How Do You Milk A Cockroach?

Could be a question we will soon be asking a lot more than you thought due to a recent study, that has found cockroach milk to be so nutrient dense it could be our best bet of a future protein source!

Now you may have heard about insects being next on our worldwide menu to provide the protein fix we humans require as a sustainable food source while other natural sources are thinning out, dying off or simply being over consumed.  ie – There has been huge ongoing debate and research over the last decade or so due to the fact that our food system seems to be literally broken, or indeed braking! You will have noticed over the last few years plant based alternatives making great breakthroughs and now scientists are thinking much more long-term and planning for the future of food.  There is ongoing debate over  consumption of animals looking at everything from the bad fats in animal/meat products, the processing of such, the treatment of the animals to produce the meat, the prices farmers are getting paid, the impact of transportation, to land, water supplies, the total environmental impact of breeding, to disease, horse meat scandals, climate change and everything in between! 

Therefore, there has been lots of research into all of the above to find the next sustainable, nutritious food source and our next  complete protein source – with the answers pointing to insects.  In Asian countries already some are seen as a delicacy, others eaten regularly already with daily meals and as snacks!   

Check this out – there is a name for it: ENTOMOPHAGY

http://www.insectsarefood.com/what_is_entomophagy.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy

If you want to find out more about eating insects as a sustainable food source, here are some articles to start you off:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/01/eating-insects-britain-foodies-wahaca

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/05/eating-insects-should-part-sustainable-diet-future-report

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/will-we-all-be-eating-insects-50-years/

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/05/can-eating-insects-feed-world

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20141014-time-to-put-bugs-on-the-menu

And if you want to try it – there are recipes for you here:

For crickets: http://www.insectsarefood.com/recipes.html

https://www.crunchycritters.com/edible-insect-recipes/

http://www.eatgrub.co.uk/recipes/roasting-insects/

 

Anyway – enough of that! Today I wanted to focus on one insect alone – the nasty (to some) but undeniably mighty, would probably survive the apocalypse, COCKROACH.  New research published just a few days ago has suggested it’s not them, but their MILK that could benefit us. 

Are cockroaches the new cows?   

We seem to have a great fascination these days with dairy free milk alternatives and I LOVE most of them.  You know I bang on about hemp milk, oat milk, almond milk etc and I have been using them (although I am not lactose intolerant, I am not vegan and I still eat lots of other dairy produce regularly) as I really enjoy the flavours, textures and the addition they make to my coffee and smoothies and ice cream making attempts!   

While I’m not yet convinced cockroach milk will be my dairy free alternative of choice, there are some very interesting facts in this recent study:

Here is the research paper

http://journals.iucr.org/m/issues/2016/04/00/jt5013/

So behind their dark, scaly, shell like exterior cockroaches – specifically the Pacific Beetle Cockroach as this is the only known species able to have live babies that have developed in the mother's body, instead of the mother laying eggs to develop outside her body - contain a nutrient dense milk used to feed their babies.   

This milk contains a hefty amount of protein, in addition to its energy boosting sugars, and lipids (good fats). Researchers are actually saying this could be the most nutrient dense substance – by weight – ever discovered!  It contains 4 times more energy than typical cows milk for example, making it the top contender for a protein with the most calories. 

Now I’ve mentioned calories don’t let that put you off (of course if you haven’t been put off by the fact that this is COCKROACH MILK we are talking about!)  Remember milk should predominantly be a substance to build up, to provide nutrients, fats, calories and energy to growing offspring. Its produced to aid growth and development.   So the more energy it contains – the better it is!

The milk harvested from a cockroach is actually found in crystallised form – protein crystals come from the gut of the baby cockroach as its ingested the milk from its mother. Its these “milk crystals” that scientists have discovered are a “complete” food – and therefore perhaps something for human consumption in the future.  Leonard Chavas,  one of the scientists behind the research, explains that although the crystal formation may seem surprising, other crystals, including insulin, take shape within the body for easier bodily storage, so this crystal could have potential for human consumption.

So in answer the original question – How do you milk a cockroach?  Chavas and his team go on to explain: currently the crystals are extracted from the midgut of the cockroach embryos – not the most efficient way to feed a growing world population with a broken/braking current food system.  Not a sustainable solution yet – BUT – they are hoping to reverse engineer cockroach milk so for now are furthering their investigation to understanding the exact biological and chemical mechanisms underlying the process, how to control it in a much easier way and ultimately how to bring it into mass production!

So our conclusion so far…. there is certainly no irony lost on the fact that that the cockroach (and Cher) is said to be able to survive a nuclear disaster and its turning out that it may someday provide the ultimate liquid superfood!   

However if the idea of cockroach milk disgusts you – like me - you are probably not ready for this yet.  Due to the nuclear stuff though, don’t dismiss this as a food fad, or passing trend.  Remember, the reason scientists are experimenting with bugs as alternative sources for both meat and dairy, is because our food system is broken/braking, our world population is growing at an unsustainable rate and we have to start thinking of ways to fix this.  People, populations, are still suffering mass hunger, while others are over consuming and suffering obesity epidemics, so things need to change and there is no denying that. 

If cockroach milk is the way forward but this doesn’t sit well with you, then maybe you can do something now to ease the braking system – less meat consumption, more plant based alternatives, less food waste.  Play your part now in preserving the environment and sustainable food sources if only so you don’t have to drink cockroach milk in the future!

What you think?  Are you ready for cockroach milk?  Have you eaten insects? How do they taste?  Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+

Contact us for more info on protein sources, complete foods, dairy alternatives: info@nitakothari.com or to book a consultation to see if you should up your protein intake, if you are thinking of changing your diet, or want to know more about foods of the future!  

 

www.nitakothari.com

 **Please remember this is advice ONLY (as is all other information contained in this blog, the website and social media related to it) None of the info or advice is intended to override any recommendation from your GP or health professional**

"We're going veggie"

“We’re going veggie”  Were the words uttered from the boyfriends lips last week.  He watched this speech via a friends link on good old Facebook and instantly decided this is the way forward and we are to no longer eat meat.

I’m ok with that.  Been following the Meat Free Mondays ideal for a while now and to be honest I rarely have the time, money or energy to cook a good cut of meat most days.  If and when I do eat any meaty products, they are low grade processed versions of what might once have been a perfectly healthy animal (ie bacon sarnies, toasted ham and cheese, chicken fried rice ??)  Meat is often my go to convenience food and as such I’ve always seen it as a bit naughty/no good anyway.  As I say though, this is due to the rubbish processed versions of the red (and white) stuff I’ve been eating – let me make it clear I’m not slating a good honest farmer, butcher, chef or steak!

Anyway, back to the veggies – as I established the “rules” of this new found vegetarianism and how he wants us to embark on this eating plan I’ve discovered - to my relief - we are not talking about buying vegetarian shoes, we are not cutting out fish and we will still eat eggs, cheese, milk and all dairy products.  (He loves an omelette and a milkshake, I love fish and seafood so that’s agreed).  We will then be following a pescatarian diet:

PESCATARIAN =

“A vegetarian who also eats fish or other seafood. From the latin word for fish: piscis. Also known as a fishetarian”  EG “I'm going pescatarian, since I really like lobster and it's so hard to find protein in vegetables”. (Urbandictionary.com)

“Pescetarianism /ˌpɛskəˈtɛriənɪzm/ (also spelled pescatarianism)[1] is the practice of following a diet that includes fish or other seafood, but not the flesh of other animals. Most pescatarians maintain a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet with the addition of fish and shellfish”. (Wikipedia.org)

“A person who does not eat meat but does eat fish: no red meat my family are pescatarians” (Oxford dictionary)

“Someone who eats fish but not meat” (Cambridge dictionary)

So for my part, I am happy doing this and looking at things from a health and nutrition point of view I can see the benefits and compensate for any pitfalls.

Benefits of a pescatarian diet include:

Health Benefits: 

• Reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure and some types of cancer (esp bowel and colon).

Benefits to the environment:

(stats from www.vrg.org – the vegetarian resource group 

• 1lb of beef requires 2,500 mgalons of water to produce – so water saving
• Deforestation (in the US) is a major side effect of creating land to house livestock – so saving trees and forests
• The animals raised for slaughter in the US create 130 times the excrement of the entire human population (annually) – so saving on clean up
• Grains fed to livestock in the US could instead feed 60million humans dying of starvation – so benefiting nourishment and hunger

Animal Cruelty:

• “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian” – the famous quote from Paul McCartney says it all really, along with the watching of Earthlings and Vegucated (links below)

Disadvantages of a pescatarian diet include:

• Alternative research shows that eating too much fish can increase your risk of exposure to pollutants and mercury.  Fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel, plus some white fish contain low level pollutants that could actually increase your risk of cancer, diabetes and thyroid diseases
• Sardines and herring for example also have low mercury levels, yellowfin tuna for example has high mercury levels, therefore should be limited in our diets
• Iron consumption – heam iron (more easily digestible and used in the body) comes from meat, whereas plant based diets, while sourcing iron from dark green leafy veg, sources iron that is less easily absorbed, processed and used in the body – sometimes leading to iron deficiency disorders such as anaemia
• Lack of protein – this doesn’t seem so much of an issue anymore as following a vegetarian or pescatarian diet still allows access to beans, pulses, vegetables and fish that can carry protein we require.  Also on our western diet (especially in the UK) we tend to eat more than enough protein without even realising it – its not something our diets are lacking.

In recent internet searching, Ive also found out mortality rates are 34% lower in pescatarians than those on a diet including meat, plus fish can raise HDL levels! So overall it seems the health benefits at least, outweigh the disadvantages or pitfalls of this eating plan.  The pescatarian diet to me, seems similar to a Mediterranean one – and that is promoted as one of the healthiest diets to follow.  It’s also similar to a Nordic or Japanese diet – who knew these had something in common!

I did worry slightly about getting enough iron and vitamins/minerals in our diet that would be missing by cutting out meat, but realised these alternative sources:

• Iron can be found also in eggs / pulses / dried fruit / dark green and leafy veg / wholemeal breads / seafood and fortified dairy and cereals 
• B12 can be gained from eating milk / cheese and dairy products / soya / marmite! 
• Omega 3 comes from the fish – oily fish, plus flaxseed (linseed) / tofu (soya) / walnuts and other nuts and seeds  
• Zinc can also be found in fish and seafood….plus there are many sea vegetables we can buy easily at the supermarket these days too providing zinc, iron, iodine etc

Maybe following this diet can be the start of the transition to vegetarianism, and then perhaps going vegan?  Who knows, but I am looking forward to feeling healthier, losing a little weight, cutting down (out) on the processed foods and salt, and hopefully while achieving this, we will also be doing something good for the planet and our resources…..? 

BUT

You see, after watching the speech he has been urging me to watch Earthings (you can view here: http://earthlings.com/?page_id=32). A while back I watched Vegucated (you can watch this  here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19qSsUI79Ro) These films make me feel guilty for eating any meats and meat based products.  Therefore this change in diet plus watching where our foods are coming from I think are 2 great steps in the right direction to me feeling good about myself – I get a feeling that I’m doing the right thing and should therefore somehow be congratulated for this - I don’t think this is the right attitude?

Now here’s the other thing – I can’t figure out whether we really are helping the planet or not.  I feel awful thinking of the horrible ways in which animals are mistreated and slaughtered for our dinners, so not eating meat rids me of that guilt, however what about the breeders and butchers and farmers and jobs and livelihoods that would be lost if we all stopped eating meat?  How am I really helping the planet – are pigs and cows and chickens a dwindling species?  And what about the fish – are they a sustainable food source these days?  Is overfishing detrimental to our oceans? These are the questions I’m asking and the details I really want to learn about.  Regards the fishing/fish I have come across a few good websites that I thought I’d share:

Greenpeace: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/what-we-are-doing/sustainable-seafood/sustainable-seafood-frequently-asked-questions

Marine Conservation Society: http://www.fishonline.org/fishfinder?min=1&max=2&fish=&eat=1

Sustainable Food Trust: http://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/ending-overfishing/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw8-GtBRCMl7m54PzgjNQBEiQAIZckvx0NePS-PxywEE009dhKdz2U0fGtyZr_k5e8rg2IffsaArmM8P8HAQ

 
Other than this as I have so many questions, I’m inviting any feedback,  

and recommendations  of articles, books, websites, studies, documentary and scientific evidence in relation to this please.  I want to figure out the REAL benefits of a meat free diet – benefits to the planet and to others, not just to my health and so I’m not just doing this to rid me of my guilt of eating fluffy cute things.  I don’t want to trawl the internet finding inappropriate or not sufficiently researched articles, or misinformation – I want to see evidence of the good not eating meat can produce – I will be grateful for your help in finding this information.

You can post to our facebook page, twitter, or comment here

I would also welcome any further suggestions  from people who have recently turned vegetarian/pescatarian on how they still balance their vitamin and mineral intake without supplements.  PLUS any good, healthy, vegetarian TASTY recipes I can make in a flash that the boyfriend will actually eat.  Currently his version of vegetarianism/pescatarianism follows the “eat exactly the same only vegetarian versions” diet– ie he bought the entire range of Quorn products and some cheese pizzas!  I don’t think this is helping much health wise.  I want to make some nutritious meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Also considering he doesn’t much like cheese (apart from edam) or vegetables (apart from peppers and tomatoes) and flatly refuses to eat fruit (unless its perhaps blueberries or something just as sweet mixed with ice cream and sugar!) I need some ideas on how to get around that too!

Again please share via facebook, twitter, or comment here.

So this week after sharing what I’ve learned so far, it’s basically over to you guys – Do get in touch with any RECIPES and information/recommendations.  In return I will keep you updated on how this pans out…  It could be hilarious, it could be very tedious or it might indeed not last too long.  It would be great to hear from anyone else who has recently taken the leap so you can let me know how you’re getting on too – benefits you are feeling, things you miss, what’s difficult, what’s easy etc….? Whatever happens, of course my plan is to stick to it longer than the boyfriend - I will not cave first, and realistically I am hoping we really will come out the other side eating a lot healthier, learning some new recipes, cooking together, growing our own veggies, learning more about the planet and our resources, more about animals and farming techniques and we won’t go back to meat again.

Please feel free to share your stories, info, tips and recommendations via facebook/twitter/blogger/google+

You can also send me recipes and pics of tasty veggies dishes on Instagram/pinterest

And as always, you can email info@nitakothari.com

Thanks all,

 www.nitakothari.com

**Please remember this is nutritional advice ONLY (as is all other information and advice contained in this blog and the websites and social media related to it) – none of the info or advice is intended to override any recommendation from your GP or health professional**

no nonsense chicken soup

I know it’s the middle of summer and we have been enjoying some wonderful bright, sunny, hot days BUT at this time of year in the UK when an unexpected gloomy , damp, chilly day pops up I feel I need a little comfort food.  Instead of turning to roast dinner (the ultimate comfort food for me!) I used my leftovers again and whipped up a really easy and – for the little effort it took – a surprisingly tasty chicken soup.  I know everyone probably has a different chicken soup recipe, perhaps passed down through the generations, but I’m rubbish at following recipes and my mother is a rubbish cook so I tend to use what I have, use one pot for cooking and for soups, rely heavily on the trusty blender.  This method uses the leftovers, the one pot and the blender, plus its simple, cheap and satisfying so I thought I’d share:

I used:

CHICKEN: I had a pre roasted supermarket (small) chicken.  I had already used it for 3 meals so for this, I literally picked the remaining meat from the bones.  I didn’t boil the bones for the stock – this is a good idea if you have the time, but I made the soup for lunch and in all honesty couldn’t be bothered. 

There was probably about 100g of meat.

QUINOA: I know, I know – I never thought I’d say it or use it either, but I have to be honest again and tell you that although it tastes rubbish (or rather tastes of nothing at all) it does fill me up and when added to other things, or when flavours are added to it, it can make a great, filling and protein packed alternative to pasta, rice, cous cous etc…..anyway I had a packet of Tesco branded “red and white quinoa with bulgur wheat”. 

I had used this 3 times already and the remainder was approx. 65g.

VEGGIES:  I included 1 x medium carrot and 2 x sticks of celery – simply chopped and cooked in a little oil in the pan with 2 x cloves of garlic

STOCK: 1 x vegetable stock cube with 1.5 pints of water.

MIXED HERBS: Approx 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs.

SPINACH: I added a large handful of raw baby spinach leaves to the bowl when done – as the soup was hot these wilted in

CROUTONS: I added a few shop bought croutons to the bowl too – you could of course toast them yourself, or eat the soup with some bread/toast /crackers on the side.

BUDGET

This soup is stupidly cheap:

• The CHICKEN was bought pre-roasted at the supermarket for £3.  This was the 4^th (and final) dish from that making it 75p worth for this recipe.  
• The QUINOA was £1.99 and again this was the 4^th serving, meaning less than 50p if it was in this soup. 
• CARROTS were 35p for 4 so just 8p for each one, the CELERY 88p for the bunch (of approx. 9 stalks), using 2 = 19p.  A garlic bulb is approx. 50p, using 2 x cloves is approx. 8pence.   
• The STOCK cube again was from a budget pack = only a few pence and the pinch of herbs again were only a matter of pence.
• And finally the SPINACH was a £2 bag of fresh that I only used a handful from = approx 10-20pence worth

TOTAL COST of ingredients = £3.20 (and this serves 2/2 portions) so £1.60 each.

METHOD

1)   Chop the veg and cook in the pan in a little oil while you get the last bits of chicken off the carcass.

2)   Add the meat and quinoa mix to the pan

3)   Add one pint of stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes

4)   Add the other half pint of stock, plus the mixed herbs and maybe a pinch of pepper then simmer for a further 10-15 minutes

5)   Blend for about 30 – 40 seconds

6)   Pour into your bowls (divide into 2 or save half for later) and add a handful of fresh raw baby spinach leaves (and some croutons if you like)

NUTRITIONAL INFO

Of course this isn’t just simple and cheap – at no nonsense we focus on nutrition too:

If you’re counting:  Chicken per 100g is approx. 176calories / 1 x carrot is 25cals / 2 x celery sticks is approx. 13cals / and 2 x garlic cloves = about 9cals.  The quinoa and bulgur wheat mix holds 130 cals for 65g and the addition of the spinach at the end was just another 10cals.

TOTAL CALORIES = 363 for 2 servings so just 182 CALORIES per bowl!

The greatest nutritional benefit of chicken is its protein content and as per www.myfitnesspal.com we can see 100g of the meat holds 20g of protein.

In the UK our RDA of protein is 50g.  As this meal feeds 2 or holds 2 portions, we are getting 20% of our daily protein requirement from just one bowl of soup here and that’s only including the chicken!  In the UK protein is not something we tend to lack in our diets, but for athletes for example, it’s a major nutrient required to regenerate cells and muscles so something high on the nutrient list of priorities to keep you full and fuel the right muscles when training.

The vegetables in this soup – the carrots and celery both hold a good amount of vitamin A too, along with vit C, calcium and trace amounts of iron.  The benefits of vitamin A include its immune boosting qualities (especially perhaps when combined with vitamin C as we all know helps boost the immune system too).  Plus vitamin A is skin kind (it’s also known as retinal which I’m sure recognise from skin cream ads!)

You can find more info on vitamin A here if interested: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Vitamin-A.aspx

More about vitamin C here:  http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Vitamin-C.aspx 

And BUPA offer a great guide to proteins here: www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/Directory/D/diet-proteins

On the note of protein, as mentioned earlier the quinoa mix is a great source of protein too – the grain also contains a good amount of vitamin C, calcium and a high amount of iron.  Iron is great a fantastic mineral for boosting your energy, its an essential mineral (that we cannot produce ourselves) and deficiencies can lead to anemia.  Adding the spinach adds a good amount of iron to this soup too, so if you do have some fresh add it at the end to give a little extra flavour, texture, colour and minerals!

You can find more about iron and iron deficiency again from the nhs here: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Iron.aspx

So here you go – the finished product: 2 portions of no nonsensene chicken soup for a chilly summer day

Let me know your own chicken soup recipes or share your pics if you try this one.  You can email info@nitakothari.com, tweet us @nononsensenitaor like us and share your recipes and pics on facebook

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**If you are of ill health, pregnant or a child under 16yrs, please be advised this recipe does have a high salt and vitamin A content so may not be appropriate**

**Please remember this is nutritional advice ONLY (as is all other information and advice contained in this blog and the websites and social media related to it) – none of the info or advice is intended to override any recommendation from your GP or health professional**