Don't worry--you are not eating horse in New Zealand, but you could be getting more than you bargained for!

It seems that Europe is awash with stories about horse meat being consumed by ‘unknowing’ customers. To make matters worse for those who abhor the eating of horse meat, the quality of the said product leaves much to be desired. Whether it comes as a result of a law change that has taken horses off the roads in Romania or another source is a moot point, but the result is a large number of unhappy customers.

In New Zealand, it seems that we don’t have the same issue. No, we are not a horse eating nation, but we do have some rather interesting ingredients in the processed foods we eat. If you were thinking that your sausages in a tin were pure beef, then you better think again. You could be eating a combination of pork, beef, chicken and God knows what other ‘meat’ products.

To those of you who rely on ‘processed foods’ and take them at face value, then---think again. If you really want to be n control of what you eat, then you are going to need to ‘dig deep’ and forget that you are tired. The message is that if you want full control of what goes onto your gob, then GO BACK TO BASICS!

Yes, buy your meat form the butcher, where you can be sure you are getting exactly what you pay for. If that means having the good old fashioned meat and three veggies, then do it. You can ‘tart’ it up with spices and herbs. Come-on---anyone can learn to do basic cooking. It’s not rocket science. Sorry---bad analogy.

Invest in a slow cooker---get one online or from Trade Me. They are cheap. There is nothing like coming home from work to the smell of a stew or casserole. Prepare them before you go to bed at night and out the container in the fridge. Then, all you have to do is take it out and switch on the slow cooker.

Get away from processed foods----they are killing us. If you have read my blogs, you know where it has landed me----in ‘deeeeeeeeep dodoland.’ Processed foods are out and natural ‘me in control’ foods will be the order of the day soon, albeit it on rather small amounts.

Come-on Kiwis---we produce some damned good product; fresh, clean and healthy. Let’s eat it in moderate amounts and send those processed foods and the outlets that shove it onto us packing.

Cheers
 A ‘reforming processed food addict.’

www.authorneilcoleman.com