Yolk it ain't a joke!!

Last week we were away and one place we stayed gave us a couple of eggs which they said was fresh from the chook house well when we tried them they were not fresh at all and the colour of the yolks was quite light in colour. So I thought those are not free range birds the yolk was too light. So when we had eggs the next time I noticed the yolk was bright yellow and thought this is definitely a free range egg. Well guess what? This may not be the case at all. I was shattered to read in the paper yesterday that there may be another reason for the bright colour of egg yolks. Yep now the humble egg is being tampered with secretly by adding colouring agents to the chook food derived from capscicum, marigold and paprika which is manufactured in China.

I always buy free range eggs. I know that the labelling is not always as it seems but I am pretty happy with those I have, well until now. In the article in the paper it was suggested to check all the eggs in a carton and if they were all of similar colour it could be likely they were from chooks fed with additives to colour the yolks.

Although stricter labelling laws are expected next month when ministers of the government meet the use of colour enhancers will not be on the subject list. So back to the drawing board for me to do my own research and look more carefully at the egg yolks or better still find a back yard producer and buy direct once happy they are free range.

I suppose it could be said to do no harm but it is the deception that I don't like and it could be that some people are allergic to capsicum or the other additives and are eating it without knowing.

Sugar Free Tomato Sauce

I have been looking at food labels and it is amazing how much salt and sugar is in manufactured products. Below is a homemade recipe for tomato sauce and it is very nice. I varied it a little from the original recipe I found on line.

Home Made Tomato sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cans tomatoes or fresh tomatoes skinned and chopped weighing 800gm

• 1/2 onion, chopped

• 80 ml apple cider vinegar

• 2 tspn granulated stevia (sugar substitute)

• 1 tspn ground allspice

• 1 tspn ground cinnamon

• 1 tspn ground clove

• 1 tspn cayenne pepper

• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Prepare your jars or bottles , wash and rinse with boiling water and pop into a warm oven to dry this will make nice and sterile.

Bring all the ingredients to a boil in the saucepan, stirring to dissolve the spices.

Reduce the heat and simmer for about 50 minutes with lid off until the sauce reduces by almost half and is quite thick.

Blend in a food processor.

If the sauce is not thick enough return it to the heat for a little longer.

Fill your jars or bottles to the top and seal. Don't forget to add a label and the date.

Store in the fridge for up to 1 month. Source:https://iquitsugar.com/recipe/homemade-tomato-sauce/

DIABETE'S TYPE 2

I have been further investigating diabets type 2 as it is genetic in our family. 1.7 million Australia's have been diagnosed with both type1 and type 2 diabetes, 85% of which is type 2 and it is believed there are a further 500,000 undiagnosed. So how does one know if they have diabetes and what are the symptons.

Frequent urinating and Thirst can be a strong indicator as well as foot ulcers and tiredness. A simple blood test can test the reading of our blood sugar and if it is higher than should be a further test is normally ordered which is done over a 2 hour period, namely the Glucose tolerance test. It is not painful but involved drinking a very sugary drink and the blood is then tested before drinking, 1 hour after and 2 hours after which indicates what is happening with the insulin if we may be insulin resistance or full blown diabetic.

If in doubt and you have symptons go to your doctor it is not a death sentence but needs to be controlled to protect your kidneys, heart and feet. And if your are diagnosed Diabetes Australia has a wonderful site on line full of help and advise.

Diabetes is not just in the older population, or the overweight and diabetes 2 is quite often genetic, so if you know of anyone in your family, parent's familes that have had diabetes then you know you could be at risk. So what happens to a diabetic: The pancreas does not produce sufficient insulin The insulin does not work properly in our body Or we are insulin resistant whereby the body does not respond to insulin effectively

Type 2 diabetes can be controlled for some people without medication by modifying lifestyle, namely our diet and increasing exercise. Controlling the amounts of sugar and carbohydrates in the diet. "Controlling blood sugar (glucose) levels is the major goal of diabetes treatment, in order to prevent complications of the disease. Type 1 diabetes is managed with insulin as well as dietary changes and exercise. Type 2 diabetes may be managed with non-insulin medications, insulin, weight reduction, or dietary changes." (1)

I have also read about fasting as a means of curing diabetes type2 but not sure this is strongly supported by the medical profession. However, does make for interesting reading "But the fact that fasting cures diabetes has been know for close to 100 years! One of the most famous diabetologists in the history of the world – Dr. Elliot Joslin wrote about it in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 1916! In fact, he thought that it was so obvious that fasting was helpful that studies would not even be necessary. This, from the guy that Harvard University used to name its world famous Joslin Center for Diabetes.

What happened? Well, remember that there was still massive confusion about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes back then. Fasting would not be particularly useful for Type 1, and type 2 was still quite unusual back then. After the discovery of insulin in the early 1920’s, all the focus turned to it as the ‘cure’ for diabetes. While it was a major advance for type 1, it was not quite the panacea for type 2s. However, most of the interest in fasting disappeared as doctors focused on what would be their mantra for the next century – drugs, drugs, drugs."(2)

So from this brief discussion there are treatments and lifestyle changes that can help to treat diabetes T2 whether it can be reversed is topical and as always it is strongly recommended that treatments should be discussed with your Doctor or Diabetes Adviser. And if one should suspect that all is not ok and that they may have the symptons getting diagnosed earlier than later could help to avoid complications.

So I am off for a walk now, a few short walks a day is better than none. Why not join me and get those daily steps right up there.

Sources: (1)http://www.medicinenet.com/diabetes_treatment/article.htm (2) https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/fasting-cures-diabetes-t2d-4/ https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/type-2-diabetes http://www.checkup.org.au/page/Initiatives/TravelCheck/Check/Type_2_Diabetes_Risk_Assessment_Tool/