The Mystery of Milk

How does milk know when to go off?

At the moment I am living without parents, Mum has gone to China to visit dad, Jake has gone to china with school so its just Dusty and I left. So being the loving caring person mum is, the fridge was well stocked just before she left including about 6litres of milk. Now Dust and I don't really drink that much milk and the other day I just happened to be looking at and realised that it all went off either that day or the next day, so I madly tried to use as much of it as I could but I just couldn't use it all.

Anyway this got my wondering...as my studies have told me a "used-by" date is used to mark the date after which the product is unsafe to consume and milk has one of these. But...how does the milk know when to go off...is it at midnight the night before the used-by date, is it just casually through out the day that parts start to go bad...can you consume it and still be safe? Has some one just guessed that it might be bad after then? Is it worth risking it? Is there a small...microscopic even...time bomb in the milk that goes off when its time?

I don't know...hence the confusion...if you do please let me know!

Leviticus 20:24 "But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations."

My Dietetic Duty

For many years the heart foundation has done some great work the area of public health awareness, and without them lots more people would be in a lot more trouble then they currently are. But at the moment I have real issues with their policies on "occasional" food ticks...I have been trying to let it die or even just leave it be, but I can't...it makes me soooooo mad!

The thing is, as most of you would know, this year there were 9 meals approved by the heart foundation available for purchase from McDonald's...last week we had a lecture done by the heart foundation about how great the tick was in terms of public nutrition interventions which is all true except for the fact that they have now started putting ticks on "occasional" foods, so foods that you should only eat "occasionally" claiming that it shows consumers the healthier choice in a particular food area, because people will eat these foods anyway, so lets give them a healthier option...well I don't buy it. What kind of attitude is that? Don't change your diet because we've changed your food????

For so many years the heart foundation tick has been great at showing consumers which foods are good for your heart and most of the food that the tick was used on were everyday foods, foods that are good for you to eat on a regular basis. The lecture was taking about the fact that the tick is the only nutritional symbol that didn't cause consumer confusion, but I don't think that that is true anymore!

Putting the tick on foods like McDonald's implies that the meals are good for you...not just that they are better than say Hungry Jacks, but the truth is they are still high in every macronutrient anyway and they are not good for you at all (to McDonald's credit they have worked very hard to get their meal options in the heart foundations requirements, so it is better than lots of other things, but?)...But if you read the fine print the Heart foundation only suggests that you eat those particular meals no more than once a week, but who would know that...no one. But it gets better, you have to eat the meals exactly as they are suggested, you can't even swap the high sugar orange juice for a no sugar diet coke or even water...its just silly, as if water isn't the better choice!

The heart foundation claims that we the general public, thats us, should eat according to the Australian Dietary guidelines...but does anyone outside the health profession have a copy...probably not. We asked this lecturer how the population is supposed to no what the guidelines are, or even just want is considered a "occasional" tick item and an "everyday" tick item...and she told us that its the dietitian's job! But seeing as most dietitian's only see those that are unwell or have a specific nutritional need, not everybody in the population...no one will ever know.

So I figured as a dietitian (well almost) and this is apparently my duty...I would just blog about it...so here you go...

The heart foundation tick is put
on everyday and occasional meals/food items and therefore the items should be consumed accordingly not just because they have the tick!

Talk about confusing...just writing this blog was confusing!

100 blogs of fun!

Wow can you believe it??? This is my 100th blog! I know 100! I am so surprised I had than much stuff worth writing and it’s almost a year since I the blog became into being!

And it's exciting too because this 100th brings the tale of a fantastic day! Today was my last day of uni for semester 1 of my 3rd year, and I tell you what it seems to have flown by, it feels like only yesterday that I met the girls that are the main feature of this blog, but I have known them for 3 years and they still hang out with me, so I must have picked some winners!

Anyway, Wednesdays are normally our long days but with no assignments or tutes we decided that we would use the day to eat at Einstein’s (the on student association restaurant) which we had been talking about doing pretty much since day one! But as our first lecture at 9am was done by 9:30 we had a lot of time to kill before our 3pm lecture. So we decided that we would go to the Emma court in Mt Waverley because it was nice and close and then come back for lunch! So Elise, Claire, Flic and I found Emma Court in Mt. Waverley with the help of Karen (my GPS), which I think was the highlight of Claire's day! Then we went back for lunch, which was quite enjoyable.

But we still had 2 hours so we decided that Karen could get us to another Emma Street in that time so we headed off again, this time out to Ferntree Gully! So that was two streets crossed of my list, but that’s not where the fun stoped we also decided that on the way home we should stop at cold rock and knock no. 62... Try licorish ice cream off the list! Which I can now tell you first hand, tastes very much like licorish and is not recommended to anyone!

But I tell you what today was a really good day, the adventure were very funny, and nothing beats a good meal and ice cream! I am very lucky to have friends like these guys at uni...i probably wouldn't have made it to the end of 1st semester let a lone 1st semester 3rd year without them! They are very fun girls and I love them to bits and I am very much looking forward to carving up the dance floor (or something that vaguely resembles that) on Saturday night! Thanks for keeping me sain girls!

The World is such a funny place!