How to avoid eating horse meat, cow hides and foul stuff

 

You are what you eat

Recently it has been found that horse meat was being sold as processed beef products in Europe. Although after the discovery such foods are being withdrawn from the shelves, there are other undesirable foods sold as processed foods by some industries to increase their profits.

It seems under the seasoning category, powdered cow hides are sold by some. Some countries allow up to 20 per cent seasoning in food. There is a need to bring this down to no more than ten per cent for a start. Even if a food industry honestly and sincerely sells one hundred per cent beef or any other animal products there is nothing to stop them from using the poorest of such animals and the foulest of the animal parts in the processed burger, sausages and meat sauces etc. The best cuts can be sold at a much higher profit as unprocessed meat and it is unrealistic to expect any organization that works on the principle of maximizing profits to use those parts in their processed products in the modern greed driven world, unless they are moved by decency. Not all are.

In countries with strict health controls it is unlikely that even this sorry fare will have any short term adverse affect on health. However, no one knows for sure what the adverse long term effects on health are on diseases that develop with time such as cancer, alzheimer, chronic fatigue, depression, shortened life spans etc.. What is even worse is the effect it has on the overall quality of the human as a human because after all we are what we eat.

Hope Europeans have not become Horse like Yet :)

How can one avoid eating the sorry stuff? The quick answer is avoiding processed foods and making your meals out off unprocessed food ingredients that you can see and feel. The problem with meat eaters is that  the best cuts of unprocessed meats are expensive and unaffordable for many. The developed world has been seeing an economic slow down in recent years. There are three reasons why this situation is not going to get better anytime soon for the common persons of the developed countries. The first is that more of the world’s wealth is now getting to countries such as India and China that were in the past and still largely deprived countries. In short whereas the developed countries had managed to secure a larger proportion of the world’s resources in the past it is now getting more evenly distributed around the world. This trend will only accelerate without the slightest of doubt in the modern world  in coming years because of globalization and because water tends to flow from higher to lower ground. To add to the economic woes of a common citizen of the developed economies is that more and more of  available wealth within a developed country is being cornered by the one percent such as rich corporates and bankers who serve them aside from exceptional countries like Sweden that have put systems in place to prevent it.. This situation too is unlikely to get better any time soon. An indication towards that is the fact that even after the financial crisis politicians have been unable to limit the salaries bonuses of corporate executives and bankers as explained in earlier posts despite the fact that arguments such as the flight of talent are not valid as explained in a post on banking. Most important is the third reason -  the world's already huge population is still increasing at a hefty rate. However against this pessimistic back drop is good news for the common citizen of this planet. Healthy food that is good for the mind, body and soul is not expensive. It requires the right kind of knowledge.

It was described in an earlier post that the healthiest people in the world – the Ikarians - do not eat much meat and one of the strongest man of the world –  Sushil Kumar - has been a vegetarian all his life. Let us briefly review the food essentials that help to bring good food on the table for the sweet children and good folk of our lovely planet even if they are not a part of the rich one per cent club that might pretend that no problem exists as they head for a holiday to the Bahamas and argue so sincerely in the US political circles how disastrous it would be for the poor if the super rich are taxed more.It is only because of the concern for the poor that Republicans perhaps oppose a higher tax rates for the super rich, otherwise perhaps they would gladly give away all their wealth. Do they have similar arguments to deny medical care to the poor of the richest country in the world?

Dear 99 per cent of the world - get up and bake your own bread as explained in this post so that you are fit enough to go and cast your 99 per cent vote to change the system for your children and grand children that shall follow ( unless the Republicans and the Queen can have their way anyway to  keep medical treatment from you all and keep assault style guns in the hands of all including madmen through a second amendment gateway  :), Serves you all right for beheading the queen of France that said, you should have cake instead :)

The various types of foods required by a human body can be classified as four types as described in an earlier post of this blog- Carbohydrates, Proteins, fats and the rest (that is obtained from the variety of fruits, vegetables and leafy matter that grows on our planet). A good balance of all the four types is required for a healthy human keeping in mind their physical state. Thus those who are obese need to cut down on two of the four groups here – fats and carbohydrate – whereas those who are underweight must increase the consumption of these two items (irrespective of what the Atkins diet suggests). An average human on the other hand requires a healthy balance of all the four food types. Now let us see how to manage all these four while spending the least possible on the food budget.

The best and cheapest source of carbohydrates for a human on earth is wheat. It is quite inexpensive in its raw unprocessed state thanks to the fact that the lord has made it a grass amenable to large scale farming. It can be turned into a variety of delicious breads and pasta dishes. It is not at all difficult to prepare fresh bread at home – leavened or unleavened - and pasta fresco too is easily prepared at home beginning with wheat flour and semolina. Numerous recipes for these can be found on the internet and when breads or pasta is made at home it is much cheaper than if bought from the store. Only CAUTION required here is that some persons are allergic to the gluten in wheat. In that case switch to the other abundant grass -Rice. In fact the matter of allergy that is person specific applies to any food and everything mentioned here must be tested for that.

As regards the second group – proteins – eggs and milk products are the best source. Unlike what doctors said in the past, up to one egg a day is good for a humans and not bad. It can not be adulterated by the greediest of corporations on earth. Milk is not digested easily by all humans, some do and some do not, depending upon their stomach condition. Those who cannot digest milk easily will find that it easy to digest milk when changed to yoghurt and this latter is made very easily at home by mother nature when you add a spoon full of yoghurt to warm milk an leave it to rest in a warm place for a few hours or a day.. Cheese on the other hand can be expensive and may be avoided by those who are watching their food budgets. A quarter of liter of milk/yoghurt and an egg a day is sufficient to meet the protein needs of most humans. Variety can be added by including lentils and beans and an earlier post describes how they can be rendered fartulence free and delicious.

The third group- oils and fats – can be a relatively expensive item but it is only required in small quantities for good health and delicious recipes. In the view of this blogger it is best to consume the highest quality fats even if their quantity is reduced for good health. The best fats on the planet are butter, clarified butter and oils from trees such as olives, palm and coconut plus a few more from ground sources like peanut oil. Do not worry if you cannot afford much of fat. The Lord has made it expensive for a reason. it can be manufactured inside the human body by converting the excess carbohydrate that is consumed.

A Spinach Patch in my Home

The fourth group – vegetables- is healthiest when it is leafy and this need not be expensive at all if one has the right knowledge. Healthy leaves such as goosefoot, mulberry, drumstick leaves, dandelion etc. grow wild on many parts of the planet and a healthy leafy green such as spinach is grown very easily at home, even in boxes by apartment dwellers that have access to sunshine and water. Those who do not have access to sunshine and water need not read this article; in case they are still around or if they are they must pack their bags and move immediately to locations conducive to life. These edible leaves can be dried in shade, powdered and stored for use in off seasons too for a variety of nutritious and delicious recipes.

This post, because of its brevity, mentions only a few of the essential foods but mother nature has been kind so that our planet is full of a variety of delightful foods, fruits, nuts, mushrooms, fish and wonderful herbs to convert them into gourmet recipes. It is good to explore this bounty of nature to introduce VARIETY, just take care that what ever you add to the meal is easily affordable and as natural as mother nature intended it to be and not something that has been made unhealthy and unnatural by man's greed. In fact the healthiest of foods that are fresh, local and in season are often healthier than exotic one's from distant lands and seasons. This post began with horse meat and frankly it is not so bad if it is good horse meat if one is a meat eater, what is of concern is the deceit involved in selling it as beef. If a company can do that imagine what they can do when it is hundred per cent beef that is of the worst kind and worst part of the animal.

So here is to good healthy food and good cheers to reader of this blog along with a happy valentine’s day that is coming soon. Incidentally good wine to accompany a celebration that costs next to nothing is also very cheap and easy to make at home and if it is young containing live yeast it will help to improve the guts and make you run alike a babe in the woods even at the age of sixty just as the Ikarians do. 

If you have a query or question on all this, post it away as a comment right now.