Jack Monroe

I was perusing the internet for new burger recipes.  After we had that one week of sun I started to get BBQ vibes and meat-free burgers were what I craving.  So after a bit of searching a stumbled upon a Kidney Bean and Cumin burger recipe (blog to follow) and more to the point I stumbled across A Girl Called Jack.

A Girl Called Jack aka Jack Munroe is a blog writer.  Jack began her blog back in 2012, originally "in response to a local Councillor who claimed that 'druggies, drunks and single mums are ruining the High Street."  

Over time, this blog started to focus on a time where Jack found herself trying to feed herself and her young son on a budget of £10 a week due to delays in benefits after finding herself out of employment.

Jack has become the queen of thrifty cooking.  Working through a difficult time in her life she became an inventive, creative cook who used supermarket own brand products to create tasty meals.

Jack has gone on to release a couple of cook books:

• A Girl Called Jack: 100 Budget Recipes
• Jack Munroe: A Year in 120 Recipes

Jack's website is full of great recipes and it would be definitely checking it out!  We will be working our way through some more and of course will let you know how we get on.

Another little think that is food for thought....... Jack talks about promoting this challenge........one day instead of buying your usual fancy coffee (approx £3) why not take that £3 into the nearest supermarket, see how many own brand tinned items you can buy and donate them to the nearest food bank!  WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!  We will definitely be doing this, always good to give back to the community and help out others who are going through a difficult time.

Jamie Oliver on Obesity and Food TEDtalk

Well here is a familiar face doing a TEDtalk...... it's none other than Jamie Oliver!  In this TEDtalk Jamie discusses the current and future obsesity epidemic!  Some of his facts and figures are truly terrifying.  Public health records indicate we in the western world are getting fatter and more unhealthy than ever, due to an increase in the amount of processed, high fat, convenience food we are eating.  These patterns are set to continue. 

Obesity is a strong risk factor for many chronic and serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, particular cancers and strokes.  It is seriously bad for your health....... sometimes we think weight is all about appearance..... but clearly not!  More information about the health implications of obesity can be found on NHS Choices website.

As Jamie highlights there are becoming generational patterns around food, meals and cooking and this is shaping peoples relationship with food from such a young age.

Watching this is hard hitting and it certainly makes me sit up and listen!  The 5 years of sugar from milk bit in particular - WOW!

How can I stop this happening to me?  How can I also stop it happening to others, my friends my family?

Could a flexitarian lifestyle help?  Well perhaps..... yes!  You could live a flexitarian lifestyle and only each processed high fat vegetarian food, but this is unlikely.  Living a flexitarian lifestyle you are far more likely to be eating more vegetable, more fruit..... a more plant based diet in general. You will be having less red meat which we have discussed in the "How much is too much" blog is also linked to many health conditions.  The recipes we post here at the Flexitarian are hopefully going to encourage others to get in the kitchen and to cook fresh.  The recipes we use here are nearly all clean eating, they use fresh, healthy, yummy ingredients.  Could our meat free days become our healthy good for us days? Could the flexitarian lifestyle encourage us to cook more from scratch...... to reduce our processed food intake..... to change this generational pattern of children not learning to cook?  Can we use the flexitarian lifestyle to set an example that is for our benefits and others?

......... I hope so

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/Pages/Introduction.aspx

A Vegan Bodybuilder TEDtalk

Yes.... my obsession continues.  Time for another TEDtalk.  So think you need meat to get all the "protes" to "make the gains" and bulk up....... well think again.

In this TEDtalk Joshua Knox discusses the plant-based challenge he and his friends undertook and how this 7 day challenge went on to change the way he ate and viewed food forever.  The thing that makes this story interesting is Joshua is a bodybuilder.  

As you can see from the pictures he certainly has muscles and he has been able to sculpt his body, getting the protein he needs to muscle growth.... from a plant-based vegan diet!?  Who'd have thought it!?

For me this video just goes to show that the "I need meat for protein" argument, might not be as strong as we once thought!

How Much is Too Much?

So as we've said here on the Flexitarian Pledge before, we as a nation are eating more meat than we need to nutritionally.  With recent links between red meat and many long term health conditions, perhaps in fact we are eating more meat than is good for us.

According to their statistics red meat has been linked to increased risk in:

• Elevated cholesterol
• Bowel cancer
• Heart disease 

But how much is too much?

According the the NHS and the Department of Health people who are currently eating 90g a day of cooked meat need to reduce this down to 70g a day.

Let's put that into context, what is 70g?  It certainly sounds smaller than my usual steak size!  Well the bad news is a fry up containing two sausages and two rashers of bacon is thought to be around 130g!!!  So already that would be almost double the recommended daily meat intake.  Ironically a McDonald's BigMac....... is within the recommended limit, coming in at 70g!  So does this mean BigMacs are healthy?  I suspect not, but it gives us a bit of an idea of what 70g of meat looks like.

This video by 'BritishNutrition' on YouTube has put together a handy video discussing grams of meat to help make this more clear.

But let us not give meat a purely bad name.  There are good things about it too (and I am not just talking about the taste).  Meat is a good source of protein, iron and vitamin B12. However, with all these elements also being easily accessible from non-meat sources (e.g. beans/pulses = protein, lentils and spinach = iron and, cottage cheese = B12) then perhaps an odd meat-free day is a good option to help us keep as healthy as possible and allow us a guilt free big meaty treat every so often!

How To........... Get Perfectly Evenly Coated Sweet Potato Wedges

Welcome to the first How To blog.  In this series I will be sharing my top tips for cooking.

Today it's how to get perfectly evenly coated sweet potato wedges.  It's such a simple technique and it minimises mess - winner!  You don't need any fancy equipment.  Just a simple sandwich bag / freezer bag.  I have described it in a couple of my blogs but thought a video might help illustrate what I mean.  This technique is not refined to sweet potatoes.....no no no.  I also use it for chips, roasted veggies..... basically anything that I want to be evenly coated in spices or oil.

Have a look at let me know what you think.  Please also let me know of your kitchen top tips.  I love hearing new ones.

What's Wrong With The Meat We Eat? TEDtalk

As you can maybe begin to see I love a TEDtalk.  There is something so informative about listening to a passionate speaker discussing a subject close to their heart.

Mark Bittman (New York Times food journalist) discusses some shocking statistics about meat production.  This talk along with Graham Hill's Weekday Vegetarian TEDtalk were both key inspiration for the development of the Flexitarian Pledge and I would highly recommend you watch them both.  Never has the phrase "Food for thought" been so true!

Neither of these talks are saying "give up meat completely", but both are saying........ health wise we don't need as much meat as we are consuming....... and environmentally surely we can't afford not to cut down our meat consumption.

Have a watch and please let me know what you think.

Weekday Vegetarian TEDtalk

A great TEDtalk by Graham Hill discussing how he has managed to reduce his meat intake and his reasons for doing so.

Here at the Flexitarian Pledge we are inspired by the Weekday Vegetarian movement Graham has started and think this is a clever and simple way of reducing your meat intake but still allowing yourself all your favourite meaty treats!  It is easy to remember and it will make the weekends ever better!

.......... the thought of that bacon roll at the weekend might be just what you need to get you through the week!

Find out more about the Weekday Vegetarian on their website (www.theweekdayvegetarian.blogspot.co.uk) or on Facebook