Okay, I admit it. – I’m a carnivore. So sue me!
Did some research this morning, checked some reports on red meat and how maybe the reports on how we should eat little or none of it, even though it has sustained, mostly healthily, the human race for millennia, might be a little skewed.
Now I really enjoy my meat, and thankfully here, most is free range, and grass raised, not grain fed and loaded with nasties while it’s still ‘on the hoof’ so to speak. I don’t eat a lot of it these days, mostly because I find it’s too easy to overeat if I like something. I do eat meat most days though, usually 40-50g, but that’s as much so that I can load my plate with the vegetables of which I also love the taste.
Something I found in my research today was an article by “Joanna Blythman the author of ‘Bad Food Britain’ and ‘What to Eat'”. This article killed any guilt feelings I might have had for NOT being a vegetarian. Among other things, she mentioned that meat that is ‘free range, grass fed, is a top source of conjugated linoleic acid, the micronutrient that reduces our risk of cancer, obesity and diabetes. Of course eating too much will have an effect on your chances of these complaints, but that is down to personal choice after all. I have found myself so much happier and more comfortable from eating less meat, more vegetables which as a side benefit of cutting down drastically on certain carbohydrates, means I have lost an enormous (to me) amount of weight and am still doing so, if slower that at the start of all my changes.
And on to herbs, which I have discovered to my surprise, actually add lovely flavour to my meals. Now this is the person who was adamant that rosemary tasted horrible! But I now have a rosemary bush and as I hate waste, I tried chopping it up like I’d seen the famous chefs do on TV and adding it to food. Revelation! My rosemary bush is now my almost favourite friend, next to my bay tree, which has finally, to my delight, taken off since moving to this warmer part of the country.
Once my cherry tree and bay tree are moved to their own large containers, I will be planting more herbs, such as coriander, cumin (if I can grow that here), thyme, curry plant, (my friend has one and the aroma from hers is yummy), plus any others I can find to add flavour to my food.
My veggie bed is looking pretty good, even after only 10 days, due I’m sure, at least in part, to the lovely rain we’ve had the past three days and which has helped establish their root systems. BUT, first morning after the rain, darn snails had attacked!!!! had a real go at my purple capsicum and took out two of my baby cauliflowers. Thankfully I caught it after only the one night and put out the snail bait. Next morning yay! 8 or 9 of the little blighters had copped it, with more this morning and all thrown away. That’ll teach ’em! said my nasty side. Checked again today and there are signs that the capsicum may recover thank goodness. The two from last year actually look dead, so will plant more next week.
And, another lovely surprise, the rain obviously worked as there are now shoots coming through on at least three out of the four rows of peas and beans, while the broad beans have already started growing taller. Hope you can see the tiny green spots on the picture below. I was so delighted, I got my phone out and took photos. I’m not the world’s best on using my iPhone as a camera, but figure, the more often I do this, the better I will become at it.