Healthy eating and food labelling. - Atrial Fibrillati...

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Healthy eating and food labelling.

jennydog profile image
23 Replies

In preparation for my ablation in August I decided to go on a diet. After 5 weeks my homemade lunchtime soups have become boring so I decided to buy some canned soups. This involved reading labels, not my usual practice BUT I'm still reeling at what I read.

Chicken soups contain 3% chicken.

Mushroom soups contain 6% mushroom.

Oxtail soups contain 1% oxtail.

Tomato soup contain 75-94% tomato.

Is our food contributing to our poor health? Is food legislation letting us down?

There are lessons to be learned here. Read labels!!

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jennydog profile image
jennydog
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23 Replies
BobD profile image
BobDVolunteer

And no mention of flavour enhancers e g mono sodium glutomate or MSG which many of us found to trigger AF.. Lots of the e additives and colours are not so good either. Basically it comes down to modern food methods being likely responsible for a lot of our current illnesses and as SRM Grandma posted a few days ago meat free diets and plant based food can often help people with long term illness problems.. Sadly at my age it may not make me live longer but it will probably feel like it. lol

Bob

Wightbaby profile image
Wightbaby

Yes i agree with both....and being on Warfarin AND disposed to raised cholesterol I have to watch what I eat too...I feel healthy eating can be a bit dull at times, but home made always tastes better........so when AF Assoc., emailed some 'Summer' recipes yesterday, I checked them out, with anticipation. I was more than a bit surprised that they all contain butter........eh???

jeanjeannie50 profile image
jeanjeannie50

I'm sure that what we are eating has some effect on our health. Well we all know that's a fact really don't we. Grandma's posts have confirmed that too.I always try and eat healthy, but must confess I have big lapses. Like today I bought a pack of 4 sesame snaps and because it was such a novelty to have something nice I scoffed the lot. Well, they seemed such light, skinny little things - nothing much to them I told myself. I'm always sorry afterwards as I know sugary things can start my heart off doing a really strong beat. It certainly pays to read the ingredients in items we buy.

jennydog profile image
jennydog

I really cannot understand how Heinz oxtail soup, containing 1% oxtail, can be so described. My whole career was about milk and the regulations about it are very specific. I really do think that we are being let down when foods can so erroneously described. And goodness only knows what else goes into it as Bob points out. I do tea duty at the local hospital where they sell packaged cup cakes with a 3 months use-by date! As you advise, we need to read the labels.

I'm making my own soup now as each time I had a packet soup (which I thought was healthier) the MSG621 never failed to give me heart palpitations I had at the time researched other food items containing this MSG621 which I tried, to find out if this was one of the causes - the results spoke for themselves now I don't entertain MSG621.

jennydog profile image
jennydog in reply to

Weight watchers have a homemade soup which has 0 points. I have adapted it :-

Take half a bag of mixed frozen vegetables, add a chopped onion and

a tin of chopped tomatoes. Add about 200 ml water. Simmer until soft. Season and add an Oxo cube if liked. Whizz up with a stick blender to preferred consistency .

It will store in the fridge for days.

in reply to jennydog

Thanks jennydog always on the lookout for new and simple ways of making soup

Sheesh it does make you think, 1% oxtail, good grief... I hadn't thought about MSG but obviously if you're going to put in so little of the "main" ingredient then you need a flavour enhancer. I think I'm going to have to do more reading of labels! Having said that, for the past few weeks hubby and I have been on a diet so eating a lot of salads and fresh food, very little meat - my heart has been noticeably calmer. It just goes to show.

Rellim296 profile image
Rellim296

You have to look. They print ingredients boldly for us to see and I mean that in the sense of brazenly, not in bold type, but so much looks less bad than it is. We put the amount of sugar in a pot of Activia yoghurt in a tumbler once. Almost one centimetre deep! I bought, consumed and enjoyed a delicious M & S raspberry pannacotta which, I noted later, contained, per person, well over one's total RDA of saturated fat. When I pointed this out, it was explained that this is freedom of choice in action. We can choose to be naughty. Information is provided - in very small print.

I have mentioned before that there's never any mention of the vitamin K content anywhere, nor a 'may contain cranberries'.

jennydog profile image
jennydog in reply to Rellim296

Thank you all for your perceptive responses.

I am taking my diet very seriously. I am convinced that to succeed that you need an objective. And I have one - my ablation in early August. I want to be as well as possible.

This morning I went to our local Lidl at 8.15 when I knew it would be quiet. My label reading progress was slow and I think the manager thought I was loitering. As I entered the store, thinking 'no sugar and no fat' I was aware that having passed the biscuits, cereals and bakery that I was half way down the store before reaching their excellent fruit and vegetable section.

Rellim296 profile image
Rellim296 in reply to jennydog

Yes, temptation lurks from the door to the tills.

An ablation is a good goal. Good luck. I lost 8 kgs last year just by cutting out cheese, butter, mayonnaise, cream, pastry etc. Low cholesterol as a result! It's my view that exercise drops my INR - I aim to walk 4 miles a day, and now don't go over that. I struggled with INR dropping out of range before my ablation and in the end had nothing green for about 6 weeks. I ate beetroot, parsnips, onions, fennel, aubergine and anything low in vitamin K. This mostly coincided with my husband's low fibre diet at the time. He didn't eat the onions or parsnips. He ate a real rubbish diet actually - white bread, cheese, all the things that they say you shouldn't have. Short. term only. The first three months of this year weren't the best for either of us. Seemingly endless appointments.

I feel so much better for having the ablation - AF almost not there, flecainide reduced to a third of what I was taking. It's all progress! All the best - August's not far away.

jennydog profile image
jennydog in reply to Rellim296

Relim, thank you so much. Unfortunately I am not able to walk far at present due to swollen ankles caused by the calcium channel blockers. I can garden though AND I have not eaten a single cake, biscuit or sweet in 6 weeks. I would not normally have tried the tinned soups, it was the lazy way to add wariety.

I cannot begin to tell you how.reassuring it is to have so many people share their experiences on this sight. It also makes me realise that I am so lucky to have no health problems other than this awful AF.

Rellim296 profile image
Rellim296 in reply to jennydog

Oh, I'm sorry that walking is out for the moment. But gardening gets through the calories too - when it's not as hot as today. I never eat biscuits unless it's rude to say no and would cause offence. There's nothing good for you about them! Unless it's that stuff called chocolate, of course, which is rumoured to be one of your five-a-day.

Good luck with this strong-minded lack of indulgence! Nice when it is working towards a goal.

I keep tinned soups on the shelf and we have one if I am too disorganised to have made anything else. Tins of baked beans, too, complete with salt and sugar.

Yes, this site is a great way to see a much bigger picture than one's own horrid little concerns, which are so much smaller when you know other people cope with worse or worry about things you have also experienced and worried about. Great that we can share and understand the impact of AF and all it conjures up. I've learnt a lot about my own woes and moans - many of then written but never posted.

The major food companies have no mandate from shareholders to provide healthy food.

SRMGrandma profile image
SRMGrandmaVolunteer

I like this discussion! First can I say that I've never seen oxtail soup on a shelf in the U.S ;-) Or maybe I'm just not looking! Canned soups, processed meats, and frozen dinners containing thousands of mg of sodium are really hidden dangers. It's so smart to read every label. If there are things on that label that are nearly unpronounceable, or more than 3 ingredients I am suspect and don't buy it. Even cereals labeled as HEALTHY may have many grams of hidden sugars. That's why my advice is to shop the perimeter of the store, the vegetables, the fish and meat (if you eat those) are not found in boxes that are filled with salt, sugar, and additives. Eating whole foods in their natural state makes for delicious eating and is absolutely key to good health. Food is medicine! Be well!

jennydog profile image
jennydog

Thank you so much. That's such good advice. Reading those soup labels has been a sharp learning curve! I'm still shocked. As I write this I have my own vegetable soup simmering on the hob.

Oxtail soup, best to make it yourself. Or try this Spanish recipe, it's soooooooo yummy...

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 pounds beef oxtail, cut into pieces

2 onions, chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 green bell pepper, chopped

4 cups dry white wine

1 cup beef broth

1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate

3 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons paprika

2 carrots, thickly sliced

Directions

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until smoking. Brown the oxtail in batches, and set aside. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper to the pot; cook, stirring constantly, until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes.

2. Pour in white wine, bring to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Add browned oxtail, beef broth, chocolate, and bay leaves. Return to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 3 hours.

3. Season with salt and paprika, stir in carrots, recover, and allow to simmer until carrots are tender.

On topic, I think food whether labelled or not needs careful consideration, and processed food is just terrible. We still eat some, can't avoid it sometimes. Agree with SRM, we try and eat as natural food as we can get, which actually isn't that easy, even though we're farmers!

Koll

dedeottie profile image
dedeottie in reply to

That does sound yummy. I will be trying it next week. We have a local butcher who is also a farmer and he sources everything he can locally. I have met some of the people who provide his pork and beef and they are really proud of the way they rear the animals. It is such a treat to have a shop like this in the village and it has rekindled my interest in buying meat as it tastes so fab. X

MammaCass profile image
MammaCass

Jenny, I joined slimming world before my ablation to lose weight, I lost 23lbs in 12 weeks. I have to say not once did I find it limiting or boring, there is so much you can eat on this plan. Once I'm up and running again, I intend to go back and lose another stone or so. x

jennydog profile image
jennydog in reply to MammaCass

That's an amazing result. My trousers feel very loose but I'm not sure how much I've lost so far. I really have succeeded in not eating anything unsuitable . I really can't do better. I've got about 6 weeks to go and now that I've got my brain in gear it won't be a problem. Thank you for the recommendation about Slimmers World. I will follow it up. I hope your recovery is going well.

Hi all. What a fascinating topic this is. I feel sure that diet, pollution and lifestyle all have their roles to play in our overall health - or lack of it. I was shocked to read on a M&S smoked ham and mustard sarnie box that the salt content was approx 40% of the RDA. I started a serious but sensible diet last Sunday and am now taking a much more active interest in the contents of convenience foods. I'm looking forward to seeing whether my weight and blood pressure will show a significant reduction from the April readings at my next weight/bp appointment in mid August. With all good wishes and kindest regards to you all. Peter

jennydog profile image
jennydog in reply to

Good luck with the diet, Peter.

I think that you are correct to highlight 'convenience foods.' I only honed in on the tinned soups because it was the easy option. It's plain to see that food manufacturers can take advantage and sell us garbage. I shall become an avid label reader from now on!

Thanks very much Jennydog. I appreciate your comments. I seem currently to be developing a form of 'nutritional information OCD'! Thanks, too, for the veggie soup recipe. Will certainly be making that next wee.! With thoughts and all the very best to you. Kindest regards, Peter

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