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Dear Reader,

Welcome to Yummy Lummy. 😊 My target audience is readers who live alone and are keen to cook meals for themselves. If you’re part of a couple, I hope the recipes are adaptable for you, too.

I also share my opinions (not advice) 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 sharing my opinions (not advice) on some food and non-food-related topics. Your comments are welcome, even if I may disagree.

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

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week.

The weather is getting warmer, and with warmer days and evenings comes a greater sense of well-being, at least for me. Today, it is also wet, I don’t mind wet weather. I know many readers prefer colder, dry weather. We’re all different.

Last week, I cooked kangaroo steaks. Coincidentally, this week, I was engaged in conversations at work about kangaroo/wallaby meat and parasite infestation. I enjoy discussing biological threats and their implications for human health, especially when they overlap with my interest in food and cooking.

Work is getting busier, so I enjoy it when my job and personal health and nutrition interests intersect, and I can read and learn more about food, food safety, and human health.

What have I been watching?

Star Trek: The Next Generation

I’ve now finished the seventh and final season in this series. It had some excellent episodes, and in my opinion, the final episode, which wraps the series, is one of the best in the franchise.

I’m going to start watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

What have I been reading?

Standard mental health first aid manual

My employer is encouraging employees to undertake Mental Health First Aid^® training. The hope is that collectively, as an organisation, we will look out for each other through greater awareness.

The core of the training is a book, viz., “Standard mental health first aid manual” (fourth edition). (Kitchener, 2017)

During the week I took part in the training and found the manual to be well written and very helpful.

More information can be found at the Mental Health First Aid^® website.

Lipoprotein(a) and diet—a challenge for a role of saturated fat in cardiovascular disease risk reduction?

The authors consider new information on dietary recommendations to reduce saturated fat intake to modulate an individual’s global risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). While it is known that lowering dietary saturated fat intake decreases low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations, the findings increasingly show an opposite effect on lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) concentrations. Many studies have shown a role for an elevated Lp(a) concentration as a genetically regulated, causal, and prevalent risk factor for CVD. However, there is less awareness of the effect of dietary saturated fat intake on Lp(a) concentrations. The authors discuss this issue and highlight the contrasting effect of reducing dietary saturated fat intake on reducing LDL cholesterol and increasing Lp(a). It appears that a low carbohydrate, high saturated fat diet can reduce Lp(a). (Law et al., 2023)

Honey, what’s in a name?

During the week, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), issued a media release seeking comment on whether the honey from Australian stingless native bees should be permitted. It comes down to definitions of honey, and at the moment, it seems the food standard definition doesn’t accommodate Australian stingless native bees.

With Jeremy Clarkson in mind, if the Australian Native Bee Association Inc. is unsuccessful, perhaps they should call it Australian stingless bee juice. 🤔

If you are not familiar with the connection with Jeremy Clarkson, in a search engine (I use Duck Duck Go, but Google, Bing, and others will work), enter search terms like “Jeremy Clarkson”, “Diddly-Squat” “Bee juice” and hopefully you will see the connection.

What have I been listening to?

Into the Heart of Romans: A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter (Wright, 2023)

Tom Wright (also known as N. T. Wright) is an Anglican bible scholar who (in my opinion) articulates the historical facts of the bible in a compelling way. I’ve enjoyed listening to his podcast and watching him speak via YouTube videos. He has a winsome approach to teaching doctrine.

Recipe

The more I read about meat in the human diet, the more I favour ruminant species. I’m eating more beef and lamb and less pork and poultry. For my palate, foregut fermenting mammals have a more pleasant flavour and texture in their meat and fat.

I also eat New Zealand Pacific salmon over locally farmed Tasmanian Atlantic salmon. The difference in flavour and texture is distinct. I’m also conscious of the criticisms of the Tasmanian salmon farming industry. This week, I read a newspaper report suggesting the criticism of the industry may create economic hardship for many people residing in Tasmania. I hope they find a solution that allows them to keep employed and improve the health and well-being of the salmon they farm.

Eat me, Gary.

I saw a rack of lamb ribs in the supermarket and felt it speaking to me. “Buy me and eat me, Gary”.

I’m also adding a modified guacamole 🥑 for tonight’s meal. During the week, Lorraine, from Not Quite Nigella, posted a recipe for what she believes is the BEST guacamole recipe.

Equipment

• Oven
• Meat thermometer
• Gas torch

Ingredients

• Rack of lamb
• Iodised salt
• Garlic
• Rosemary
• Avocado
• Red onion
• Coriander (some people call it cilantro)
• Lime (for the juice)
• Birdseye chilli
• Pork rinds made with lard (no seed oils used)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 120 °C for a low cooking temperature.
2. In the baking tray, add bruised garlic cloves and stalks of rosemary (I bruised the garlic with a metal weight).
3. Place the lamb on a wire rack over a baking tray.
4. Insert the meat thermometer into the thickest portion of meat.
5. Place the lamb into the oven and cook until the internal temperature reaches 55 °C.
6. If the fat isn’t brown enough, use a gas torch to sear the fat.
7. When the lamb has rested, carve the cutlets from the rack and sear the cutlets in a hot frypan with some of the lamb fat collected in the baking tray.
8. Keep the lamb fat for future use. I hope to keep my Lp(a) low with some saturated ovine fat. 😉 🐑
9. In a medium-sized bowl mix the onion with the lime juice and salt and allow to sit on the counter for 20 minutes.
10. Tear the coriander leaves and stalks.
11. Place the avocado 🥑 flesh into a bowl and smash with a fork. I like my smashed avocado to be chunky rather than smooth.
12. Stir in the onion, marinating juices, chilli, and coriander (leaves and stalks).
13. Eat the guacamole with the pork rinds before the avocado oxidises because of exposure to oxygen in the air.
14. If you don’t like avocado, consider serving the lamb cutlets with vegetables or eat it with some extra seasonings like iodised flaky salt and freshly ground black peppercorns. If you’re following a meat-only diet, just the meat will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. If you’re low-carbohydrate 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, some sautéed asparagus with hollandaise sauce would be great. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, this animal meat won’t be suitable.
15. Always give thanks to the Lord.
16. Eat with whatever implements you prefer. Eating with your fingers is okay, in my opinion. For this meal, I ate the meat lollipops by holding the rib bone and gnawing the meat from the bone. 🦴 I dipped pork rinds into the guacamole and put them in my mouth with my fingers. I didn’t need to dirty a knife or fork. 🍴

Cooking guide for rack of lamb

Thoughts on the meal

Tonight’s roast was an experiment. Many recipes suggest a higher oven temperature, e.g., 200 to 220 °C. Those recipes also recommend searing the lamb before entering the oven. I was interested in knowing the texture if I used a much lower oven temperature and took a low and slow approach to hopefully render the fat better.

It turns out, this approach works well. It takes longer, but the outcome is good. I recognise that many others will disagree and cook their rack of lamb differently. I’m trying to simplify the process and maintain the flavour and texture that suits my palate. This low-temperature approach also resulted in some great pan juices that didn’t evaporate.

Since changing my diet, I’ve been enjoying more lamb. The money I’m saving by not buying starchy, high-carbohydrate plant food and processed food is going into buying better-quality meat.

The birdseye chillies and lime juice gave the guacamole a nice zing. 🔥

While I’m probably eating more meat-only meals, avocado 🥑 is a regular feature in my meals. I am conscious that, unlike beef and sheep which are environmentally friendly when you consider the carbon dioxide sequestration and soil care in regenerative farming, avocado farming has problems. This is especially true for water requirements. (Buxton, 2022)

Disclaimer and comments

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

For health advice, see your regular medical practitioner. For diet advice, consult with appropriately registered professionals.

References

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

Kitchener, B. A. (2017). Standard mental health first aid manual. Mental Health First Aid Australia.

Law, H. G., Meyers, F. J., Berglund, L., & Enkhmaa, B. (2023). Lipoprotein(a) and diet—A challenge for a role of saturated fat in cardiovascular disease risk reduction? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 118(1), 23–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.05.017

Wright, T. (2023). INTO THE HEART OF ROMANS: A deep dive into Paul’s greatest letter. SPCK Publishing.

Legend

BMI = Body mass index.

CGM = Continuous glucose monitoring.

CSIRO TWD = Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Total Well-being Diet.

CVD = cardiovascular disease.

FMT = Faecal microbiota transfer.

FSANZ = Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

LCHF = low-carbohydrate healthy-fat eating.

Lp(a) = lipoprotein(a).

LDL = low-density lipoprotein.

Red meat = is the meat of mammals, including pork.

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

T1DM = Type 1 diabetes mellitus.

T2DM = Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

T3DM = Type 3 diabetes mellitus is a new term some people are ascribing to Alzheimer’s Disease.

TOS = Star Trek: The Original Series.

TNG = Star Trek: The Next Generation.

ENT = Star Trek: Enterprise (originally called Enterprise).

DS9 = Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.