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Topic: Random Chat (Read 460964 times)

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1225 –
Quote from: Luxor on
I don't think this one had any fruit on it, none was mentioned anyway. The only other ingredient I recall was a dusting of icing sugar.

Nutella is over 60% sugar. Adding extra sugar is just disturbing. One can only hope they didn't sweeten the dough to boot.  :insane:

Quote from: Luxor on
Stinks the house out though. Both my parents liked kippers for their breakfast. I couldn't get out of the house fast enough in the morning.   :))

Well, kipper definitely isn't my preferred form of herring. The main point is that my morning juice was actually upsetting my stomach. It feels a little odd to get rid of a breakfast ritual after 28 years, but now it's just water for me. My only "problem" is that breakfast and lunch are now more similar than they once were.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1226 –
Quote from: Frenzie on

Yes, I bought some last year. A (sizable) bag is €7, so slightly cost prohibitive in the "let's just give it a try" sense. At first they seem rather strong and bitter, and I say that even though I was pretty much only eating 80+% cocoa chocolate, but after a few times you get used to it. I think a couple of cocoa beans are significantly more satisfying than a single-portion sizing of traditional dark chocolate.


The picture shows milk chocolate, but the molds are the same.

I was never a big fan of (added) sugar, but I've now cut out the last remainders.

Actually I've come to realize this is the story of my food preferences. Probably about a decade ago now, my mother remarked that I was using an awful lot of salt. When I thought about it, it wasn't actually the salt I wanted, but the garlic powder in the garlic salt. I've since switched to garlic granules for seasoning.

With chocolate, it was really the cocoa I wanted. Not the added sugar or any such stuff.

So I finally came to the logical conclusion: I used to almost always eat at least some Nutella for breakfast, but I had to try hazelnut paste. What do you know? I like it much better than Nutella. Maybe with some cocoa powder to approach the Nutella flavor more closely. Want some sweetness after all? Just eat something like an apple or a banana with it.

Thanks for the info. I'm not a fan of dark chocolate myself. As for Nutella, we have some in the cabinet but I've never tried it. My kids love it though.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1227 –
Quote from: Mandi on
As for Nutella, we have some in the cabinet but I've never tried it. My kids love it though.

It's 13% actual hazelnut (which btw is better than most of the competition), a little cocoa, a bunch of palm oil to keep it solid, and over 60% sugar. So it's the same as traditional jam, except it somehow tastes less sweet. More comparable to your 40% sugar fruit paste (with more fruit than regular jam), which I've always preferred. That being said, I now find both insufferably sweet. The sweetness of the juice I used to drink was a kind of a mouth stepping stone toward eating it. I'm quite sure that removing both from my diet was the right choice.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1228 –
Quote from: Frenzie on

It's 13% actual hazelnut (which btw is better than most of the competition), a little cocoa, a bunch of palm oil to keep it solid, and over 60% sugar. So it's the same as traditional jam, except it somehow tastes less sweet. More comparable to your 40% sugar fruit paste (with more fruit than regular jam), which I've always preferred. That being said, I now find both insufferably sweet. The sweetness of the juice I used to drink was a kind of a mouth stepping stone toward eating it. I'm quite sure that removing both from my diet was the right choice.

:up: Awesome! I don't think I'll ever be able remove jelly/jam from my youngest boy's diet. He would eat peanut butter and jelly ALL day if I let him. Although, I try to keep both of my kids sugar intake on the lower end. Their father has been a diabetic since he was four. Doctors have told me that they aren't sure if it genetic or if it skips generations. I feel like I'm doing my part to possibly prevent it even if it's not possible at all.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1229 –
Quote from: Mandi on
Awesome! I don't think I'll ever be able remove jelly/jam from my youngest boy's diet. He would eat peanut butter and jelly ALL day if I let him.

Then you basically already got the sugar down to 30% anyway. ;)

Me, I eat my peanut butter with apple and banana as standard stuff and e.g. starting about now and the next few months also spring and summer fruit like strawberries and whatnot. Another thing worth considering is fruit paste, which has more fruit and "only" about 40-43% sugar as opposed to the 60% in regular jam. I've personally always liked fruit paste better than jam anyway, but I think I already said that. :P

Do be wary of things you wouldn't expect to contain sugar though — as a European I found most American bread insufferably sweet.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1230 –
I've never heard of fruit paste. I will have to look into that now. Thanks. As for the sugar, I only buy whole grain bread because it contains less sugar. If I learned anything in my high school cooking class, it's that anything white like white bread, milk, etc... is higher in sugar. I also pay attention to dyes.  Particularly red dyes. It's said that red dye is the equivalent of giving a child coffee. Since, cutting out the red dye, my kiddos have been less hyper. They are still pretty active but not nearly as active as they used to be. It's said that yellow dye decreases a child's concentration. I have found it nearly impossible to cut out all dye out of their diet though. It's in everything. I'd pretty much have to buy all organic foods but I'm just not that healthy.   ;)

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1231 –
Quote from: Mandi on
If I learned anything in my high school cooking class, it's that anything white like white bread, milk, etc... is higher in sugar.

Higher in sugar than what? Regular ("European") white bread has no sugar. I suppose it has proportionally a few more carbohydrates. Milk has a few percent lactose, but that's definitely way less than all the fructose in fruit juices. Plus in milk you've actually got the milk fat that prevents the harmful effects of sugar.

Quote from: Mandi on
It's said that red dye is the equivalent of giving a child coffee.

Do you mean the stuff they make from insects? I can't imagine iron oxide having such an effect. But yeah, food dyes must, ahem, die. :P
 

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1232 –
I stand corrected. According to an article I just read, wheat bread has a higher glycemic index compared to white bread. So it's not how much sugar each contain but ultimately how your body digests or converts the carbs into glucose. That's not what my high school teacher said. Lol

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1233 –
Quote from: Mandi
I've never heard of fruit paste. I will have to look into that now. Thanks.

Well, I have no idea if it exists on the other side of the Atlantic. One of the best-known brands is Effi, owned by Unilever. I don't know if you're familiar with (Dutch) Unilever because they mostly hide behind tons of brand names they've bought over the years. I think that happens especially in foreign markets like America. One of the brands they own I also saw in the States is Knorr. Anyhoo, the big three in food land are Kraft, Nestlé, and Unilever. Not that e.g. Mars and Coca-Cola aren't big, but they're just not quite as vast.

Anyway, Effi is a bit of a hit and miss brand. As a rule of thumb I despise "light" (Euro for "diet") products and that's their thing, but e.g. their lighter fruit jelly/jam products mean less sugar, not replaced with artificial sweetener, and more fruit.

Another thing to look out for, at least over here, is the compôte section. Traditionally it's to be eaten alongside your dinner or as a dessert, but you can just as well use it as a jam on your bread. The sugar content is kind of all over the place, but seldom higher than jam and often lower. Of course that depends on the person. If you like jam with fruit pieces (like me) then compôte is even better. If you like jelly without even so much as seed pieces (like my wife) then I suppose it's awful.

Quote from: Mandi on
ultimately how your body digests or converts the carbs into glucose.

Very definitely. Added sugar is bad carbohydrates. Your intestine basically absorbs them immediately unless it's slowed down by fibers (like you find in whole fruit, but not in fruit juices) or fat.* Whereas the other type of carbohydrates need to be processed by your body first. And it's not just that it's empty calories, although they are. Besides feeding bacteria that kill your teeth (your teeth will probably be fine without brushing if you don't eat added sugars, although apparently traditional societies with grain do have a touch more caries than traditional societies without grain) but it also tells your body to store more fat. In fact I don't have any citations right now, but on top of the fat storage thing, glucose even made people eat more food in total, contrary to what you might intuitively expect because converting food to glucose for fuel is how our body can function in the first place.

That being said, your average whole wheat bread should have a (slightly) lower glycemic index than white bread. It has (a little) more fiber, after all.

* That also means that a dessert after dinner is the best way to consume sugar, if you do. As opposed to some sugary snack in between meals. However, while I've come to share the view that fruit juices aren't nearly as healthy as I previously believed I think the people who equate them to pop are still off the mark because of the vitamins and minerals you'd find in fruit juice but not in pop.

Quote from: Mandi on
That's not what my high school teacher said. Lol

At some point, a century or so ago, someone came up with the bizarre idea that all carbohydrates are created equal. Even now it lingers. I mean, it's not completely bizarre because your body does in fact convert the carbs from corn and bread and potatoes etc. into the same sugars eventually, but it's the converting part of the equation that makes all the difference between what is effectively an overdose and a slower release of energy. Well, that and the fact that even the least nutritious potato or grain still bestows at least some minerals and vitamins.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1234 –
Quote from: Frenzie on
Well, I have no idea if it exists on the other side of the Atlantic. One of the best-known brands is Effi, owned by Unilever. I don't know if you're familiar with (Dutch) Unilever because they mostly hide behind tons of brand names they've bought over the years. I think that happens especially in foreign markets like America. One of the brands they own I also saw in the States is Knorr.

And many more. I had no idea.
http://www.unileverusa.com/brands-in-action/view-brands.aspx

I worked for one of its companies when I was in high school...made a bundle selling ice cream.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1235 –
It is disappointing when a computer game cheats :mad:

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1236 –
Not really. Nothing those damn things do can ever surprise me.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1237 –
Quote from: Syav on
It is disappointing when a computer game cheats  :mad:

Did it really cheat, or just outsmart you?
I always blame them for cheating when I lose too, I must confess.
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1238 –
Quote from: Luxor on

Did it really cheat, or just outsmart you?
I always blame them for cheating when I lose too, I must confess.

I got outsmarted by the computer last night in a game of Starcraft. Unfortunately, I don't think it struggled to do so.  :lol:

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1239 –
Quote from: Luxor on
Did it really cheat, or just outsmart you?

Nope, the computer cheated :D While I was attacking the enemy ships, the computer cloaked all their ships and destroyed my attacking fleet. After playing so many times I already know that the cloaking technology was not available for another 150 turns. Now, the computer ships were already behind in their weapon tech so how the hell were they able to cloak? :whistle:

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1240 –
Quote from: Mandi on
I got outsmarted by the computer last night in a game of Starcraft. Unfortunately, I don't think it struggled to do so.   :))

We've all been there. Well I know I have, many a time.

Quote from: Syav on
Nope, the computer cheated  ;D

Yeah, yeah.  :P

Quote from: Syav on
While I was attacking the enemy ships, the computer cloaked all their ships and destroyed my attacking fleet. After playing so many times I already know that the cloaking technology was not available for another 150 turns. Now, the computer ships were already behind in their weapon tech so how the hell were they able to cloak?  :whistle:

Maybe the game you were playing just has very advanced AI and has learned how to outsmart you. You call it cheating, it calls it adapting.
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1241 –
Quote from: Luxor on
Maybe the game you were playing just has very advanced AI and has learned how to outsmart you.

You could say that the AI has learned how to outsmart, but the enemy ships that I attacked weren't advanced :D  Here's a brief comparison just to show you what I mean;

My weapons tech: Hard beam. (Achieved after 100 turns.)
Enemy weapons tech: Laser. ( I already achieved Laser weapons after 30 turns.)

So the enemy ships is 70 turns behind in their weapons tech. They haven't researched Hard beam, and it'll take them about 200 more turns before they can achieve Cloaking tech. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. Maybe there's a gliche/bug in the game. There's an update to that game that I haven't installed. :up:


Re: Random Chat

Reply #1242 –
Quote from: Syav on
There's an update to that game that I haven't installed.  :up:

Best get it installed then.  ;D
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1243 –
Yup hopefully the game gets better after the update.  :D

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1245 –
Quote from: Luxor on
True. It was too sweet for my tastes.


I'm now drinking unsweetened coconut milk. I read several articles that coconut drink is a remedy to reduce body heat. I'll find out in a couple of days if it works for me :sherlock:

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1246 –
Quote from: Syav on
I'm now drinking unsweetened coconut milk.

Don't you find it sweet tasting even though it is unsweetened?  Coconut has a natural sweetness I find, or maybe that's just my taste buds.  :P
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1247 –
Quote from: Luxor on
Don't you find it sweet tasting even though it is unsweetened?  Coconut has a natural sweetness I find, or maybe that's just my taste buds.   :P

Maybe it depends on the brand. I've tried coconut beverage that comes in a can and it was too sweet. But the one I'm drinking now is made with soy milk and doesn't have any taste, I'm actually adding a little sugar to it :whistle:

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1248 –
Quote from: Syav on
But the one I'm drinking now is made with soy milk and doesn't have any taste, I'm actually adding a little sugar to it  :whistle:

:))

Have to say it doesn't sound very appetizing, I don't think I'll try it and I'll just stick to water.  ;)
The start and end to every story is the same. But what comes in between you have yourself to blame.

Re: Random Chat

Reply #1249 –
I think the soy milk makes it tastes like tofu rather than coconut. Although it does seem to cool me down a bit from the heat. Maybe I'll try a different brand that is mixed with real milk instead. :)