STOP CALORIE COUNT
Our writer has a bit of a beef with the vegan movement, so was relieved to see a cookbook spruiking a different kind of diet
This vegan business really got out of hand when the Gold Coast Bulletin broke the story about vegan dogs. Still reeling from a first-person account in print and online by a colleague who was assigned to go on a vegan diet for a week and (gasp!) decided to stick with it, and having shaken the head in disbelief at another report about a vegan baby, was it possible the world was going mad?
According to the Bulletin’s recent revelation about herbivorous hounds, three dogs at Worongary apparently lap up vegan biscuits and can’t wait for their broccoli and carrot treats.
Looking at the accompanying photo that day, I had reservations about how delighted the pup with the carrot in its mouth really was.
But who am I to judge, having in my reckless youth once shared a house briefly with a couple of vegetarians – an ordeal that led to secret visits to the pie shop to boost falling levels of meaty goodness.
Back in the present, on the same day that the dog story appeared, there was a separate report on the amazing breakthrough a Tugun cafe had made in the world of healthyeating science – it had created the vegan egg, with the white in the poached-egg lookalike made from coconut and almond and the runny yolk made from spiced pumpkin and turmeric. How long did it take them to do that? And why?
My pondering of these major questions was interrupted this week when a courier slammed a weighty box on to the Books column desk. Opening it revealed a hard-back copy of Cooking For Family & Friends, by UK “body coach’’ and nutritionist Joe Wicks – someone I confess I knew nothing about, although his presence on YouTube has given him a reasonable claim to stardom. He hasn’t appeared in any of the rock music or beer clips I’ve watched, but that’s probably not the be-all and end-all of fame. The cover was promising. In a world of navy beans and hemp seeds, here was a bloke holding a baking dish with a juicy, roasted chicken.
But a small subhead on the cover sounded an alarm – “100 lean recipes to enjoy together’’.
“Lean’’ usually equates with kale and sure enough, that’s a weird vegetable that the obscenely fit Mr Wicks tosses about.
But a careful read of the recipes soon turned off the klaxon and a beautiful calm settled instead as page after page revealed generous use of all manner of naughty delights like chorizo sausages, cheeses, butter, crème fraiche, eggs (lots of ’em) and plenty more.
Favourites at my place are the egg and chorizo muffins. Ingredients include baby spinach and spring onions, along with an assortment of other things to please or shock people on both sides of the veg versus meat debate. American-style blueberry pancakes are also rocketing up the culinary charts at home.
As the body coach says, most recipes provide tasty meals within minutes and while health nuts may warn this is a slippery slope, the intention is to do good.
There’s no hiding the fact the book contains Brit classics like Toad in the Hole, and even Bangers and Mash (it’s low carb).
The key lies in being sensible, and that should entail getting up off the couch and doing a bit of exercise maybe five times a week. Just go for a walk, it won’t kill you.
“I don’t believe in low-calorie diets and I don’t believe you need to spend your day eating boring meals out of lunch boxes, cooking separate meals for yourself or avoiding meals out with friends and family together,’’ Wicks writes.
But he says in order to burn body fat you need to burn more calories than you consume, “so if you want to actually see changes in your body, get moving and try to make exercise a part of your life’’.
“Exercise isn’t just going to make you feel and look better. It’s also going to give you more energy and confidence. My advice is to aim for 25 minutes of exercise, four to five days per week.’’
You could try walking your dog. It would do both of you good and hey, you can then both tuck into a hearty meal of … meat.