long fat

The official line is, of course, that everyone over the age of 5 should drink semi-skimmed, 1% fat or skimmed milk, in order to reduce their intake of saturated fat. (Full-fat milk is only recommended until the age of 2, while semi-skimmed – but not skimmed or 1% fat – is fine between the ages of 2 and 5. These lowest-fat versions don’t contain enough calories or, tellingly, the “essential vitamins” young children need.)

This advice couldn’t be clearer, and yet I’m seeing more and more evidence from well-regarded sources suggesting it’s not that simple. Award-winning investigative food writer Joanna Blythman is one who believes we’ve got it all wrong. She points out that full-fat milk is not actually a high-fat food.
“Furthermore, skimmed and semi-skimmed cows’ milk is also less nutritious than whole milk. That’s because the cream contains the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K – important, among other things, for strengthening immunity to infections, neutralising the effects of damaging free radicals and keeping bones healthy,” she says.
Nutritionist Zoe Harcombe agrees, arguing that saturated fats found in whole foods are “nutritional gold mines”.
“In simple terms, fats are chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached. We eat fat, it is digested and enters the bloodstream where it transports the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K round the body. This is partly why I find the idea of removing fat from natural food ludicrous. Take full-fat milk – this contains all four fat-soluble vitamins. If you take out the fat, you remove the delivery system,” she says.
Other full-fat dairy advocates argue that not all saturated fats are the same; some are good and some are bad. Further, they argue they don’t clog our arteries and shoot straight to our bellies in the way that most of us are led to believe. And if you think this view is confined to a few isolated nutritional zealots, it’s not. Scientists have also begun to question the prevailing view that ordering a skinny instead of a full-fat latte is being kind to our waistline.

about !

The argument goes that consuming saturated fat can lead to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. That’s why we’re officially told to go the low-fat route. But in a review examining the link between high-fat dairy and health, published in a recent European Journal of Nutrition, researchers found no evidence for this at all.







“The observational evidence does not support the hypothesis that dairy fat or high-fat dairy foods contribute to obesity or cardiometabolic risk, and suggests that high-fat dairy consumption within typical dietary patterns is inversely associated with obesity risk. Although not conclusive, these findings may provide a rationale for future research into the bioactive properties of dairy fat and the impact of bovine feeding practices on the health effects of dairy fat.

how ?FAT !

For the record, I’m not saying that we should all start swilling full-fat milk.  I’m not remotely qualified to do so. (Although consumption of raw milk is on the rise for a variety of reasons.) But looking at the research, I can’t quite reconcile official dietary guidelines on dairy with some of the latest evidence.  Over the course of more than a week, I made numerous written and telephone request to the Department of Health to see if they could explain to me the rationale behind official dairy guidelines. I’d love it if they ever got around to returning my call.
Meanwhile, in the spirit of healthy eating, and inspired by the  crusade to stop kids scoffing rubbish processed breakfast cereals,  I’ve devised my own very healthy, very tasty version. Whatever you do, don’t substitute the brown puffed rice (available from any health food shop) with sugar/salt/additive laden Rice Crispies!!
Enjoy – with ice-cold full-fat milk if you like.

Healthy Breakfast Rubble

Serves 4

• 160g porridge oats
• 30g brown puffed rice
• 60g chopped nuts (I used brazil, but almonds, pecans or walnuts would also be nice)
• 2 tablespoons mixed seeds
• 2 tablespoons wheat bran
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. coconut oil or rapeseed oil
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 60g ready to eat dried apricots, chopped

Method.
1. Set the oven to 160°C/325°F. Mix all the dry ingredients including the apricots together in a large bowl.
2. Whisk together the oil and the honey and pour over the mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is covered with honeyed oil.
3. Spread out on a large baking tray. You need to make the cereal for about 30 minutes, but stir the tray once in a while to make sure everything is evenly cooked. Break up any clumps.
4. Leave to cool in the tray, where it will crisp up nicely. Store in an airtight jar.

What’s wrong with full-fat milk? Plus healthy home-made cereal

Fat is well and truly back on the political agenda in the UK. We’d barely digested our Christmas pudding when graphic adverts appeared on the telly  showing us the ugly truth of how much sugar, fat and salt hides in everyday food. The Labour Party was close behind in the slipstream with a call for a cap on sugar in breakfast cereals to combat child obesity. Meanwhile, supermarkets geared up for this year’s rollout of a (contentious) “traffic light” food labelling system.
It’s all of particular interest to me as I’m working on a children’s recipe book designed to encourage kids to cook. It’s a tricky business. Ask any child what they like to cook and the answer invariably involves cake. That’s not to say kids these days don’t enjoy eating more “sophisticated” food. It’s just that most simply don’t have the precocious cooking ambitions of Junior Masterchef munchkins. Do the kids I know relish cooking veg or making salad? Not really. So while it’s right to include recipes in a children’s cook book that are nutritionally sound, it’s not so easy to devise healthy recipes that kids will trip over themselves to make. But it’s urgent that we find a way to get our children cooking.

want it !

mau pesta?yaa ini ~

how!!!!!