I can't leave the chocolate question alone so I've been over to Wikipedia.
At last that's reassuring... "it would be necessary to eat more than a dozen chocolate bars to get the same amount of caffeine as one cup of coffee," according to the Wiki-article.
I don't suppose these are plain chocolate bars and no doubt it means a strong cup of coffee. Now all I have to do is to find out how much caffeine there is in decaf coffee.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Caffeine in chocolate - now it's sort of official
You know how it is...an idea gets in your head and you can't get rid of it. Everybody seems to be talking about it. That's how it's been with chocolate and caffeine over the last few days.
So this morning there was a scare about coffee causing miscarriage. I get up and there's some kind of expert being interviewed on the television. She talks about not drinking coffee (if you're pregnant) and how there's caffeine in tea. Then the presenter says: "But isn't there caffeine in chocolate?" The expert pauses, as I hold my breath and reach for my ears, before she says "yes". Apparently dark chocolate is the worst, because, of course, it is the most concentrated. She seemed to think that white chocolate and probably milk chocolate would not do too much harm.
Well that seems to be the end of snacking on dark chocolate because it's "healthy". I can't snack on milk chocolate - it would be plain foolish - but I suppose the occasional chocolate snack will do no harm. I wonder about chocolate drinks?
So this morning there was a scare about coffee causing miscarriage. I get up and there's some kind of expert being interviewed on the television. She talks about not drinking coffee (if you're pregnant) and how there's caffeine in tea. Then the presenter says: "But isn't there caffeine in chocolate?" The expert pauses, as I hold my breath and reach for my ears, before she says "yes". Apparently dark chocolate is the worst, because, of course, it is the most concentrated. She seemed to think that white chocolate and probably milk chocolate would not do too much harm.
Well that seems to be the end of snacking on dark chocolate because it's "healthy". I can't snack on milk chocolate - it would be plain foolish - but I suppose the occasional chocolate snack will do no harm. I wonder about chocolate drinks?
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Defac chocolate?
...And if there were caffeine in chocolate, surely someone would have developed a decaf chocolate by now?
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Shampoo alert
Don't follow my advice about buying Tesco shampoo. The conditioner's still fine but the shampoo has been bothering me since I used it. It's Christmas and I'm already pushing my tolerance levels to the limit, eating dodgy chocolates and fudge with funny flavourings and accepting foods pushed at me because they're bound to be okay (although to be fair everyone's been very kind and tried to help. I had rice pudding on Christmas Day following by a chocolate Christmas cake). This morning I used the shampoo and it might have been acid. My skin hated it. I then checked the ingredients - there are lots of chemical names, none of them readily identifiable with wheat or maize. The only identifiable ingredient is castor oil - which is made from the castor bean and is by no stretch of the imagination wheat or corn. I'll be writing to Tesco...
Sunday, December 23, 2007
A Happy Christmas!
A very happy and joyful Christmas to all and a reminder that the season is about more than food!
A year ago I reflected on this subject a couple of days before Christmas and talked of how the changes in my life were helping me to contemplated the true meaning of the season.
At that point I hadn't reckoned on the challenges of Christmas Day - trying to wash rock-hard, dry turkey steak down with watered whisky and watching, while still hungry (hungry at Christmas dinner) whilst others wolfed on thick Christmas pudding and dark, sweet Christmas cake.
Since then we've perfected the art of cooking a juicy joint with minimal seasoning. We can produce salicylate-free gravy and I don't try to substitute whisky for wine any more. I'll keep the whisky in a separate glass and enjoy it properly. I'm still losing weight in December rather than gaining it after having politely refused umpteen mince pies.
But the essence of that meditation remains. Christmas lunch may not be so enjoyable but the real joys of the season are still there for the taking.
A year ago I reflected on this subject a couple of days before Christmas and talked of how the changes in my life were helping me to contemplated the true meaning of the season.
At that point I hadn't reckoned on the challenges of Christmas Day - trying to wash rock-hard, dry turkey steak down with watered whisky and watching, while still hungry (hungry at Christmas dinner) whilst others wolfed on thick Christmas pudding and dark, sweet Christmas cake.
Since then we've perfected the art of cooking a juicy joint with minimal seasoning. We can produce salicylate-free gravy and I don't try to substitute whisky for wine any more. I'll keep the whisky in a separate glass and enjoy it properly. I'm still losing weight in December rather than gaining it after having politely refused umpteen mince pies.
But the essence of that meditation remains. Christmas lunch may not be so enjoyable but the real joys of the season are still there for the taking.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Hair care
Sometime ago I found a conditioner in Tesco called "wheatgerm and cornsilk" and have been using that pretty successfully.
I paid another trip to Tesco's and this time found a shampoo with the same ingredients. Of course if you have wheat intolerance it's the opposite of what you want but now, for me, it is ideal and these are pretty well the only plant products I can handle.
I paid another trip to Tesco's and this time found a shampoo with the same ingredients. Of course if you have wheat intolerance it's the opposite of what you want but now, for me, it is ideal and these are pretty well the only plant products I can handle.
Eating fish
Since my recent discoveries about Samter's Triad and omega 3, I have stepped up the eating of fish. Let's hope the oceans don't run dry through overfishing, as some people fear may happen.
The trouble is that cooking fish is not easy and certainly not fast. You can buy frozen battered fish and that's simple to cook but takes a little time.
I've tried cooking white fish in the past and struggled to make it tasty. These days they seem to sell it as just "white fish", I guess because cod is increasingly rare and it's probably Alaskan pollock.
I'm looking for quick meals and so far I've tried:
cooking in a white sauce - this curdled after I added cheese;
grilling - you can't go wrong but without seasonings you can't taste it either;
frying and battering - the instructions were on the packet and involved beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Presumably people buy crumbs in packets as my bread signally failed to crumble. I ended up with some partially battered fish and frying the bread crust and remainder of the egg together - using rapeseed oil of course;
spaghetti sauce - not recently as I seem to recall it was hard to get any taste out of the fish. You can't add soy sauce as it completely kills what taste there is of fish and besides, may be high in omega-6 but that's not clear to me yet.
I've also in the past used tinned fish with spaghetti sauce, such as sardines, and then the problem is the opposite. If you're not careful you end up with a mixture that is too rich.
The trouble is that cooking fish is not easy and certainly not fast. You can buy frozen battered fish and that's simple to cook but takes a little time.
I've tried cooking white fish in the past and struggled to make it tasty. These days they seem to sell it as just "white fish", I guess because cod is increasingly rare and it's probably Alaskan pollock.
I'm looking for quick meals and so far I've tried:
cooking in a white sauce - this curdled after I added cheese;
grilling - you can't go wrong but without seasonings you can't taste it either;
frying and battering - the instructions were on the packet and involved beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Presumably people buy crumbs in packets as my bread signally failed to crumble. I ended up with some partially battered fish and frying the bread crust and remainder of the egg together - using rapeseed oil of course;
spaghetti sauce - not recently as I seem to recall it was hard to get any taste out of the fish. You can't add soy sauce as it completely kills what taste there is of fish and besides, may be high in omega-6 but that's not clear to me yet.
I've also in the past used tinned fish with spaghetti sauce, such as sardines, and then the problem is the opposite. If you're not careful you end up with a mixture that is too rich.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Toothpaste
Curiously one of the most popular postings on this blog dates from well over a year ago when I discussed my concerns about toothpaste.
At the time I thought my problem was with wheat and my research on toothpaste identified it tends to include a substance called cellulose gum. I was unsure at the time as I found out that cellulose tended to include wood and cotton pulp. After we realised the problem was salicylate allergy, it seemed these concerns were right and these substances were better avoided.
So since then I've given up using toothpaste and am better off without it. My dentist has advised scrubbing hard for at least five minutes and a dental professional posting on the blog suggests using a fluoride mouthwash as well. As our local water is fluoridated and I still drink plenty of tap water, that's probably not necessary.
At the time I thought my problem was with wheat and my research on toothpaste identified it tends to include a substance called cellulose gum. I was unsure at the time as I found out that cellulose tended to include wood and cotton pulp. After we realised the problem was salicylate allergy, it seemed these concerns were right and these substances were better avoided.
So since then I've given up using toothpaste and am better off without it. My dentist has advised scrubbing hard for at least five minutes and a dental professional posting on the blog suggests using a fluoride mouthwash as well. As our local water is fluoridated and I still drink plenty of tap water, that's probably not necessary.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Another mystery explained
A few months ago I went to a seafood restaurant as a somebody's guest and had a wonderful platter of sea-foods soaked in olive oil. It was delicious - I can still taste it. Normally I wouldn't touch olive oil as so far as I know it contains salicylate but as I was a guest and this was an expensive meal I was too polite to refuse.
I had taken a Singulair but I was still surprised at how well the meal went down. Very few ill-effects and normally the more expensive the restaurant, the worse the effects.
Now I have an answer - because fish of course contains omega 3 while meat I think contains omega 6. So the meal was low in omega 6 even if it was not zero salicylate.
So I need more fish in the diet.
I had taken a Singulair but I was still surprised at how well the meal went down. Very few ill-effects and normally the more expensive the restaurant, the worse the effects.
Now I have an answer - because fish of course contains omega 3 while meat I think contains omega 6. So the meal was low in omega 6 even if it was not zero salicylate.
So I need more fish in the diet.
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