Support your local Dulwich butcher day

[tarafitness]

There is no evidence that fat or cholesterol causes heart disease. Fat, particularly saturated fat, has been demonised and replaced by harmful polyunsaturated fats.

saturated fatty acids are very stable, they're the fats we store on our own bodies. Unlike polyunsaturated fats (e.g. vegetable (seed) oils) they do not oxidise in the same way and cause damage to our bodies. If you want to read more here's an article by Barry Groves: http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/fats_and_cancer.html who wrote a fantastic book called Trick and Treat

other than artificial trans fats, what you have to look out for is the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3. As we like to stuff our cows full of grains (NOT their natural choice of diet for them) the ratio of omega 3s to omega 6s drops significantly. Grass fed/finished cows have higher omega 3 and CLA levels as well. They also have less incidence of e coli which means the meat doesn't need to be rinsed in ammonia (pleasant).

regarding the welfare of animals during their short lives and at slaughter, it's a shame that so few people are bothered by the treatment of the animals. Do people really not make the link between the quality and chemical composition of the meat and the way the animal is reared and treated? If an animal is stressed and terrified leading up to and during slaughter, all those steroid hormones (adrenaline, cortisol etc) are leached into the flesh of the animal - for you to then eat.

I'd highly recommend watching the films Food Inc and Fat Head if you want a better understanding about the meat you put into your body (that then becomes part of you) and how you may have been mislead into thinking that a high carbohydrate and low fat diet is in fact in any way beneficial to your health.

If you want to purchase grass-fed beef and lamb and outdoor reared pig and chickens then there are a few sites that you can buy from like:

http://www.athleat.co.uk

http://www.westingourmet.co.uk

Waitrose also sells grass-fed beef.

It's not just about the welfare of the animal (although I do think that's important as I feel a hell of a lot happier eating meat from an animal who didn't live in terrifying dark, cramped conditions, knee deep in faeces being trampled on and finally meeting their end in a horrifyingly poor and stressful manner), it's about how their treatment and diet affects the structure of the meat you then consume. It's worth being consumed.

Oh and we should all be a lot more conscious of the amount of grains, particularly wheat which is in EVERYTHING (trust me, it's utterly ubiquitous, read the back of food packets and you will see, terrifying considering the fact that it's been so genetically modified that it barely resembles the relatively harmless grain it was 50-100 years ago!) that we consume as it's a high carbohydrate diet that raises LDL and lowers HDL.

If anyone is interested I have a great number of site links and books I could recommend. A lot of which are mentioned here on this page: http://chriskresser.com/heartdisease :-)

Tara

[DJKillaQueen]

That is an extremely useful post Tara - thank you (tu)

[tarafitness]

DJKillaQueen Wrote:

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> That is an extremely useful post Tara - thank you

> (tu)

Thanks! :-)

Forgot to say, if anyone wants to buy butter from grass-fed cows, there's Kerrygold which is sold in Sainsbury's

[Jeremy]

Something I've wondered about for a long time - lab cultivated "meat".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15402552

Will we ever be able to produce something as tasty as the real thing? Surely meat without the fat and blood just won't taste of anything. Or will we be able to cultivate perfect flesh, which tastes even better?

Perhaps in the future we'll all be eating in-vitro meat, and real meat will be the domain of a wealthy few, or secretive speakeasy-style establishments...

[tarafitness]

Jeremy Wrote:

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> Something I've wondered about for a long time -

> lab cultivated "meat".

> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15402552

>

> Will we ever be able to produce something as tasty

> as the real thing? Surely meat without the fat and

> blood just won't taste of anything. Or will we be

> able to cultivate perfect flesh, which tastes even

> better?

>

> Perhaps in the future we'll all be eating in-vitro

> meat, and real meat will be the domain of a

> wealthy few, or secretive speakeasy-style

> establishments...

Oooooh spooky, slightly stomach turning, a little disturbing yet highly possible huh?!

I guess, given enough time, if all you've eaten is manufactured meat you won't know any different eh?

The problem is that humans can actually live on a diet that consists entirely of animals... so long as you eat the fat and organs... if you just eat the lean protein then you will die. So where would we get our fat from? Could they synthesise that?

*shudder*

[wee quinnie]

tarafitness Wrote:

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> > Oh and we should all be a lot more conscious of

> the amount of grains, particularly wheat which is

> in EVERYTHING (trust me, it's utterly ubiquitous,

>

Do you mean this literally?

What about foods labelled "wheat free"?!

[StraferJack]

"Perhaps in the future we'll all be eating in-vitro

> meat, and real meat will be the domain of a

> wealthy few, or secretive speakeasy-style

> establishments..."

Given what passes for meat in some places I can't see this will be a problem for most people

[tarafitness]

wee quinnie Wrote:

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> Do you mean this literally?

>

> What about foods labelled "wheat free"?!

Haha no... at least I bloody well hope not!

you'd be surprised at what it is in though... meat and vegetarian products, baking powder, starches, chips, gravies, sauces etc... it's so inexpesnive and bulks things out so effectively - like sugar (don't get me started on that!)

:-)

[maxxi]

tarafitness Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> you'd be surprised at what it is in though... meat

> and vegetarian products, baking powder, starches,

> chips, gravies, sauces etc... it's so inexpesnive

> and bulks things out so effectively - like sugar

> (don't get me started on that!)

>

> :-)

I thought soya was the ubiquitous and 'more-unhealthy-than-people-think' foodstuff that infested most readymeals/sauces/desserts/savouries/etc. and that there was growing evidence that it was far from the all-round super food meat-avoiders had assumed it to be.

The Observer

[tarafitness]

maxxi Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I thought soya was the ubiquitous and

> 'more-unhealthy-than-people-think' foodstuff that

> infested most

> readymeals/sauces/desserts/savouries/etc. and that

> there was growing evidence that it was far from

> the all-round super food meat-avoiders had assumed

> it to be.

>

> The Observer

yup, hormone-distrupting unfermented soya is no good and should be avoided at all costs

it's a shame as I like the taste and used to drink it daily as I don't drink milk.

Now I have the occassional soya chai latte, but that's very rarely. I just drink my coffee black now!

and yeah, soya is in a lot of things too, mainly because it's a cheap form of protein. I think it's more of a problem in the states though, as is their overconsumption of maize (corn)... we've not got as much of a high-fructose-corn-syrup problem over here!

[tarafitness]

oh and I forgot to post this link to a book by a cardiologist called Dr William Davis, the book is 'Wheat Belly' and has only recently been released over here (it's been out in the states a bit longer, much to the dismay of the grain companies haha)

[TillieTrotter]

http://www.fieldandflower.co.uk/dept/what-we-do_d0126.htm

[tarafitness]

TillieTrotter Wrote:

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> http://www.fieldandflower.co.uk/dept/what-we-do_d0

> 126.htm

Oh fantastic! I see all their cows are grass-fed and sound like they live idyllic natural lives :-)

Thank you so much for sharing the link :-)

[TillieTrotter]

You're very welcome, the cows actually whistle whilst they munch!

[tarafitness]

I'm actually salivating whilst browsing the site (despite stuffing down half a Nandos chicken this lunch time!)

just discovered that the wild venison sausages are gluten free so there's another tick in the box

will be ordering a box from there for the 17th Nov delivery date :-)

[Thomas Micklewright]

does anyone have a copy of wheat belly?

tom

[Alan Medic]

I suspect mine may be an original!

[steveo]

Talking to one of the Plough butchers about fat people. He said, 'You don't tend to get many in here, they're all outside the takeaways.'

Butcher wisdom