Recipes, Food Tips, Healthy Eating & More

@joyces

Your Whole Food diet over the years and avoiding additives is the best thing you could have done for you and your husband. You have prolonged his life…no doubt about it. It is a big deal. I keep a list of the worst additives on my phone to refer to when I am looking at labels.

No Covid in my family either.

Now we have to get all the processed foods and sugars out of the school cafeterias because our children’s lives are being shortened and there are more obese children than ever before.

People are fighting Big Pharma and Big Agriculture slowly but surely. Our planet’s soil is being depleted by so much of the wheat , soy and corn crops…the big money makers for farmers . Food and agriculture policies are influenced by money and lobbies that is causing the spread of obesity, food related chronic diseases, climate change, poverty, social injustice..you name it. The FDA is a joke.

I could go on and on. So happy to read your post.

FL Mary

Ah, the FDA!!! Once someone figured out how to make insulin (essentially, by grinding up the pancreai of dead pigs or cows), diabetics could live a reasonably normal life...until someone figure out how to make insulin in a lab. Sure, it's cleaner and neater by far with no warehouses full of dead cow or pig parts, but the scientists decided to only make insulin that's fast-acting (corresponding to the old "R" insulin) because roughly 95% of diabetics require fast-acting insulin. Once artificial insulin was readily available (although at a much higher cost) and no pharmas were importing insulin from countries that still made insulin from animal parts, the FDA declared animal insulin an "illegal" drug, meaning that it cannot be imported or sold in the US. The protects the us pharmas from competition from abroad, but risks the lives of the 5% of diabetics who cannot use the fast-acting artificials safely.

My husband is one diabetic who needs slow acting (NPH) insulin; he tried Humulin artificial, and we got to be on a first-name basis with the local paramedics every time he had to be rescued from the effects of insulin that acted too fast for him. We imported it directly from the English pharma that still makes porcine (pig) insulin for years, and the paperwork required increased until 12 separate documents were required, including his passport and a permit from the USDA to "import animal parts." The insulin often sat at JFK for weeks while the FDA considered whether such an illegal substance could be released. We have always known that the entire shipment can be confiscated, meaning we'd lose a thousand bucks and have no insulin he could use safely. Finally, the English pharma got tired of all the requisite paperwork and turned it over to their affiliate in eastern Canada. Although the paperwork requirements are just as godawful, it's now shipped to us via FedEx and arrives within 10 days once the order has been approved--i.e, all the paperwork is present and correct. Twice a year, I go through the charade of preparing all the paperwork and submitting it, then wait, hoping that this shipment won't be confiscated.

Meanwhile, the pharmas that make artificial insulin are making many varieties of "designer" insulins that cost even more, but they flatly refuse to make just one slow-actiing insulin for the 5% of insulin-dependent diabetics that stand to die if they use the fast-acting artificials that are available. Yes, indeed, the FDA looks out for the pharmas, and to hell with that 5% of diabetics who can't tolerate fast-acting artificials. We're willing to pay excessive amounts to buy artificial SLOW insulin, but it doesn't exist. The days of walking into a pharmacy and plunking down $6 for a vial of insulin, without a prescription, is in the long-ago past. Today, the commonest artificial, Humulin, generally costs well over a hundred bucks a vial, while designer insulins cost several times that much. The FDA is truly a wonderful part of the gubmint!

@joyces

Knowing nothing about diabetics and types of insulin, your experiences with all the rigamarole is educational but not surprising. I read that the people who actually do the lobbying in all areas relating to food and agriculture won't let their own children or families eat too much processed foods or foods with additives. They know even more than we do all the circumstances surrounding livestock, antibiotics, farm sourced fish, processing plants etc.

You have done your research...wish there were more like you....no one else is going to look out for you except you yourself. Growing the right food and eliminating synthetic chemicals and GMOs doesn't actually cost more than growing the healthy crops and replenishing our soil. Drugs are another whole area which is why I am so leery of taking any drug that is not absolutely necessary. Food are my drugs. I can't imagine you asking a Doctor to prescribe insulin from animal parts. Do they know what slow acting and fast acting insulin is and what it can do?

As nan aside, I don't get flu shots either and I don't generally get sick. I remember living through a flu epidemic when I was around 18...back in the 1950s and then another one in the 60s...both in NY. I did get the flu but recovered. I don't get sick. I did get the 2 initial Covid vaccines because of all the urgency at that time...it was a scary time. I decided to get the Pneumonia shot then mainly because of my age. I will be 81 in April, active and eat well , 2.5 miles daily walking plus gym classes. I have never felt better since really turning my diet around to whole foods, less sugar etc. Was never heavy but weight has never been a problem. Growing up, there were no fast food restaurants and most things were bought at local farms stands and butchers.

I congratulate you on your research for your husband's insulin. We have to hit the the Biggies where it hurts...in the wallet. I do my best to educate people but you have to want to learn and you cant' be preaching at them.

Years ago....maybe 40 years or so....my husband, who was a Pharmacy School graduate and went on to become a Marine Ecologist, used to get FDA releases of all the contaminants they found in food products. This was mainly aimed at poor sanitation in factories and animal facilities and how all the waste products and "crap" wound up in food. I remember being horrified but there was no internet or discussion about any of that so it was soon forgotten and things continued as they always did. One of our ushers, who was also a Pharm School graduate and went on to take over his fathers pharmacy eventually left that career behind when he discovered all that was going on and the price gouging. I thought he was so brave at the time having a young wife and family. He uprooted and went out West because he was helpless to change things back then. He has nothing good to say about the FDA or Big Pharm.

Anyway, so great to chat with you and maybe we opened up some other eyes here on the Mayo Forum and made some people think.
Please read your labels everyone and please know what vitamins and drugs you are taking. It is not easy to find all the correct information and it is time consuming but your very life depends on knowing what you are putting into your body.

Signing off in Florida.......Fl Mary

All of us "fish heads" (people who value wild fish which are soooo much better than their hatchery cousins) absolutely refuse to buy any farmed fish because of the harm that fish farms do to wild fish, even to hatchery fish. For Christmas, my daughter sent us some smoked fish from Harry & David...but I'm sure it was farmed fish. Since it was here, I made up some smoked fish/cream cheese dip, but it wasn't nearly as good as real fish would have been. We smoke salmon or steelhead, which are, admittedly, hatchery fish as we release any wild fish we catch. Everyone we know (i.e., fish heads like us) has their own recipe for smoking and for making cream cheese/smoked fish spread.

For a time, I did graphic work for a fellow who wrote training manuals for fast food chains. After that, I'd have to be at death's door starving in order to go to one of those places! The feds actually have an allowable amount of rat feces in ground meats for burger chains, among other things you don't want to think about. The amounts were listed in the manuals. Over time, we did manuals for most of the chains in the NW, simply redoing the manuals from one chain to fit the tiny changes for another. When Arctic Circle opened its Minute Lube outlets, we used to joke that you could grease your car at ML, then go next door to AC to grease your gut. <g>
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When I was very young I worked for Fred Meyer (now part of Kroger since Mr. Meyer is long gone). One of the things I learned there was how one food production facility produced food for many different stores, including some of the specialty places. I had to type up orders for labels to be sent to the place that packed Bumble Bee tuna, for example, in order for generic cans of Fred Meyer tuna to arrive and be sold for far less. Unless you grow everything yourself, there's no assurance that buying a "better quality" brand means that you're getting better food. The people who paid more to buy cans of Bumble Bee were getting exactly the same thing that those who bought the generic brands were getting.

Even something as seemingly straightforward as pasta sauce has a bunch of crap included. How hard is it to take a can of tomato paste (salt free) and add some onions and herbs to make your own?

Breakfast cooking tips and recipe suggestions !

1. Overnight oats
2. Loaded avocado toast
3. Broccoli and cheese egg egg bake
4. Yogurt and fruit parfaits
5. Chocolate cherry chia pudding
6. Bell pepper egg cups
7. butter granola bars
8. Slow cooker soup

Hm, I do have recipes but since you ask about a quick snack without overdoing it, here is one of mine. It's hardly cooking at all but fab.

𝗜𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀
🟠 Rice cracker/waffle (you know, with the puffed rice, or the ones with puffed whatever)
🟠 Nice cheese (my favourite is French Gruyère)
🟠 Freshly ground black pepper
🟠 Sometimes nice: fresh thin onion rings

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀
Pop it all on a cracker (or two, three, say; four).
Pop it all in the microwave.
Wait until the cheese melts and, if you like, slightly 'splits' because that will create a bit of a 'crust' (which I like).
Pop into mouth.

Enjoy!

Sounds yummy! I'll have to try this one.

A big fan of overnight oats. Very easy to make and it's waiting for me when I get up in the morning as I am rushing off. Its very satisfying and keeps me happy and full till lunchtime. I add lots of toppings, like blueberries and almonds for crunch.

Overnight oats are not my favorite, but I have a grandson, age 3 1/2, who is a picky eater. For the past 2 years, his favorite meal at ANY time is his "eatmeal." Overnight oats with oat milk, chia seeds, hemp hearts, protein powder (we use Garden of Life Protein'n'Greens) topped with blueberries or raspberries and served cold or room temperature. Reminds me of Meusli.

As for me, low-fat greek yogurt or cottage cheese, topped with berries, is my go-to.

Overnight oats made with almond milk. Or oats mixed in with some low-fat greek yogurt, topped with berries. Uh-oh, stomach is rumbling! Better eat! These days I gotta eat what appeals to me, since my appetite is pretty much nil.
Ginger