Junk Food in Supermarkets are Giving you Diabetes, Obesity and Candida

According to the government’s obesity and healthy eating policy, most people in Britain are overweight or obese. This means that the risk of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes are rife. But I find it no surprise when I see the dire state of our supermarkets. The food they stock is a disgrace.

Why the Government Action to Tackle Obesity in Britain will Not Work

I took this pic in the Coop Superstore

Their strategy might sound good on paper, but will not work in practice, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. For now, government’s strategy informs on:

Having a healthy diet and getting exercise.

This includes getting people to eat their 5 a day, reducing fat and salt, reducing portion sizes as well as alcohol intake.

Better labeling on food and drink to help consumers make healthier choices

Include healthy menus in restaurants.

Local councils to provide health services for obese people.

Their ‘call to action’ makes the statement that it is everybody’s responsibility to lose weight. This means the individual, the family, the health service and the council. But what about the supermarkets?

Why is Britain is Fat and Will Stay Fat

Merry Christmas, you have Diabetes

This government policy may sound all well and good, but it will not work, because their strategy cannot be put into practice. And why? Walk into your average supermarket (Asda, Tesco, Aldi and the Coop) and you will find aisles and aisles of fizzy drinks, chocolates, crisps and booze. There is little choice of healthy foods and they are relatively harder to find.

“But there are aisles of fruit and veg,” I hear you cry.

Yes, there are, but eating lots of fruit and veg is only part of the story. In practice, it is hard because we live in a generally cold climate. Few people I speak to actually manage to eat eat five a day. This is because of the peeling and coring of highly perishable foods that leave you hungry, as they are quickly digested. They also take up loads of freezer space. Soon, you will find yourself groping for a quick unhealthy snack courtesy of Asda.

People will reach for the fruit juice thinking this counts as a 1 in the 5. But fruit juice contains a lot of sugar that is quickly digested. Great for diabetes and candida. Consuming lots of fruit juice will merely enhance your sugar cravings.

Cause of Candida Albicans

Hidden sugars will be found in the remaining aisles within tinned foods, frozen ready meals and so-called ‘low fat’ products. When I say low fat, I mean the sort of products that will make you fat. ‘Low fat’ yogurt contains loads of sugar. Cereals are the worst. Frosties should be banned. Sugar will make you fat.

If you were a healthy alien without candida, sugar cravings, excess weight or diabetes and you transported yourself into the average British town, such as Nuneaton, you will find yourself hard-pressed not to find a diet that will not eventually give you these conditions. It is virtually impossible to eat healthily in Britain because the average supermarket gives little choice of healthy foods. And even if they do, the prices are way too high.

If you don’t like chocolate, biscuits, crisps, bread, booze or sugar, you will find little else to cure your hunger. British supermarkets are geared to make you fat.

What the Government Needs to do to Cure Obesity

The government needs to target supermarkets to make them accountable for the junk they stock. I think we need different foods in the aisles. Put the junk food on a small aisle at the back of the store with the dog food.

Introduce more interesting foods from the around the world that are easy to cook or can be eaten in an instant. The answer lies in low carb, high protein and high fibre foods. I find foreign supermarkets more interesting than the British supermarket. End the rip-off prices of healthy foods in health shops such as Holland and Barrett and put the healthy foods into the average British supermarket. At supermarket prices.

British Supermarkets are Making You Fat

I found small packs of ground wheatgerm, flaxseeds, sunflower seed and pumpkin seeds in Asda. They were stuck on the bottom shelf where I could easily have missed them, but I almost jumped for joy at their discovery.

I also nearly had an orgasm when I discovered Polish bread with complex carbs and low in carbs (45%). There are also nut milks such as hazelnut, almond and Coconut produce. Stevia has recently made an appearance too, but the supermarket brand has added maltodextrin, which is a simple sugar. Shame.

But I would like to see more of this kind of thing. As we are a carb-loving country, I would like to see different flours and different breads and biscuits that supply satisfying, quick snacks that are slow to digest and low in carbohydrate. Complex carbs, high protein, low sugar. But not necessarily low fat, only healthy fat.

Since cutting a lot of sugar from my diet, I find a lot of foods in the supermarket horribly sweet. I grimace at the taste of fruit yoghurt and fizzy drinks. It is shocking how much sugar can be found within. Yet once upon a time, I liked this stuff because I was used to the taste and it satisfied my candida. Well, yeast’s gotta have sugar! It makes me sad to see people still stick this junk into their supermarket trolley, as I used to.

Healthy Fast Food

We live in a cold climate. We want carbs. We can’t help it. I find 5 a day fruit and veg hard to practice. The answer lies in complex low carb tasty snacks that are low in glycemic index. I’m afraid such a product has not been invented, but I would like to find high protein, high fibre biscuits and snacks that satisfy like the digestive biscuit. No simple sugars, no hydrogenated vegetable oil.

At the moment, I make my own ‘treats’ by using varying amounts of the following ingredients: coconut butter, Tahini, dried fruits, Manuka honey, Stevia, wheatgerm, Spelt flour, rye flour, ground almonds, ground brazil nuts and such stuff. Butter will not do you as much ham as sugar. Sugar is by far the biggest killer in this country and the government should be targeting sugar as the number one cause of obesity.

Until that day, I shall blog more on this subject.

The Violet Hour by Richard Montanari: Regular Reporter in Cat and Mouse with Serial Killer

I was sold by the blurb and the opening of this thriller. A priest is murdered via overdose during shenanigans and then is thrown out of the window, mantel and all to plummet deathwards .Well, what isn’t there to hook the reader? We don’t know who the killer is, there are some colourful characters and the writing was fine. But I didn’t anticipate the next reading. In fact, I got distracted by another book halfway through and that is never a good sign.

Thriller with Colorful Characters

When I returned to the Violet Hour, I found I didn’t care much about what happened. There was a fair amount of aimless bantering between characters, it seemed, to illustrate the nature of cousins Nicky and Joe’s relationship, as well as the mete of the other hustlers in the neighbourhood. Nicky is a regular good guy with a lot of weird associations, only I didn’t care.

Thriller about Halloween Past

Halloween 1988 has significance to the killer and he is out for revenge for a traumatic event. There were some missing pieces that don’t come together until the end. There are some truly gruesome scenes where the killer slices bodily parts from his victims. Someone described this book as the new Hannibal, because the killer likes to use the body parts as props. But this book wasn’t half as good.

I wouldn’t call it a page turner, but some scenes might stay in the memory, only not for the right reasons. There is a twist at the end.

Andy Weir The Martian: In Space there are Potatoes Aplenty But No One Can Hear you Scream like a Girl

This book seemed to be written with Matt Damon in mind, although I haven’t seen the film. Most of the story is told through abandoned astronaut, Watney’s log, which is tinged with tongue-in-cheek comments such as, ‘I’m off to play with drugs and radiation’ and ‘yay, I’m pretty much f..cked.’

Buy from Amazon

Science Fiction with Realism

But this irony is what really defines this book as well as an entertaining lesson on physics and chemistry. Stuck with seventies TV and disco as entertainment provides contrast against the harsh realities of Mars.

So, Watney is stranded on Mars after his team, believing him dead, cut their mission short. Knowing what we now know about Mars, the book asks ‘what if...?’ There are no little green men, only dust storms, low gravity, extreme cold and the sterile environment. In Bond fashion, Watney has to find creative solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.

And the answers lie in a combination of potatoes, duct tape and sending Morse code via the positioning of rocks. At any moment, Watney could blow himself, up, starve to death, suffocate or die of thirst.

Survival Odds on Mars

I liked Watney being ahead of me in overcoming problems, some of which were nail-biting. Examples were avoiding dust storms that would reduce power to solar cells, leaving him stranded; getting blown up via a lethal mixture of oxygen and hydrogen and avoiding an overdose of radiation from the RTG, a vital source of heat.

But enjoyable though the book was, I couldn’t believe any human could get through those 18 months alone on a desolate planet without more traumas to the psyche, even with NASA training. Where was Watney’s mental breakdown, being spooked or craving intimacy? He didn’t seem to miss a blue sky, a girlfriend or yearn for smell fresh air. There were no descriptions of the other characters or of the Mars’ landscape. How about the light? The mighty canyons? The weird haze in the sky? Sometimes, I didn’t get a sense of being there.

The read was diverting and educational, but the science stuff overshadowed what the experience would really be like for a lone astronaut on a desolate planet. Still, I left with a strong impression of Watney’s sardonic wit.

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve: Slow Burn Suspense of a Husband’s Betrayal

This mystery thriller has a strong beginning, drawing the reader in with a multitude of questions. A wife living a blissful domestic life is interrupted by news that her pilot husband has been killed in an air crash off the cost of Ireland. But the nightmare is just beginning when Kathryn soon realises her husband was not the man she thought he was.

Buy from Amazon

Thriller of a Double Life

Shreve’s strength lies in her compelling narrative of the protagonist’s inner thoughts and resultant difficult emotions when investigator, Roger keeps coming back with questions about the cause of the crash. Had it been suicide? Political? An accident? Nothing seems to fit.

This thriller demonstrates how a woman living in domestic blissful life can be blind to her husband’s indiscretions. Her belief their marriage had been watertight falls apart, as well as her former identity which she questions. What had her role been in this long-standing marriage?

Revealing a Murky Past

After encountering mysterious notes on scraps of paper, Kathryn takes a trip to London to discover their meaning. And here, the full, ugly picture begins to emerge about her husband and his betrayal is laid bare. Despite having a supportive network, namely her own mother, Julia, Roger from the Agency and a teenage daughter, Kathryn is ultimately alone in a strange place.

I empathised for Kathryn, robbed of her ability to express anger towards her husband, and of feeling vulnerable under the questions of Roger, whose motives were at times questionable. However, this might have been more a reflection of Kathryn’s state of mind.

Shreve is great at conveying what it is like to experience conflicting emotions and misplaced trust, which I thought was brilliantly described. But this s a slow burn of a thriller, rather than a rollercoaster ride, but the pacing fitted the theme. The suspense is drip-fed in timely portions, retaining the story’s credulity. The momentum really picks up over the final third of the novel, which I read in one sitting

The Dining Club by Marina Anderson: The Low End of Fifty Shades with Freaky Twins

So, I brought this book from Tesco’s thinking this might be an enticingly dark read with a mystery and erotica. And being a Sunday Times bestseller, urged me to stick it in my basket. How wrong can you be!

Buy from Amazon

David is a dark, scarred, emotionally stunted cold fish with as much sex appeal as a trout. And delusional Grace is desperate for his love. And after he decided to reveal his secret of the Dining Club where clients live out their sexual fantasies of BDSM, Grace is ecstatic.

But all that happens is that Grace has to pass different tests via the tables of the Dining Club that reveals deeper levels of BDSM. And all this to win the love of a trout! Yes, David has commitment issues, blowing hot and cold and keeping Grace’s heart in suspense. And to complicate matters, Grace seems to have competition via the current female boss of the Dining Club.

I disliked a lot of things about this book,  notably  the twin characters, which seems to afflict a lot of contemporary literature out there. Twins are not freaks, weirdos or sex objects. It seems both are in competition for male attention, getting sulky and jealous over stupid things. Twins do no behave that way because I am one. And these two have just dropped off the conveyor belt to fulfil yet another stereotypical role in literature. The other characters seemed to behave little more than puppets, namely, Grace’s other love interest, Andrew.

The purpose of a novel is to show how a character has changed, developed or evolved. I was left feeling that Grace was supposed to come across like a more whole person, a stronger person. She is no longer a needy sex object of David’s, but now feels ready to become new boss-ette sex object of the Dining Club. She has come far!

I like dark, sexy reads and scarred characters, but those that inhabit the Dining Club are thin, delusional, dislikeable or a bunch of trouts. I struggled to keep with it.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: Droog’s Viewpoint of an Orwellian Dystopia

I felt this was one of those cult books to read before you die and enhance your reading prowess rather than as an enjoyable or relaxing read. And what does Burgess mean by pairing clockwork and orange?

Buy from Amazon

Teen ‘droog’ Alex relates of his nightmarish existence in a futuristic world of chaos via Nadstat lingo, a sort of slang mixed with Glasnost, which took a little getting used to, but once I had referred to the glossary a few times, I began to understand that moloko was milk, horrorshow means good, and I found I could ‘viddy’ see the meanings of other such words within sentences.

What Clockwork Orange Means

Alex’s friends George, Pete and Dim tear through the streets, wantonly fighting, raping and robbing. The old folks of the town lament the old days when things seemed good. A writer is caught in the crossfire, when Alex blithely tears up his beloved manuscript that is the namesake of this novel. I felt bad for the author, knowing just how precious a piece of writing can be to an author.

After the death of an old woman, Alex is incarcerated by the ‘millicent’ in the Staja State Prison, where this shameless subject becomes part of an experiment – the dodgy Ludovico mind control technique.

A Book to Read Before you Die

A book on a par with George Orwell’s 1984, the theme seemed to ask whether a man is truly good if the bad were simply taken from him. In the style of Stalin’s totalitarianism, Alex is de-individualised in the name of the many. To this end, Alex is forced to watch images of mayhem and violence whilst doctors inject Alex with nausea-inducing drugs. To twist the knife, they also create the same association of feeling sick with Alex’s love of classical music and sex.

Alex reacquaints himself with the author of A Clockwork Orange on his release, and we can see that Alex has become same himself – a fruit of nature crushed by the system, to behave as programmed, like clockwork.

But there is also a deeper meaning to these pairing of words, in as we can see he was a clockwork orange prior to the Ludovico technique of the Staja Prison in that nature has its own programming of how a human develops. In his senior years, Alex begins to crave a peaceful life, leaving behind his hectic years of teenhood, just as nature intended.

The question arises, where is free will if not found in the system and  not in nature? Burgess seems to make the point that a man cannot be a man without free will. A heavy read, that might be due to an essay or exam requirement (or to read before you die), the question of the individual versus the system is an important one that concerns us all.

What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn: Funny Tragic Thriller Personifying a Shopping Mall

And odd thriller, this novel is split into two times frames, 19 years apart. The story begins with amateur 10 year old sleuth, Kate who sets up Falcon Investigations, assisted by her toy chimp, Mikey. Her recordings of events within a shopping mall, Green Oakes, would appear inconsequential, such as the questionable meats of Mr. Watkins’ butchers and a tramp looting for discarded food in the bins. Fuelled by loneliness and loss, Kate strikes up a friendship with 22 year old neighbour, Adrian.

Green Oaks Personified

An interesting side-plot of tearaway Teresa runs full circle when she becomes a policewoman due to filling Kate’s place in an entry exam to a private school. Years later, Teresa becomes key in solving the questions around Kate’s disappearance. But hidden horrors lurk behind net curtains: Teresa’s so-called abusive dad, for instance, and how she keeps his nasty side subdued for her own survival. Crime lurks in domestic life rather than on the streets.

Buy from Amazon

The second part of the book continues through the viewpoint of security guard, Kurt 19 years later after he spots what appears to be Kate through CCTV. Green Oaks lives through ghosts past and present, and through the voices of the people that pass through. It has hidden tunnels and is somewhat creepy. Humour is embedded within tragedy, such as dullard Ed, who strives to appear a moody and dark noir persona, but fails miserably, due to his middle classed background from Solihull. And Dave, his boss, who issues expletives in an affected way.

Ghostly Story of Past and Future

But this thriller is really about ghosts in it many forms, through the past, future through the thoughts that haunt the people that pass through the glass doors. Kurt’s past similarly haunts him, and this fuels his relationship with Lisa, both afflicted by loss.

O’Flynn makes us see enclosed spaces where people congregate as having a persona, living and breathing through its visitors. Green Oaks keeps secrets somewhere within its many passageways. The answers are in plain view, but are not made evident until new security guard, Gavin takes up assistant security guard alongside Kurt.

The final chapter is chilling and sad. Award winning novels are often overrated, but this one is an exception, being funny, chilling and sensitively written.