A LOAD OF TRIPE - Sunday 9th May 2010

Have you ever noticed that many diet advertisements make reference to the fact that all diets are fad diets, with the exception of the one being promoted?

The other thing to be wary of is not what the adverts say, but what they don’t say.

For instance there are adverts doing the rounds lauding the nutritional benefits of a breakfast biscuit that contains 22% protein. Most food made with flour only has about half that amount of protein, so give it a big tick. Of course, what the adverts fail to mention is that the same breakfast biscuit contains 32% sugar, and that’s before you put the sugar on the top! It’s not a cereal, just a small and oddly-shaped biscuit, and with that amount of sugar there’s a good case for putting it in the confectionery aisle, along with all the other breakfast biscuits that contain more than 30% sugar.

Now I could be wrong about this, but I’m pretty sure that the high sugar way of life is more likely to turn little boys into fatties than he-men.

Stop for a moment and have a think about it. Why are you eating biscuits and confectionery for breakfast? Choose a genuine cereal, like rolled oats. It’s half the price and better for you.

The CSIRO Diet is a very good diet, in fact many who adopted it experienced a miracle change in body fat content. The diet works because the scientists stripped the junk food out of it. The only criticism I heard was that some of the cuts of meat were a bit pricey, but that’s not hard to overcome. Purchase cheaper cuts.

For most people these cheaper cuts are off the radar. It’s like as though they’ve vanished.

A lot of people in this country grew up with basic fare, not on lamb mind you, but good, old fashioned, common or garden, down to earth mutton, interspersed with even cheaper cuts.

These days, if you go out for tea, unless you’re in a Greek or Turkish restaurant, it’s hard to find a menu with the word ‘chop’ on it.

And you’ll have to scour a lot of menus before you’ll come across brain patties, steak and kidney, lambs fry, or tongue, and I know that while a few readers will drool at the thought of a plate of tripe and onions, a much higher percentage will be gagging over these very words.

I read somewhere that wild animals tend to go for the offal first because that’s where the essential nutrition is. Over the last 40 years we’ve stopped doing that and I suspect our health is suffering.

Maybe we deprive ourselves of some of this essential nutrition by just eating muscle meat, some of it from animals that have been cooped up in cages for a couple of months. At least in Australia we let our sheep and beef roam free, unlike in America where their cattle are stuck in lots and fed mush laced with anti-biotics.

Of course, once you start talking about meat these days you get into the fat-around-the-meat debate. I think that’s largely been put to rest. Cut it off.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and eat to nourish the cells of your body, not just to fill up your stomach.

On the track
No track today. Drove up to Sydney and then on to Brisbane ready for work on Monday.

Big surprise, my daughter, Lisa and the little fella, Jackson were at the gate to meet me.

John Miller
http://www.fitandhealthyonline.com/
http://www.globalbackcare.com/