiches/toast then - butter?

Tbh until I started reading about food and digestion in depth I thought I had a pretty sensible idea of what is healthy and what is not. It does make sense once you understand how the body digests food, but must admit it's been an eye opener!

berri - definitely butter. Or fresh avocado, or olive oil.

Interesting thread, and something I have been wondering about lately. I normally use Bertolli (olive oil spread) and am finding it difficult to figure out where this fits in on the good / bad scale.

It says: 59% vegetable fat spread with 21% olive oil.
Ingredients: Mild olive oil composed of refined olive ois and virgin olive oils, rapeseed oil, water, whey (from milk), vegetable oils, buttermilk, salt, emulsifier: mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, preservative: potassium sorbate, thickener: sodium alginate, citric acid, vitamin E, flavouring, vitamins A & D, colour: carotenes.

Nowhere on the packaging does it use the word "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated."

I have to admit to not really understanding the science behind the debate. I was under the impression that vegetable oil MUST BE hydrogenated in order to be turned into a solid form, is this correct? The Bertolli packaging refers to "vegetable fat" but not vegetable oil. Can anyone shed any light on this for me please?

Just going to sleep now so will briefly say Bertolli spread is crap. Throw it out. Back tomorrow to explain more.

i still want to know about cranberry juice and pomegranate juice!

Well, that's, erm, succinct! :) Am curious now, will check back tomorrow. Thank you.

Thanks for those links, Frankelly. They are both talking sense (although I know nothing of the diet mentioned and cannot comment on it), especially the MD (second link). Although no mention is made of the link with coenzyme Q10 and statins, a link that the pharmaceutical companies are perfectly well aware of but choose to do nothing to address because it would cost too much.

What about nut butters Lamazeroo, are they ok?

Thank you Lamazeroo. Any other tips on foods to avoid would be appreciated.

Hope Lamerazoo comes back today

Catsdontcare Can you recommend any good websites. I suffer from IBS and am looking for more ideas on how to deal with it.

This is really interesting. I can't eat Dairy. I know that Vitalite etc is not great, but is there an alternative for my toast!?

What do you think of Almond and Hazelnut milks (Alpro brands), I use them instead of milk. Did use Oatly, but I love the Hazelnut one.

I use coconut oil for icing, but haven't tried baking with it. Is there a good dairy free alternative to Stork!?

I wish I could eat butter, I love it.

Does anyone make their own nut butter?

Bunbaker I am reading about the GAPS diet right now. You could start there (not all the parts relating to conditions such as autism etc will be relevant you but the principles of healthy gut etc are the same for all)

Also look at elana's pantry website for ideas and recipes

What a great thread!

I always cook with olive oil when I pan fry, will look into coconut butter after reading this.

I do use butter for toast, sandwiches etc and feel quite relieved after reading this.

I would urge you all to have a go at making your own butter if you haven't already done so.

All you need is cream, salt to taste (optional) and a blender

Very easy and absolutely delicious

What are people's thoughts on eating out of season fruit/veg? I remember reading something a while ago which suggested that those of us of Northern European descent really shouldn't be eating tropical fruits, etc, as our digestive systems have not evolved to handle them. It's an interesting thought!

I don't eat them for environmental/ethical reasons - always choose local and seasonal wherever possible.

But don't really buy the thing about digestive systems being different! Would happily eat a mango if I was on holiday in India !!

For those of you that cook with lard - do you reuse it again or does the heating process damage it and make it unhealthy to eat?

In other words is it then considered to be processed fat ?

betty how long can you store it in the fridge for?

Also is it rock solid after it's been in the fridge?

I sometimes go for butter but to be honest it puts me off not being able to spread it for DS sandwiches! I know it's lazy but I hate it making huge holes in the bread!

I re-use lard. Not sure if I'm supposed to, but I do.