Author Archives: Gary

About Gary

I like to cook, photograph and eat food. I'm an occasional podcaster too. I have a weekly diary blog named My Thoughts and Stuff, this is where I share what's been happening in my life for the preceding week. When I'm not cooking I'm practising medicine. You can find more information at my about.me page. I'm based in Canberra, Australia, so the food and recipes I share will tend to be seasonal and regional to Australia, but I hope if you're from somewhere else you'll find these recipes adaptable to suit your needs. Feel free to send me an e-mail if you have any questions.

Pork loin roast

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. Yummy Lummy is a blog for people who live alone and are keen to cook meals for one.

I also share my opinions on topics others may (or may not) be interested in. With my recent change in diet (SAD→CSIRO TWD→LCHF), the blog’s emphasis is shifting to my opinion on some food and non-food-related topics.

I cite most journal articles or books I’ve read and mentioned. You can see the citations at the bottom of the post.

You can skip the introduction and jump to the recipe if you don’t care to read my views.

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week. I was meant to be in Geneva (Ville de Genève) this week for a meeting. I ended up attending virtually. It worked out that I could complete my normal work and attend the Geneva-based meetings from 1800 to 0200 AEDT for two nights. I was tired by the end of the week. It almost felt like I had jetlag without any jet travel.

The photographs below are from trips to Geneva I’ve made in past years for work.

Water Jet Lake Geneva
Water Jet Lake Geneva
Téléphérique Salève Cable Car Mont Salève Geneva View
Téléphérique Salève Cable Car Mont Salève Geneva View

Now that I can walk more with my cane, I’ve been able to visit the supermarket and purchase one or two items that I can carry home with one hand. I’ve also been able to visit the seafood shop so I can purchase wild-caught salmon rather than farmed salmon.

New exercise ball and a rubber band for physiotherapy exercises.

I was hoping to purchase a rugby league ball, however, the only ones on sale were for teams I do not support.

With more movement, my anorexia (loss of appetite) has lessened, and I’ve been eating more and gaining weight.

Weight chart showing the weight associated with muscle atrophy and the recent increase in weight.

What have I been watching?

Senate estimates (Supplementary Budget estimates)

Three times a year, Australian senators ask questions of senior officials in Australian Government departments in formal hearings at Parliament House.

Years past, I’ve sat at “the table” and answered questions posed by senators. These days, my betters appear, and answer questions posed by senators.

It’s an important opportunity in our democracy for questions to be asked in a public forum and for the government of the day to reply via its public servants.  

What have I been reading?

Red meat intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in a prospective cohort study of United States females and males (Gu et al., 2023)

I saw some popular news services report on a paper recently published by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The authors of the paper advise that red meat may raise the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). Most news services did not cite the publication, so readers had to rely on journalists to interpret the journal article. When I’ve looked at some of the journalists doing the reporting, it’s not clear they have a critical approach to examining data.

Most media accounts do not provide an analysis of the paper in sufficient detail. The general reader will take away a message that eating red meat may cause T2DM. In my opinion, this is an inaccurate interpretation. This journal article raises some questions.

For example:

  • The journal article is observational and, therefore, cannot claim causation.
  • The studies assessed by the authors used food recall questionnaires, which ask participants to remember and record what they have eaten over various intervals, ranging from a couple of weeks to a couple of years. It’s difficult to believe that all the participants remembered accurately the food they consumed, including the amount of food.
  • The studies used by the journal paper authors include sandwiches and lasagne as red meat. I suggest the bread and pasta are the problem and not the meat.
  • Red meat has negligible carbohydrates and likely zero glucose, so how can it contribute to T2DM?
  • The absolute risk is minuscule, while the relative risk looks impressive. This style of presentation is a confidence trick of epidemiology.
  • Body mass index (BMI) isn’t adjusted because the authors claim BMI is higher due to red meat consumption. Yet, the BMI could be higher because associated carbohydrate consumption (the accompanying food with meat like potatoes and sweetened drinks) was higher. For example, someone who consumes too many meat pies will become clinically obese compared with someone who eats scotch fillet (ribeye) steaks without the pie casing and the flour for the gravy. I think it’s the carbohydrates contributing to an increased BMI and the T2DM rather than the red meat per se.
  • The journal article also suggests that women eat more red meat than men. I don’t know about that.

My concern is that meat eaters who are obese should be compared with 1. low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat meat eaters and 2. those who adhere to a standard American (or Australian) diet. If such a study was done, I’d expect negligible T2DM in the low-carbohydrate healthy-fat meat eaters compared with the other two arms of the study.

If the raw data were examined again, I expect lean red meat eaters would not feature in terms of any possible association with T2DM.

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is known for its plant-based preference. You can find a page titled “Why plant-based diets are good for human and planetary health” on their website. The page shares how one of the school’s professors was a co-author of the EAT-Lancet Commission guidelines, which are mostly plant-based.

The school also advocates for Meatless Mondays (—or more). I might change to Salmon Sundays and Meat-filled Mondays to keep the alliteration.

Do you have days of the week dedicated to a specific meal?

Blood glucose monitoring devices: current considerations

This Australian Prescriber article (Sly & Taylor, 2023), provides an easy-to-read and relatively comprehensive overview of the available blood glucose monitoring devices in Australia.

The authors conclude that continuous monitoring is recommended for persons with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and those with T2DM who need daily insulin.

Some Yummy Lummy readers are interested in diabetes mellitus and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). I hope this article is of interest.

Do you continuously monitor your blood glucose?

Is snoozing losing? Why intermittent morning alarms are used and how they affect sleep, cognition, cortisol, and mood (Sundelin et al., 2023)

As part of my daily trawl through the “medical news”, this article piqued my interest. It used the term chronotype, which I’d not come across before. It refers to a person’s natural inclination for sleep at certain times. I came across this website, which describes the various chronotypes. I’m a lion 🦁 who tends to be a dolphin 🐬

Apparently, using the snooze button on your alarm clock or smart device is not a bad thing for many people.

What’s your chronotype?

The Importance of Dietary Carbohydrates in Human Evolution (Hardy et al., 2015)

The authors (one of whom is based in Sydney at the University of Sydney) propose that plant foods having high quantities of starch were essential for the evolution of humans. They acknowledge that earlier studies have highlighted a shift from plant-based to primarily meat-based diets as critical in developing the brain and other human traits. The authors argue that digestible carbohydrates were also necessary to accommodate the increased metabolic demands of a growing brain.

Furthermore, they describe the role cooking played in improving the digestibility and palatability of carbohydrates. The authors propose the auxiliary role of salivary amylase in increasing the importance of starch in human evolution following the origins of cooking. They say salivary amylases are ineffective on raw crystalline starch, but cooking substantially increases energy yield and glycæmia.

This paper, argues against a core tenant of people advocating for a low-carbohydrate healthy-fat way of life. (Noakes, 2023)

What have I been listening to?

I haven’t been listening to much because of the meetings in Geneva and watching Senate estimates hearings.  

Recipe

I went for a wander through a supermarket and saw this pork loin roast and thought it would make a great meat source for this weekend and for lunch meat this week.  

Equipment

  • Slow cooker
  • Air fryer

Ingredients

  • Pork loin
  • Beef, chicken, lamb, and pork stock — you can use any meat-based stock for this. You could also use a plant-based stock or a meat and plant stock. I’m using this because it’s what I have at hand.
Pork loin roast In the plastic (recycle plastic) packaging.
Pork loin roast sans packaging.
Pork loin roast and gelled stock in a slow cooker vessel

Instructions

  1. Place the meat and the stock into the cooking vessel.
  2. Slowly cook for six hours.
  3. Remove the meat and place the roast on a tray and into the air fryer for 20 minutes at 160 °C (320 °F).
  4. Set aside a part of the pork for dinner, put the rest into a container, and refrigerate. The pork can be used for lunches during the week.
  5. Filter the cooking liquor and keep it as the perpetual master stock.
  6. Serve the pork with vegetables or eat them alone. If you’re following a carnivore diet, just the pork will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. If you’re low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat eating, the meat and some plant-based real foods like avocado, leafy green leaves, olives, and tomatoes are a good combination. If you’re not concerned with carbohydrates, stewed apples and sauerkraut would go well with the roast pork. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, this pork won’t be suitable.
  7. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  8. Eat with whatever implements you prefer. This includes your fingers.
Pork loin roast
Pork loin roast
Slowly cooked pork loin roast with red cabbage and sour cream

Thoughts on the meal

If you like pork with a good amount of fat, you’ll like this roast.

The loin isn’t a tender cut of meat, even when it’s slowly cooked. The fat meat was tender, but the loin meat was a little dry. Overall, the slices of pork loin roast were good and coupled nicely with the cabbage and sour cream.

Do you like pork? What’s your favourite cut of pork, and how do you cook it?

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog do not constitute medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience. My opinions remain mine.

References

Gu, X., Drouin-Chartier, J.-P., Sacks, F. M., Hu, F. B., Rosner, B., & Willett, W. C. (2023). Red meat intake and risk of type 2 diabetes in a prospective cohort study of United States females and males. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, S0002916523661192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.08.021

Hardy, K., Brand-Miller, J., Brown, K. D., Thomas, M. G., & Copeland, L. (2015). The Importance of Dietary Carbohydrate in Human Evolution. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 90(3), 251–268. https://doi.org/10.1086/682587

Noakes, T. (2023). Ketogenic: The science of therapeutic carbohydrate restriction in human health. Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier.

Sly, B., & Taylor, J. (2023). Blood glucose monitoring devices: Current considerations. Australian Prescriber, 46(3), 54–59. https://doi.org/10.18773/austprescr.2023.013

Sundelin, T., Landry, S., & Axelsson, J. (2023). Is snoozing losing? Why intermittent morning alarms are used and how they affect sleep, cognition, cortisol, and mood. Journal of Sleep Research, e14054. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14054

Who to follow.

Zoë Harcombe, PhD

If you’re interested in food and nutrition, I suggest following Zoë at her website and on X (nee Twitter).

Dr Harcombe reviews published nutrition articles and provides a critical analysis of the quality of the data and the recommendations and/or conclusions of the authors.

Zoë describes herself as “…a real foodie first and foremost. I’m passionate about real food. What do I mean by that? Oranges grow on trees; cartons of orange juice don’t. Fish swim in the sea; fish fingers don’t. Cows graze in a field; Peperoni sticks don’t. Hopefully, you’ve got the idea. Food should come from fields, not factories.”

Legend

BMI = Body mass index.

CGM = Continuous glucose monitoring.

CSIRO TWD = Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Total Wellbeing Diet.

LCHF = low-carbohydrate healthy-fat eating.

Red meat = is the meat of mammals, which includes pork.

SAD = Standard Australian diet (rich in carbohydrates, poor in healthy fats, and heaving in processed and ultra-processed products).  

T2DM=Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Two types of beef ribs

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. Yummy Lummy is a blog for people who live alone and are keen to cook meals for one.

I also share my opinions on topics others may be interested in. With my change in diet, the emphasis is shifting to my opinion on some food and non-food-related topics.

You can skip the introduction and jump to the recipe if you don’t care to read my views.

Lake Ginninderra on a cloudy but warm day

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week. Mine was great. I continue to recover from my injury. My surgeon is happy for me to see a physiotherapist, and I’m doing some range of motion exercises thrice daily.

My bare legs sans leg brace with my new stick between my legs. I’m happy that with physiotherapy, I can bend my knee to about 70°.

What have I been watching?

The Equalizer trilogy

There used to be a TV show from the 1980s called “The Equalizer”. It starred Robert Woodward as Robert McCall. McCall is a retired intelligence agent who helps people with trouble coping with life.

The movie series starred Denzel Washington as McCall. The third and final movie was released a couple of months ago. I like Denzel Washington as an actor. He also seems like he’s a decent bloke too.

A new TV series has been produced. I don’t think I’ll watch it. The movies are sufficient for me.

The Continental: From the World of John Wick (TV Mini-Series 2023‑2023)

Set in 1970s New York City, The Continental explores the origin of the hotel-for-assassins focus of the John Wick movie series seen through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott.

The biggest star of the John Wick movies for me was the 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1, which featured a 428 in3 big block V8.

What have I been reading?

Life expectancy associated with different ages at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in high-income countries: 23 million person-years of observation. (Kaptoge et al., 2023)

This study looked at the effect a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) has on longevity. This observational study was conducted using information from 19 high-income countries. The authors calculated age-adjusted and sex-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality according to age at diagnosis of diabetes using data from 1,515,718 participants, in whom deaths were recorded during 23.1 million person-years of follow-up.

Every decade of earlier diagnosis of diabetes was associated with about 3–4 years of lower life expectancy.

The main message

While longevity isn’t my most important goal, I’d like to keep living if I’m happy and living happily. Avoiding T2DM will help achieve this. Rather than my end of life being a medical intervention, I’d like to use nutrition for the same outcome. Avoiding unnecessary carbohydrates (noting that no dietary carbohydrates are necessary) by focusing on real foods seems to make the most sense.

A bench seat on Lake Ginninderra with SAD written on the armrest. It reminded me to avoid the Standard Australian Diet.

What have I been listening to?

Monroe Doctrine book series

I’m now in volume VI and hopefully get to volume VII this weekend.

As a book series, I think this is a series I could easily re-listen to annually.

Making It So a Memoir by Patrick Stewart

Kathleen gave me a copy of this book to listen to as a gift.

The title refers to similar words one of Sir Patrick’s best-known characters says in most episodes of that TV show. If you’re not familiar with Sir Patrick and the roles he plays, I’m guessing you may not be interested in this book.

His Wikipedia entry mentions a bit of trivia I wasn’t aware of. Sir Patrick holds a world record for longevity performing a character.

Recipe

The dietary lifestyle I’ve now adopted is mundane regarding recipes. While it remains spring in Australia, and noting that Canberra isn’t the warmest place in the country, I’m still using my slow cooker and air fryer for indoor cooking.

I hope as summer approaches, I can use a frypan more. I don’t have a very efficient exhaust system in my flat, so unless I open windows and doors, the smoke from cooking meat easily triggers the smoke alarm. I can get good airflow in the flat when the windows and doors are open.

I see outdoor cooking in my future, but more about that when we’re in summer.

I chose two styles of beef short ribs for this recipe because I wanted to eat the meat directly from the smaller ribs and keep the meat from the short rib fingers for later in the week.

Equipment

  • Slow cooker
  • Air fryer

Ingredients

  • Beef short ribs (3 ribs)
  • Beef short rib fingers (2 ribs)
  • Beef, chicken, lamb, and pork stock — you can use any meat-based stock for this. You could also use a plant-based stock or a meat and plant stock. I’m using this because it’s what I have at hand.
Beef ribs for the slow cooker
Beef ribs for the slow cooker
Beef ribs for the slow cooker with beef, chicken, lamb, and pork stock

Instructions

  1. Place the meat and the stock into the cooking vessel.
  2. Slowly cook for eight hours.
  3. Remove the meat and place the ribs on a tray and into the air fryer for 20 minutes at 160 °C (320 °F).
  4. Set aside a portion of the ribs for dinner, put the rest of the ribs into a container and refrigerate. The rib meat can be used for lunches during the week.
  5. Filter the cooking liquor and keep it as the perpetual master stock.
  6. Serve the ribs with vegetables or eat them alone. If you’re following a carnivore diet, just the ribs will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. If you’re low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat eating, the meat and some plant-based real foods like avocado, leafy green leaves, olives, and tomatoes are a good combination. If you’re not concerned with carbohydrates, mashed tubers like potatoes or sweet potatoes would work well, as would mashed pumpkin. You could make a roux with flour, oil, or butter to make a gravy. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, these ribs won’t be suitable.
  7. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  8. Eat with whatever implements you prefer. This includes your fingers. I like holding the rib in my fingers and gnawing the meat from the bone. I ate the prawns with chopsticks. 🥢
Slowly cooked beef short ribs and short rib fingers prior to the air fryer
Slowly cooked beef short ribs and short rib fingers after finishing in the air fryer
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Slowly cooked beef ribs and king prawns cooked in butter with red cabbage
Beef ribs after gnawing them

Thoughts on the meal

As far as slowly cooked meat goes. Ribs are great. I don’t seem to be able to get beef cheeks delivered. I think as I become more ambulatory, I’ll make excursions (also known as hobbling) to the shops to buy cheek meat.

Refreshment from Kathleen

Kathleen introduced me to a new drink. Kathleen suggested a couple of teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of sparkling mineral water. Occasionally, I’ve enjoyed morning lime juice and tap water, but the ACV and mineral water drink is next level. It tastes good.

I also like that the ACV will possibly help stave off dementia so I don’t lose my mind too early as we grow old together. 🤪 (Tripathi et al., 2020)

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog do not constitute medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience.

References

Kaptoge, S., Seshasai, S., Sun, L., Walker, M., Bolton, T., Spackman, S., Ataklte, F., Willeit, P., Bell, S., Burgess, S., Pennells, L., Altay, S., Assmann, G., Ben-Shlomo, Y., Best, L., Björkelund, C., Blazer, D., Brenner, H., Brunner, E., … Kromhout, D. (2023). Life expectancy associated with different ages at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in high-income countries: 23 million person-years of observation. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 11(10), 731–742. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(23)00223-1

Tripathi, S., Kumari, U., & Mitra Mazumder, P. (2020). Ameliorative effects of apple cider vinegar on neurological complications via regulation of oxidative stress markers. Journal of Food Biochemistry, 44(12). https://doi.org/10.1111/jfbc.13504

Cooking leftover meat and mince

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. Yummy Lummy is for people who live alone and are keen to cook meals for one.

I also share my opinions on topics others may be interested in.

You can skip the introduction and jump to the recipe if you don’t care to read my opinions.

Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck, with coconut cream, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week. Mine was great. I was engaged in a few national meetings with colleagues from across Australia and from across the Tasman Sea.

Referendum

Eligible voters in Australia are being asked to participate in a referendum to change our constitution today (Saturday, 2023-10-14). We’re being asked if we approve of altering the Australian Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

I don’t write about my political views or comment on any government work I’m involved in, so my reason for mentioning the referendum is to reflect on how many voters are voting early. I heard an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) interview with an Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) official who mentioned that just over 50% of votes are expected to be entered before today. I find that an impressive figure.

Because of my reduced mobility, I’ve elected to register for a postal vote. I’ve completed this and received verification that my vote has been received.

There are also early voting booths that have been open for a couple of weeks so that voters can participate in the referendum early.

I’ve used these early polling booths for the last few elections because I don’t like standing in queues. If we’ve learnt anything from COVID-19, physical distancing, amongst other measures, effectively prevented infection transmission.

Tonight, I’ll be keeping an eye on the results. Changing the constitution is a big deal.

What have I been watching?

House

According to House, “There is no medicine like happiness.” I heartily support this. Happiness is a place—a place of joy and pleasure. Happiness is warm and moist. Happiness is a place of love.

I’m in the final season of House. I think the first two or three seasons are the best quality. The latter seasons had some cast changes, and the stories became a little outlandish. That said, as a character, there’s a lot to like and a lot to dislike about the character of House.

I’m up to the episode, which features Billy Connolly, who plays a character married to House’s mother.

Low carb down under 2023

I’m attending some sessions virtually of the Low Carb Down Under 2023 conference this weekend. It’s a medical conference for healthcare practitioners interested in low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat eating.

I purchased tickets intending to download and watch the videos at my leisure. I had anticipated being otherwise occupied this weekend, but my plans changed.

What have I been listening to?

Monroe Doctrine

I’m re-listening to this series of books again. The seventh and final volume has just been released as an audiobook. I thought I’d start again from volume one.

With world events as they are, it seems apt to listen to a fictional book series about World War III involving biological warfare, nuclear warfare, cyberwarfare, and conventional combat on land, on and under the sea, and in the air.

The series is set in the near future and references the conflict in Ukraine (Україна) as well as the building international tension some countries are having with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It also explores unlikely alliances between Russia and NATO countries and the involvement of Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

I hope the last volume culminates in a thought-provoking ending to a gripping series.

I’d love to see this book converted into a television (TV) miniseries or a feature-length movie.

Recipe

I’m not sharing a recipe tonight. This is more of a cooking technique to improve the quality of the cooking process by using water in a cold vessel to brown meat and vegetables.

Lan Lam from America’s Test Kitchen provides the best teaching on this. Lan is an excellent teacher. I’ve learnt much from her instruction.

I see people cooking minced (ground) meat by placing it into a hot frypan or saucepan with some form of lubricant. Often a seed oil. Inevitably, the meat fries and caramelises; in some situations, the meat burns and creates fond. The biggest problem is that the outside of the meat cooks and burns before the inside heats through to a safe temperature.

If the aim is to burn the meat, that’s fine. Most of the time, I want the meat cooked through with caramelisation but without burning. I also want my meat to be food-safe.

This technique can be used for raw minced (ground) meat and leftover refrigerated meat, e.g., after slowly cooking a joint of meat.

The benefit of this approach is the meat heats slowly and evenly while the fat in the flesh softens and melts into the cooked meat, creating an unctuous mouthfeel. Rather than being hard and dry, the meat is tender and moist, and the juices exude flavour.

Once the water evaporates and the meat starts to caramelise, the heat can be reduced, and then a decision can be made on how to proceed.

For some dishes, you could now mix in other ingredients and then bake the dish. In other dishes, the meat can be cooled and added to a salad or a holder like a lettuce leaf (for a low carbohydrate taco equivalent).

Equipment

  • Frypan  

Ingredients

  • Any leftover, slowly cooked meat, meat cooked in a pressure cooker, or minced (ground) meat.
  • For leftover cold meat, it’s best to dice the meat into 1–2 cm­3 pieces.
  • I keep the fat and never cut the fat off. I want to consume that healthy fat.

Instructions

  1. Place the meat into a cold frypan or saucepan.
  2. Add enough cold water to cover the bottom of the pan.
  3. Add the meat of your choice plus some iodised salt if the meat is raw.
  4. Put the pan on the stovetop and turn on the heat.
  5. Slowly heat until the water begins to boil, and then allow the water to simmer.
  6. I use a pair of chopsticks to move the meat around.
  7. As the water evaporates and when it approaches the point of the water vanishing, turn the heat down further or off and keep the meat stirring.
  8. I’ve provided some photographs of the finished meals I’ve enjoyed over the last few weeks as examples of what I’ve done.
  9. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  10. Eat with whatever implements you prefer. 🥢🍴

Thoughts on the technique.

In my mind, this is a no-brainer. I recognise some readers may think the extra effort isn’t worth it. I get that feedback from time to time when someone says they prefer to simply cook a steak in a frypan and not use techniques like sous vide or a pressure cooker. That’s fair enough. Everyone should do what works best for them. Everyone’s tastes and preferences are theirs. I object when someone tries to assume their approach would suit me better when they’ve never tried the technique I’m describing.

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog do not constitute medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience.

I’m receiving more spam comments and direct messages, so I may need to start moderating comments again.

Photographs

This is a series of photographs I shot while cooking lunch today.

Minced (ground) beef brisket
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and beef dripping
Cheddar and mozzarella cheeses
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese
Minced (ground) beef brisket and curry powder with water and cherry tomatoes and cheese

Older meal photographs

These are some photographs of meals I’ve enjoyed over the last couple of weeks using this cooking technique.

Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck, with coconut cream, cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, and CHEER™ tasty and mozzarella cheeses with an avocado cheek
Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck, with coconut cream, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower
Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck, with olives, capers, and CHEER™ tasty and mozzarella cheeses with broccoli and cauliflower
Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck
Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck
Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck
Leftover slow cooker lamb shoulder and speck
Shredded chicken wing meat with cherry tomatoes, olives, and capers
Shredded chicken wing meat with cherry tomatoes, olives, and capers
Leftover pressure cooker chicken wing meat with cherry tomatoes and capers
Leftover slow cooker beef short rib with cherry tomatoes
Leftover pressure cooker pork spare rib with cherry tomatoes
Leftover slowly cooked pork shoulder roast with avocado
Leftover slowly cooked pork shoulder roast with cherry tomatoes
Leftover slowly cooked pork shoulder roast with cherry tomatoes and olives
Tinned corned beef cooked in water with curry powder. Cooked with cherry tomatoes and cheese.

Slowly cooked pork shoulder

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader, 

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. The blog is for people who live alone and are keen to cook meals for one. 

You can skip the introduction and jump to the recipe. 

Introduction 

I hope you’ve had a good week. Mine was great. My next week is going to be very busy with work. Doing it all from home will be challenging.

National Rugby League Grand Final 

Last Sunday evening, the Brisbane Broncos played against the Penrith Panthers in the 2023 NRL grand final. 

It was one of the most exciting games of rugby league I’ve watched. The lead changed a few times in dramatic ways. In the end — in a nail-biting finish — the Panthers scored a game-clinching try and are the premiers for 2023. 

I’m now excited for the games involving the Australian Kangaroos, who will be playing some Pacific Island Country national teams. If you’re interested in the draw, the fixture dates and times are available at the National Rugby League website. 

This has been a tremendous season for rugby league. My father won a tipping competition and remains happy in an afterglow of success. The Dolphins NRL team had a fabulous inaugural year in the NRL. Some of their players have made international sides for the Pacific Championships, including the Kangaroos. Of course, the icing was the mighty XXXX Queensland Maroons defeating the NSW Blues in the State of Origin series.

Next year looks good to be another phenomenal year of rugby league, and I hope to catch Dolphins games in person at Lang Park when visiting family in Brisbane.

Orthopædic surgeon review of my knee 

On Thursday afternoon, I visited my consultant surgeon so he could review the patella ORIF he was responsible for six weeks ago. 

Before I saw him, I had an x-ray of my knee. I asked to look at the images. The patella repair looked great to my untrained eye. 

Knee x-ray

The surgeon was impressed with the repair’s quality and my wound’s appearance. He was happy with my muscle tone and explained I should have full muscle strength again in about three to six months. He explained his registrar’s procedure in-depth when repairing and fixing the fracture and the ruptured retinaculum. This helped explain better what I was feeling and seeing.

I’m now also able to use a cane instead of crutches. Besides new shoes that won’t slip on tiles, I’m considering dressing like House when I return to work.

What have I been listening to? 

The Great Plant-based Con 

The Audible app artificial intelligence recommended this book written by Jayne Buxton. Like books I’ve been listening to recently on low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat eating, the author examines plant-based eating. She reviews much of the available literature and reminds readers that observational associative studies and meta-analyses can never prove causation. 

The introduction does an excellent job of pointing out the difference between relative and absolute risk and the problem of confounders in observational studies, which rely on participant memory for what they may have eaten. 

I have friends who are passionate about their plant-based diets, and I respect their choices. I know they have considered the risks and benefits and the ethical proposition. There is a lot of conflicting advice; everyone must consider the evidence and decide. I think it’s great that more and more catering companies and restaurants are accommodating diversity in dietary desires.

The book is neither anti-plant nor anti-vegan, and it reviews the facts about human diets and their effect on the environment. I like that Australians like Matthew Evans are featured. I met Matthew in 2015 at a Canberra blogging convention. He is a food critic who has become a farmer and restaurateur. (Evans, 2019)

It’s worth mentioning the book examines some distortions in pro-plant-based food science; however, it does not always apply the same rigour to its own biases. There are repeated references to the work of one animal-food researcher funded in part by the US livestock industry.

One fascinating feature is the exposition of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church’s role, the business relationship with Kellogg, and the fixation on masturbation amongst boys and young men. According to the SDA church founder Ellen G. White and Kellogg, meat causes impure thoughts in men and causes them to want to masturbate. I didn’t realise how much SDAs influence dietetic and nutrition societies and government guidance in countries where such involvement is possible. (Buxton, 2022)

What have I been reading? 

Low carbohydrate diet and Japanese men 

During the week, a reader sent me an e-mail mentioning a study from Nagoya University that reported Japanese men on a “low carbohydrate” diet had poor health outcomes. 

I searched for the study and found Dietary Carbohydrate and Fat Intakes and Risk of Mortality in the Japanese Population: the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study by Tamura, Takashi et al. (Tamura et al., 2023)

The study was observational, associative, and focused on relative risk. It contains no cause-and-effect evidence. This study cannot prove causation and strictly can’t confer anything about risk, given risk implies cause and effect. The study generated some questions for me: 

  • These studies often rely on the memory of participants to record their diet. 
  • These studies do not provide absolute “risk” information and rely on relative “risk”, which creates a perception bias. The relative risk often appears large when the absolute risk is tiny.
  • It’s not clear what is meant by high fat, e.g., what is the relationship between saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and polyunsaturated fat in the diet eaten by the participants, and what is the source of the fats; it’s also not clear if trans fats and hydrogenated oils were part of the diet, there is a difference between high-fat and healthy-fat, how much of the fat came from processed seed oils vs cold pressed fruit oil or animal saturated fat? 
  • What other confounders exist besides the diet, e.g., smoking, exercise, pollutants, and what constitutes low carbohydrate intake? Note that <40% CHO (up to 40%) is not a low carbohydrate diet. Such a diet might contain confounding associated with insulin resistance in the participants. Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome could explain some of the adverse health effects reported. Given that the advocates of low-carbohydrate healthy-fat (LCHF) eating have CHO ratios <10% of their diet, up to 40% is a problem for this study and doesn’t constitute low carbohydrate.

Inferences from a study like this are problematic and don’t answer the clinical questions. 

Body mass index (BMI)

I have been thinking about BMI and how the interpretation differs from country to country. I found an answer to a question I’d had since January. 

The healthy weight range BMI for men in Australia of Asian descent is 18.5 to 22.9 kg/m2. This range is lower than the healthy weight range BMI for men of European descent, which is 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2.

People of Asian descent tend to have a higher body fat percentage and a lower muscle mass percentage than people of European descent at the same BMI. As a result, they are at increased risk of developing obesity-related chronic diseases, such as Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and heart disease, at a lower BMI. 

The lesson for me is obvious. Keep low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat eating and lose more weight. I have much to live for in life. I love life at the moment. I eat to live and enjoy what I do and how I do it. 

Cholesterol, blood clotting, and cardiovascular risk

I’ve also spent some of my leisure time reading articles on cholesterol and the role of coagulation in cardiovascular risk. (Diamond et al., 2019, 2022; Diamond & Leaverton, 2023a, 2023b; Diamond & Ravnskov, 2015; Ravnskov, De Lorgeril, Diamond, et al., 2018; Ravnskov, De Lorgeril, Kendrick, et al., 2018; Ravnskov et al., 2016, 2019, 2020a, 2020b, 2022; Targher et al., 2019)

I also discovered a chemical pathologist friend has spoken at low carbohydrate healthy-fat conferences. He’s an expert in metabolic syndrome and the biochemistry of lipids, liver function, and iron balance. He has some very informative YouTube videos.

Recipe 

I feel like my weekly recipes here are getting boring and predictable. If you get bored, you’re always welcome to stop reading. I don’t mind.

While I don’t credit my recovery from my injury to my diet, I know my diet is healthful. I’m eating nutrient-dense complete proteins and avoiding highly- and ultra-processed foods. My consumption of sugar and other carbohydrates is low, and I’m avoiding seed oils and trans fats.

Equipment 

  • Slow cooker 
  • Oven 

Ingredients 

  • Pork 
  • Iodised salt 
  • Beef, chicken, lamb, and pork broth 

Instructions 

  1. Place the pork, salt, and broth into the slow cooker and turn it on. Cook the meat for eight hours on low heat. 
  2. Remove the pork carefully and allow it to drain. 
  3. Dry the surface of the pork and place it in an air fryer for 20 minutes at 190 °C (374 °F). 
  4. Pour the cooking liquor through a sieve and refrigerate the broth. 
  5. Slice the pork and set some aside for dinner while putting the rest of the meat into refrigerator containers.
  6. Serve with vegetables of choice. For those focussed on low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating, you could enjoy some leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, or an avocado cheek. Some potato or pumpkin mash would work well if you eat starchy plants. If you don’t fatten easily, you might want to eat this pork with stewed apple and some pickled and fermented cabbage.
  7. Give thanks to the Lord.
  8. Enjoy.

BLESS

I’m thinking of starting a trend to eat BLESS. I have been watching some YouTube influencers focusing on BBBE, viz., beef, butter, bacon, and eggs.

I don’t eat much bacon because most supermarket-delivered bacon is water-injected and processed with sugar and other carbohydrates.

BLESS represents beef, lamb, eggs, salmon, and sardines. I’m not sure if I’m the first to use this acronym. While eating pork tonight, my go-to foods are beef, lamb, eggs, salmon, and sardines.

Will I make any effort to propagate BLESS? No, this is just a random thought, and I probably won’t do anything with it. 🤣

I thought about this because I recently completed a bible study series on the beatitudes from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.

Thoughts on the meal

The pork was tender. I have enough left over for a couple of meals later this week.

Slowly cooking a pork shoulder roll works well for my style of cooking and eating.

Photographs

Pork shoulder roast
Pork shoulder roast with gelled beef, chicken, lamb, and pork broth
Slowly cooked pork shoulder roll finished in the air fryer

Bibliography

Buxton, J. (2022). The great plant-based con: Why eating a plants-only diet won’t improve your health or save the planet. Piatkus.

Diamond, D. M., Bikman, B. T., & Mason, P. (2022). Statin therapy is not warranted for a person with high LDL-cholesterol on a low-carbohydrate diet. Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Obesity, 29(5), 497–511. https://doi.org/10.1097/MED.0000000000000764

Diamond, D. M., De Lorgeril, M., Kendrick, M., Ravnskov, U., & Rosch, P. J. (2019). Formal comment on “Systematic review of the predictors of statin adherence for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.” PLOS ONE, 14(1), e0205138. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205138

Diamond, D. M., & Leaverton, P. E. (2023a). Historical Review of the Use of Relative Risk Statistics in the Portrayal of the Purported Hazards of High LDL Cholesterol and the Benefits of Lipid-Lowering Therapy. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.38391

Diamond, D. M., & Leaverton, P. E. (2023b). Historical Review of the Use of Relative Risk Statistics in the Portrayal of the Purported Hazards of High LDL Cholesterol and the Benefits of Lipid-Lowering Therapy. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.c116

Diamond, D. M., & Ravnskov, U. (2015). How statistical deception created the appearance that statins are safe and effective in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 8(2), 201–210. https://doi.org/10.1586/17512433.2015.1012494

Evans, M. (2019). On eating meat: The truth about its production and the ethics of eating it. Murdoch Books.

Ravnskov, U., Alabdulgader, A., De Lorgeril, M., Diamond, D. M., Hama, R., Hamazaki, T., Hammarskjöld, B., Harcombe, Z., Kendrick, M., Langsjoen, P., McCully, K. S., Okuyama, H., Sultan, S., & Sundberg, R. (2020a). The new European guidelines for prevention of cardiovascular disease are misleading. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 13(12), 1289–1294. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2020.1841635

Ravnskov, U., Alabdulgader, A., De Lorgeril, M., Diamond, D. M., Hama, R., Hamazaki, T., Hammarskjöld, B., Harcombe, Z., Kendrick, M., Langsjoen, P., McCully, K. S., Okuyama, H., Sultan, S., & Sundberg, R. (2020b). The new European guidelines for prevention of cardiovascular disease are misleading. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 13(12), 1289–1294. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2020.1841635

Ravnskov, U., De Lorgeril, M., Diamond, D. M., Hama, R., Hamazaki, T., Hammarskjöld, B., Hynes, N., Kendrick, M., Langsjoen, P. H., Mascitelli, L., McCully, K. S., Okuyama, H., Rosch, P. J., Schersten, T., Sultan, S., & Sundberg, R. (2018). LDL-C does not cause cardiovascular disease: A comprehensive review of the current literature. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 11(10), 959–970. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2018.1519391

Ravnskov, U., De Lorgeril, M., Diamond, D. M., Hama, R., Hamazaki, T., Hammarskjöld, B., Hynes, N., Kendrick, M., Langsjoen, P. H., Mascitelli, L., McCully, K. S., Okuyama, H., Rosch, P. J., Schersten, T., Sultan, S., & Sundberg, R. (2019). Response letter to ‘does high LDL-cholesterol cause cardiovascular disease?’ Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 12(2), 93–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2019.1561102

Ravnskov, U., De Lorgeril, M., Kendrick, M., & Diamond, D. M. (2018). Inborn coagulation factors are more important cardiovascular risk factors than high LDL-cholesterol in familial hypercholesterolemia. Medical Hypotheses, 121, 60–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2018.09.019

Ravnskov, U., De Lorgeril, M., Kendrick, M., & Diamond, D. M. (2022). Importance of Coagulation Factors as Critical Components of Premature Cardiovascular Disease in Familial Hypercholesterolemia. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(16), 9146. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23169146

Ravnskov, U., Diamond, D. M., Hama, R., Hamazaki, T., Hammarskjöld, B., Hynes, N., Kendrick, M., Langsjoen, P. H., Malhotra, A., Mascitelli, L., McCully, K. S., Ogushi, Y., Okuyama, H., Rosch, P. J., Schersten, T., Sultan, S., & Sundberg, R. (2016). Lack of an association or an inverse association between low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and mortality in the elderly: A systematic review. BMJ Open, 6(6), e010401. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010401

Tamura, T., Wakai, K., Kato, Y., Tamada, Y., Kubo, Y., Okada, R., Nagayoshi, M., Hishida, A., Imaeda, N., Goto, C., Ikezaki, H., Otonari, J., Hara, M., Tanaka, K., Nakamura, Y., Kusakabe, M., Ibusuki, R., Koriyama, C., Oze, I., … Matsuo, K. (2023). Dietary Carbohydrate and Fat Intakes and Risk of Mortality in the Japanese Population: The Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort Study. The Journal of Nutrition, 153(8), 2352–2368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.05.027

Targher, G., Bonapace, S., & Byrne, C. D. (2019). Does high LDL-cholesterol cause cardiovascular disease? Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 12(2), 91–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512433.2019.1561100

Multi-animal species master broth

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader, 

Welcome to Yummy Lummy, the food blog for people who live alone and want practical meal ideas. 

If you want to skip the introduction, jump to the recipe. 

Introduction 

I hope you’ve had a good week. This weekend, five jurisdictions in Australia will change to daylight saving time. The result is five different time zones. It seems odd for South Australia to be 30 minutes ahead of Queensland. For readers not familiar with Australian geography, Adelaide is west of Brisbane. 

I’ve never been a fan of daylight saving time. I like waking early and being in bed early. 

What have I been watching this week 

I’ve been watching YouTube videos from medical practitioners, nutrition scientists, and physiologists advocating a low-carbohydrate, healthy-fat way of eating. Many of these people recommend a carnivore way of eating. 

Salt 

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on salt. I don’t understand why anyone would want to use the heavy-metal-contaminated salts from the Himalayan mountains and other places. From a non-communicable disease public health perspective, iodised sodium chloride (NaCl) is recommended. Iodine supplementation during pregnancy prevents cretinism. Iodine supplementation for a population maintains the intelligence of the community. Community average intelligence quotient results can be affected by insufficient iodine in our diets.

If you have a spare hour, here’s a link to a podcast featuring one of my medical heroes. 

“The man who saved a million brains: Creswell Eastman’s pioneering work with iodine deficiency disorder.” 

I’m not keen on “pink” salts. A study conducted in Australia reported some products to have levels of contaminants that are not healthful and that the claims made by the vendors require the consumer to ingest more salt than is likely to be palatable (Fayet-Moore, Flavia, Cinthya Wibisono, Prudence Carr, Emily Duve, Peter Petocz, Graham Lancaster, Joanna McMillan, Skye Marshall, and Michelle Blumfield).1

MacOS Sonoma 

Last week, I updated my telephone and tablet operating systems.

I haven’t always been a user of Apple Mac products. Until I moved to Canberra, I was a dedicated Microsoft Windows user. I used to scoff at friends and workmates telling me to buy an Apple desktop or laptop. Part of my opposition was that Apple desktop computers looked very odd, and some laptop versions were also weird. 

When I moved to Canberra, two “events” coincided. The first was the amplification of computer viruses affecting MS Windows software, and the second was that Apple Mac laptops started looking good. 

I was getting tired of the problems associated with using expensive antiviral software. Back then, that software slowed the operating system’s speed. I knew computer viruses could still affect Apple Mac products, but it was an asymmetrical problem. 

I became a dedicated user with my first Apple MacBook. 

The new MacOS Sonoma was released this week (after the iOS and iPadOS releases last week). 

The new operating system has some nice enhancements which I’m enjoying. 

Recipe 

Equipment 

  • Slow cooker 
  • Oven 

Ingredients 

  • Beef short ribs 
  • Iodised salt 
  • Lamb, pork, and chicken broth — This broth combines cooking efforts over the last few weeks. I cooked the lamb and pork together and the chicken using the lamb and pork broth.
Speck
Lamb shoulder roast
Chicken wing nibbles
Chicken, lamb, and pork broth

Instructions

  1. Place the beef short ribs into the slow cooker. 
  2. Add the broth and some extra salt. 
  3. Cook the beef on low heat for 8 hours. 
  4. Gently lift the short ribs from the slow cooker and place them on an oven tray. 
  5. Pour most of the beef, chicken, lamb, and pork broth into a container and refrigerate it.
  6. Reduce the remaining broth and use it like it’s a jus over the meal.
  7. Air fry the ribs for 20 minutes at 160 °C (320 °F). 
  8. Serve the meat in any way you like. You can eat it alone and drink some broth on a carnivore diet. You could serve it with low-carbohydrate vegetables like leafy green vegetables or avocado if that’s your preference. If you want, it would also taste great with some gravy and potato mash. 
  9. Give thanks to the Lord. 

Multi-animal species master broth 

I wonder how far I can go with this broth. If I was able-bodied, I’d buy a duck and maybe some goat to add to this broth. I don’t think I’d add an oily fish, though.

Photographs

I didn’t photograph the final broth because it looks like the lamb, pork, and chicken broth. 😊

Beef short rib fingers
Beef short rib fingers with lamb, pork, and chicken broth (gelled)
Slow cooker beef short rib fingers with cauliflower and broccoli
Slow cooker beef short rib fingers for another meal
Slow cooker beef short rib fingers with cauliflower and broccoli
Slow cooker beef short rib fingers with cauliflower and broccoli with reduced beef, chicken, lamb, and pork broth
Slow cooker beef short rib fingers with cauliflower and broccoli with reduced beef, chicken, lamb, and pork broth
The cut surface reveals juicy, tender muscle fibres

Reference

  1. Fayet-Moore, Flavia, Cinthya Wibisono, Prudence Carr, Emily Duve, Peter Petocz, Graham Lancaster, Joanna McMillan, Skye Marshall, and Michelle Blumfield. “An Analysis of the Mineral Composition of Pink Salt Available in Australia.” Foods 9, no. 10 (October 19, 2020): 1490. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101490.