The Perfect Breakfast

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, spikey said:

Now wondering if all you regular Full English eaters are on statins, or if the rest of the day is low-cholesterol to compensate ...

Dietary cholesterol play a minimal to non-existent role in affecting plasma cholesterol levels. I could stuff myself with a mammoth breakfast every day for a week and my cholesterol numbers would barely budge (waistline? That’s another story...) 

2 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Agree. I love Thai food but hotel breakfasts over there are usually buffet style and their interpretation of American / UK breakfasts are usually poor...

Craziest place I've been to for breakfast is Las Vegas (back in 1989)...

I avoid Western food when in Asia and eat local, Dhal and Roti being a favourite of Mrs iD and meself for breakfast I also enjoyed curry for breakfast - ‘tho’ SWMBO drew the line at that. Fresh, ripe, local mangoes were also top.

 

Craziest breakfast? A southern (US) style “sausage and biscuit” with a strong cup of coffee, enjoyed outside the crime-scene barrier whilst awaiting the coroner!

23 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Certainly not those of us who believe that the theory underlying this therapy has been invalidated. The problem is that a large proportion of current clinical practise is now predicated on this theory of cholesterol causing heart disease, and there has been so much investment in public education that it is now very difficult to 'turn about' and chart a new course based on better understanding: which has been published these twenty years or so.

Sadly true. When huge government resources are poured into X, it’s almost impossible to get the Ship of State to change course, even when new data show that an iceberg is imminent. There is a growing consensus that pushing for a reduction of fat in diet has actually caused more problems than it has solved. In mass market foodstuffs, to retain a semblance of tastiness, removed fats were/are replaced by carbohydrates - especially carbs like high fructose corn syrup (you’ll be surprised where that can be found). Many are of the opinion that the slow but inexorable rise of obesity in the UK started after the “eat lean/low fat” dietary regimes were encouraged, promoted and/or imposed (incidentally, archaeological evidence suggests that in the earliest civilisations those who lived in the towns and villages of the time, eating what would now be considered a healthy diet of grains, fruit and vegetables actually had worse health than that of the hunter gatherers of the same time period who had a diet high in protein and fats).

 

Ultimately, barring accidents, the quality and healthiness of your existence is down to how well you chose your parents. Never underestimate what Mr DNA can do to you...

[Phil Bullock]

Every day breakfast - a bowl ot oat crunchies and a cup of tea

 

Saturday breakfast - half a fresh grapefruit followed by croissants or waffles with maple syrup

 

Sunday breakfast -  half a fresh graperfruit followed by smoked bacon, eggy bread and - when I remember to buy them - cooking apple rings fried in the bacon fat

 

Best breakfast ever - fresh grapefruit followed by smoked haddock with two soft poached aggs on top with mushrooms on the side and hot buttered toast.

 

Fishing breakfast - a bap with bacon, egg and mushrooms from the van either between M50 and Ledbury or between Abergavenny and Crickhowell dependant on direction of travel. And yes that does stoke the fires for the day....

Edited May 2, 2020 by Phil Bullock
SPelling

[ikks]

19 hours ago, Dava said:

Vegetarians like cooked breakfasts too.

 

Linda McCartney sausages, veggie bacon, sauté potatoes, egg, beans, tomato, mushrooms.

Goes down well.

 

So do kippers with poached egg or scrambled eggs & smoked salmon on toast.

 

North Staffs oatcakes with cheese & spring onions & tomato filling.

 

Dava 

I used to  love kippers and poached eggs...........saw kippers in our local supermarket a few weeks ago, went home very excited...........they were absolute crAp, what a bloody disappointment

[tomparryharry]

I'm hungry now, so it'll be Lorne sausage, with probably an egg on top. 

 

I wish I hadn't typed this. Now I'm VERY hungry.....

[spikey]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Dietary cholesterol play a minimal to non-existent role in affecting plasma cholesterol levels.

 

I'm not sure I understand that.  Is it not a fact that if I scoff  a Full English, I will ingest a large amount of saturated fat, which is bad for me because it will help raise the level of "bad" cholesterol in my blood, and a high level of that can lead to an increased risk of coronary problems? 

Edited May 2, 2020 by spikey
Pedantry

[Rivercider]

As I posted earlier for me a proper fry up is a holiday treat, which would mean three or four breakfasts (not all on the same day!), about four times a year. When we are on holiday Mrs Rivercider and I try to do some walking,  perhaps six miles or so of South West Coast Path or similar, so I assume we have then burnt off a few of those calories. Even when I am at part-time work in the store I generally walk about six miles before lunchtime.

Am  I right that the recommended daily calorie intake is still 2500 for men, and 2000 for women? I thought this figure originally dated from around WWI? Since then most of us no longer undertake heavy manual work, or walk everywhere.

 

cheers

Edited May 2, 2020 by Rivercider
clarification

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

43 minutes ago, spikey said:

I'm not sure I understand that.  Is it not a fact that if I scoff  a Full English, I will ingest a large amount of saturated fat, which is bad for me because it will help raise the level of "bad" cholesterol in my blood, and a high level of that can lead to an increased risk of coronary problems? 

First off, see your GP if you have concerns.

 

There's a raft of information now available on line, just do a search on 'blood and dietary cholosterol'.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6024687/

[spikey]

8 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

First off, see your GP if you have concerns.

 

I don't, thank you.  All I know is that at my last 5-yearly MOT, my cholesterol level was found to be high so my GP asked did I wish to go on statins?   I said "Not on your Nelly" and next day started to reduce my intake of saturated fats.  In a week over three months my total cholesterol went down from 5.8 to 4.2, since which time it's remained between 4.1 and 4.3. 

 

Maybe I should have used the term low-saturated-fat diet rather than low-cholesterol diet?

[cctransuk]

2 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

..... a bowl ot oat crunchies .....

 

Where from? Oat Crunchies - (or Quaker Oat Crisp as they seem to be called nowadays) - seem to have disappeared from every outlet in this area.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[ikks]

2 hours ago, ikks said:

So do kippers with poached egg

More years ago than I care to count(I was around 6 yrs old), my Great aunt Mary and her friend took me to the Isle of Man, she and her late husband had been long time employees  of both the L.M.S and B.R. so had access to free and cheap tickets to wherever. While we were there we went on a tour of the TT circuit, the thing I most recall is getting close to Peel where the aroma of kippers filled the bus.........Heaven. Sad part of the story was that aunt Mary had a box sent over to mum and dad in Derby. When we got home a couple weeks later, it still hadn't arrived, when it did well............

Mike

Edited May 2, 2020 by ikks

[TheQ]

59 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

 

Am  I right that the recommended daily calorie intake is still 2500 for men, and 2000 for women? I thought this figure originally dated from around WWI? Since then most of us no longer undertake heavy manual work, or walk everywhere.

 

cheers

That is the recommended today,  those doing heavy manual labour,  such as back pre WW 1, then 3500 calories minimum, easily 4000, possibly 5000, for someone like a railway navvie.  a military 24hour ration pack for one person  is 4000 calories.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, spikey said:

 

I'm not sure I understand that.  Is it not a fact that if I scoff  a Full English, I will ingest a large amount of saturated fat, which is bad for me because it will help raise the level of "bad" cholesterol in my blood, and a high level of that can lead to an increased risk of coronary problems? 

The body is an amazingly resilient system and generally, in the absence of any underlying condition, will maintain the “status quo”, so - for example - if I have two cups of tea, with 4 sugars in each, a bowl of Frosties with added sugar on top, an American style “Danish” with a glass of sweetened orange juice, my blood sugar will quickly elevate, followed by an insulin spike and shortly thereafter my blood sugar will have returned to normal (a diet that results in multiple, frequent, insulin spikes is Not Good News - but that’s another story)

 

Statins are amazing drugs, but when used judiciously. However, when I was working in metabolic disease (specifically diabetes) my Diabetologist investigators would never either prescribe or diagnose based on a single lab result. So perhaps your GP is an “early statin prescriber” (there are pros and cons to at what time point do you start treating raised cholesterol)

 

Anyway, it’s good to hear that your lipid profile is heading in the right direction.

[Joseph_Pestell]

11 minutes ago, ikks said:

More years ago than I care to count(I was around 6 yrs old), my Great aunt Mary and her friend took me to the Isle of Man, she and her late husband had been long time employees  of both the L.M.S and B.R. so had access to free and cheap tickets to wherever. While we were there we went on a tour of the TT circuit, the thing I most recall is getting close to Peel where the aroma of kippers filled the bus.........Heaven. Sad part of the story was that aunt Mary had a box sent over to mum and dad in Derby. When we got home a couple weeks later, it still hadn't arrived, when it did well............

Mike

 

Much the same applies for those who send clotted cream back home as a souvenir of their holiday in Cornwall.

 

I was allowed, age 15, to go to the Isle of Man for a week's holiday on my own. Only condition was that I bring back some Manx kippers for Dad. He had grown fond of them while on RAF officer training at Jerby.

[tomparryharry]

This afternoons lunch was a fried egg sandwich (thick sliced bread). Salt & pepper to taste, and then a couple of slices of smoked ham. If it's thick sliced bread, cut a small slice through the bottom inside of your sandwich. That way, when the yolk runs down through the inside, it will form in the 'trench', and stop you getting egg all over your fingers. Also, your last mouthful consists of all the sandwich you have consumed.

 

Yum Yum!

 

At the moment, Aldi sell a very good bread, either as a 'tiger' bloomer. or seeded. Just a satisfied customer. For what it is, it's very good value. 

[Ross34]

Grapefruit segments then poached egg on crumpet with wilted spinach tipped with hollandaise. Plenty of toast n tea.

[Phil Bullock]

3 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Where from? Oat Crunchies - (or Quaker Oat Crisp as they seem to be called nowadays) - seem to have disappeared from every outlet in this area.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

Sainsburys here have them John! Are you in need of urgent supplies?

[RedGemAlchemist]

I am English, but don't generally eat a full English. My usual work brekkie is a bowl of porridge with a dash of either maple syrup or treacle in it. My favourite breakfast would either be scrambled eggs on toast or bacon and Belgian waffles with maple syrup.

Edited May 2, 2020 by RedGemAlchemist

[Sidecar Racer]

Most days breakfast is either cereal or toast and marmalade , then it's not till around 6-00 ish

that I have a big meal .

 

My evening meal from two hours ago .

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Sidecar Racer

[tomparryharry]

2 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

Most days breakfast is either cereal or toast and marmalade , then it's not till around 6-00 ish

that I have a big meal .

 

My evening meal from two hours ago .

 

 

 

Spot-on!

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, Phil Bullock said:

 

Sainsburys here have them John! Are you in need of urgent supplies?

 

Phil,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

Sainsburys was the last place I managed to buy them - but our local branch no longer stocks them.

 

However, I have discovered that Amazon(!) sells them - at the same price as Sainsburys, and post free - but you do have to buy a carton of seven packs.

 

I have duly placed an order!

 

Thanks again,

John Isherwood.

 

 

[tomparryharry]

Over at Smith Towers, Mrs. Smith will prepare a pasta bake, with all the trimmings. The best part, however, is to consume it for breakfast the following morning. By then, the unused portion will have congealed down to a delightful mixture of cheese, salami, tomato, and all the ingredients she puts in. She has thankfully learned to leave me to my own devices as I gleefully polish the lot off. 

 

 

[LBRJ]

11 hours ago, TheQ said:

That is the recommended today,  those doing heavy manual labour,  such as back pre WW 1, then 3500 calories minimum, easily 4000, possibly 5000, for someone like a railway navvie.  a military 24hour ration pack for one person  is 4000 calories.

 

The much quoted line about "2000 calories" is based on a totally sedentary/ inactive 20 year old slim woman.

You use about 1500 K cal just laid in bed watching the TV all day.

If I was stuck at a limit of about 2000 K cal a day  I would probably start to starve to death in not very long at all  

According to "the internet" (and reality) I need about 3-3500 just to stand still, as it were.

 

Any way back to the perfect breakfast(s)

 

I would suggest that the perfect breakfast stick was one from Fozzies in downtown NA back in the day - Bacon egg sausage and mushrooms if you were feeling like the extra 50 p was worth it!

 

Littlewoods in Penzance was time for  a proper sit down job...And a lot of it - with spectacular views over Mounts Bay if one could take ones eyes off the feast for a moment.

 

Failing that, on a quick turn around (07:46  off to Pompey for example) then Sullivans Diner outside the station entrance did a mean sausage butty!

 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, LBRJ said:

...If I was stuck at a limit of about 2000 K cal a day  I would probably start to starve to death in not very long at all...

 

Not unless you are very lightweight and have zero body fat. I am currently on a diet which allows me 1940 kcals/day. With this, I will loose approximately 1kg/week. With careful ingredient and menu selection and cooking things myself, I can certainly stuff myself on this amount of calories.
 

When your calorie input is less than what you body needs, then it starts using the body’s reserves: firstly stored carbohydrates (e.g. glycogen in the liver) then fat and finally protein (if the body starts to do that, then you really are starving). Carbohydrates are the easiest for the body to metabolise, with the surplus being converted to fat for storage), followed by fat. The beauty of a low carbohydrate diet is that, with minimal carbohydrates being consumed, the body will start metabolising fat reserves to meet daily needs and you loose weight. I started a low carbohydrate diet about 3 years ago and have lost - so far - over 6 stone. But despite being fairly virtuous over this period (albeit with numerous, brief, lapses) it has been an effort to loose these kilos. We have evolved to be very efficient in storing surplus calories and the body really has to  be under supplied with food in order to tap those reserves.

 

So a week or two at 2000 kcals/day normally won’t make much of a dent.

[spikey]

10 hours ago, Sidecar Racer said:

Most days breakfast is either cereal or toast and marmalade , then it's not till around 6-00 ish

that I have a big meal .

 

My evening meal from two hours ago .

 

 

 

I am sorry but I have to ask - what are the yellow things?

[Ozexpatriate]

55 minutes ago, spikey said:

 I am sorry but I have to ask - what are the yellow things?

They look like potato pucks.

 

If my guess is correct, they are marketed as hash browns, but bear very little resemblance to 'proper' freshly made hash browns (rinsed, grated potato cooked until crispy on a flat griddle in clarified butter).