Ocado: Early In The Morning
Today, I had my shopping delivered at six o’clock in the morning.
I’d booked Ocado for that time and I rose at five, so that the door was ready, when the van arrived dead on the allotted time.
I just unlatched the door and the six grey plastic carrier bags were lined up along the wall inside my hall.
As I always do, I sorted out the beer first, as it is heavy and I keep it downstairs, only bringing what I need upstairs.
But by seven, everything was stored away and I’d had my daily bath, where I give my eyes a good rinsing of the accumulated night’s sleep, of which my eyes collect a lot.
I quite like having the groceries and other shopping delivered early, as it allows me to plan my day properly.
But it has always been thus.
I was usually first out of bed and through most of my teenage years, I marked up newspapers near Oakwood station, before going to school.
I have no recollection of the time I rose at University, but we generally got into the centre of Liverpool by about nine.
So Ocadao at six seems to fit my pattern of life.
The Odd Sugary Snack May Be Good For You (But Lay Off Sugary Drinks)
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Tunes.
I shall be discussing this research with my cardiologist. My relationship with him is as doctor/patient, researcher/lab-rat and just friends. I am also coeliac and very much feel that I need to take the odd sugary snack to keep my energy levels up. I also had a serious stroke at 64, thirteen years ago, due to atrial fibrillation.
Sweden and coeliac disease could be another complicating factor here, as Sweden went the wrong way to try to eliminate coeliac disease after WW2 and just created a lot more.
I found about this Swedish research in a peer-reviewed paper entitled Coeliac Disease: Can We Avert The Impending Epidemic In India? in the Indian Journal of Research Medicine.
A History Of Sugary Snacks And Drinks And Me
Growing up in London, after World War 2, I didn’t get much sugar, as it was rationed.
But I did put it in tea and coffee.
I never ate many cakes, except for some chocolate ones.
My habit of not eating cakes and proper puddings really annoyed my mother-in-law.
I was a sickly child and I didn’t really get better until I was found to be coeliac at 50.
I am fairly certain, that my consumption of sugary snacks has got more, as I’ve got older.
But because American drinks, sweets and snacks could use sugar made from wheat, I don’t touch any American sweetened products.
But I haven’t put on any weight, since I was fifty.
Thanks to the likes of Leon, Marks and Spencer and the cafe at Worksop station for excellent sugary gluten-free snacks to keep me going!
Marks & Spencer Get A Bit Cheeky
I bought these strawberries in Marks and Spencer on Moorgate, yesterday.
Note.
- They have a Best Before Date of Thursday.
- They were grown in West Sussex by the Summer Berry Co.
But I do think it is a bit cheeky to label them with a yellow label saying “New Season”!
Their web site gives a few answers.
A Simple Late Lunch
I’ve just had one of my typical late lunches.
It was one parcel of Marks and Spencer’s smoked salmon pate on toast, washed down with a half-litre bottle of Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5 % beer.
O’ll probably have the second parcel of salmon for lunch tomorrow.
Does Ocado Get Used For Christmas Stocking Fillers?
I use cotton handkerchiefs because of my skin and buy them in boxes of seven from Marks and Spencer at £16 a box.
Today, I was doing my weekly Ocado order and wondered if they delivered the handkerchiefs.
They appear to sell ten of a lesser quality for &6.33.
Unfortunately, they were out of stock. Have they been bought up by kids for stocking fillers for relatives?
But, Ocado do stock a selection of items from Marks and Spencer’s Autograph range.
Am I Sleeping Better Because Of Ocado?
A couple of months ago, I switched to shopping for food on-line at Ocado, and I am certainly sleeping better.
The only big change in my eating habits, is that I am now having a Marks & Spencer’s Lamb’s Liver and Bacon ready meal once a week.
Is that Vitamin B12 making a difference?
I do wish, that someone would do a proper Italian fegato, like Carluccio’s used to do. It’s virtually unobtainable in London.
After they stopped selling it, I used to have lunch with a friend in a pub in Oxfordshire. But sadly they died a couple of years ago.
If anybody knows of a decent country pub, by a station, that services excellent liver please let me know.
Mushroom Management On TfL Buses
Transport for London or as all Londoners abuse them as TfL, are getting the masters at applying mushroom management to running the buses. Especially at the weekends.
For those of you not familiar with the last century term, it means keeping everybody in the dark and throwing in lots of manure. As in the 1970s, I used to live next door to a mushroom factory, I know it at least works with fungi, but I’m not sure of it’s effectiveness with fleets of buses about moving passengers.
Most Saturdays, I take a 141 bus to Moorgate and have a full English gluten-free breakfast in the Leon cafe there, as I like to set myself up for the weekend.
The 141 bus may be one of the least reliable buses in the capital, but last Saturday, I was dropped close to Liverpool Street station and yesterday, I was dropped under the Barbican.
No warning, advice or apology about the change of plan.
But then like the Mayor, TfL are never in the wrong.
Today was different!
After taking a 56 bus from near my house to the Angel I had another full English gluten-free breakfast in the Leon cafe there, before taking the Northern Line to Euston station.
I was hoping, I could take a trip somewhere, but there were extensive engineering works, so I just came home from Euston on the Overground via Willesden Junction station.
I ended up at Hackney Central station, where I did a bit of shopping in the excellent M & S Food shop.
Normally, I just get a 38 bus home from the side of the station, but there weren’t any around.
Again, there was no warning, advice or apology. Just loads of people looking for non-existent buses.
It was a full three hours before I completed my round trip.
Transport for London has no respect for its passengers.
Normal businesses would go bust, if they treated their customers like this.
Are Best Before Dates Reliable?
This picture shows one of Marks and Spencer’s gluten-free All Butter Fruit Scones, that has been all dressed up and is ready to eat.
It no longer exists, as I have just eaten it.
It tasted fine, despite having a best before date of the 7th August, 2024.
Liver From Ocado
I like to eat liver, as it supplements my B12 injections.
So I was pleased to see that Ocado stock Marks and Spencer’s Liver and Bacon meal-for-one.
Note, that I cooked it in the oven, which is recommended.
I enjoyed it and I will cook it more often, provided Ocado keep delivering it.
Gluten And Heart Disease
Type “Gluten And Heart Disease” into Dr. Google and you find two major peer-reviewed studies.
This study is entitled Effects Of A Gluten-Reduced Or Gluten-Free Diet For The Primary Prevention Of Cardiovascular Disease.
These are the authors’ conclusions.
Very low-certainty evidence suggested that it is unclear whether gluten intake is associated with all-cause mortality. Our findings also indicate that low-certainty evidence may show little or no association between gluten intake and cardiovascular mortality and non-fatal myocardial infarction.
There would appear to be no strong link, between gluten and heart disease.
This British study is entitled Long Term Gluten Consumption In Adults Without Celiac Disease And Risk Of Coronary Heart Disease: Prospective Cohort Study.
These were the authors’ conclusions.
In these two large, prospective cohorts, the consumption of foods containing gluten was not significantly associated with risk of coronary heart disease. Although people with and without celiac disease may avoid gluten owing to a symptomatic response to this dietary protein, these findings do not support the promotion of a gluten restricted diet with a goal of reducing coronary heart disease risk. In addition, the avoidance of dietary gluten may result in a low intake of whole grains, which are associated with cardiovascular benefits. The promotion of gluten-free diets for the purpose of coronary heart disease prevention among asymptomatic people without celiac disease should not be recommended.
As before there would appear to be no strong link between gluten and heart disease.
To me, this is the most important sentence.
In addition, the avoidance of dietary gluten may result in a low intake of whole grains, which are associated with cardiovascular benefits.
So can we do something about it?
Enter The First Great Ethiopian Marathon Runner
I used to run a bit (badly) at school and my three heroes were Chris Brasher, Bruce Tulloh and Abebe Bikula.
The Ethiopian; Abebe Bikula was a double Olympic marathon champion.
- In 1960, he won in Rome, running barefoot.
- In 1964, he won in Tokyo, a few days after leaving hospital after having his appendix removed.
Both wins were in world record time.
Since 1964, three Olympic men’s marathons have been won by Ethiopians.
Ethiopian women have also won two gold and one bronze medals since the women’s marathon was inaugurated in 1984.
And then there’s the Kenyans, who’ve won a hatful of marathon medals.
Their competence is generally put down to living at altitude and I wouldn’t disagree with that.
My Experience Of Kenya
Soon after C died, I went on holiday to Kenya.
In one part of the holiday, I was riding horses in the Masai Mara and in the other I was glamping.
The second part was upmarket and one evening the chef approached me to find out more about my gluten-free diet. At breakfast next day, he presented me with a couple of rolls made from a local flour, which was probably something like millet or perhaps, teff from Ethiopia.
I had no adverse reaction. and he said, I could eat like a true African, as Western flour had no place in the local diet.
Conclusion
If we are worried about the lack of whole grains in gluten-free food, then perhaps we should add gluten-free whole grains from East Africa.
As a manager in a Marks and Spencer store, told me that they used Ethiopian flour in their gluten-free breads, I suspect this is already happening.
The Anonymous Widower 