GI News—May 2009

• Taxing soft drinks
• Low GI diet halves women with gestational diabetes needing insulin
• Sweetening with stevia
• ‘GI the most critical tool in managing our child’s diabetes.’
• Low GI sugar: your questions answered
• New GI values
  

In a ‘Perspective’ piece in the New England Journal of Medicine, Yale University’s Kelly Brownell and New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden write that a penny-per-ounce tax on sugared beverages could both reduce consumption and generate revenue for needed programs to prevent obesity among children and adults. They review scientific studies that show that taxes could substantially reduce consumption of sugared beverages, cut caloric intake and help prevent obesity and diabetes as well as the consequences of these conditions. In ‘Food for Thought,’ nutritionist and economist, Prof Barry Popkin explains why soft drinks are only part of the problem and drinking more water is an easy step we can all take to better health.

Good eating, good health and good reading.

GI News Editor: Philippa Sandall
Web Design and Management: Scott Dickinson, PhD

Food for Thought

Our drink problem
‘How we drink and what we drink today is the result of major advances in food processing, distribution and aggressive marketing campaigns on the part of the beverage industry,’ says Prof Barry Popkin in his new book, The World Is Fat. ‘Throughout the world, from about 1990 on, the beverage industry has been successful in marketing the idea of always drinking: drink when you are active, drink when you are resting and relaxing, and drink when you go to a party. With functional beverages now hitting the marketplace you can also drink for extra energy, drink for better skin, drink for more vitamins, and drink for extra antioxidants. And all these drinks come with a bonus: calories.



About the time of World War II, we Americans drank mostly water, tea, coffee, a limited amount of beer and hard alcohol, and whole milk, and our calorie intake from beverages was between 100–200 calories (420–840 kJ) a day. By 2002, we more than doubled our intake of caloric beverages, and the average American is now getting around 400 calories (840 kJ) a day from beverages. From 1965 to 2002, over two-thirds of this increase (and half our total calories from beverages) was due to fruit juices and soft drinks.

At the same time we are gulping down these calories, we aren’t cutting back on our food intake to compensate. The consensus among scientists from dozens of meta analyses, large scale and smaller epidemiological studies, clinical and animal work is that there is no dietary compensation when we consume a beverage with calories. This includes sugar-sweetened beverages and even fruit juice, lattes, heavily sweetened teas, energy drinks and vitamin waters (currently we don't know where milk and milk drinks stand). In other words, with these items being drunk instead of water, all the calories from these are added to our overall energy intake and food calories are not reduced. A large body of literature shows consumption of these beverages are linked to weight gain, abdominal obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Studies have been undertaken in all continents with similar results.

My favourite way to help people lose weight is to look at what they drink over the course of a typical day. It’s easy to cut out some Coke, Pepsi or Mountain Dew or to cut down to one beer or one glass of wine. These small reductions matter over time. If you have diabetes or if you’ve recently had a heart attack, for example – a shift to only noncaloric beverages will do it for many people. The top 40% of caloric beverage drinkers in the US consume over 760 calories (3,190 kJ) a day from beverages. Obviously cutting out some of these calories would result in immediate weightloss.’
– Barry Popkin

For more on why We Are What We Drink, check out: The World Is Fat.

News Briefs

Why low GI foods make you feel full
Researchers at the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at King’s College London report that low GI meals increased the levels of GLP-1 gut hormone levels, leading to the suppression of appetite and the feeling of fullness in a paper presented at the annual society for endocrinology BES meeting in the UK in March 2009.

Dr Tony Leeds, and Reza Norouzy looked at the effects of a single low versus high GI meal on gut hormone levels in 12 healthy volunteers. Each participant ate an identical moderate GI meal for dinner, fasted overnight, and was given either a low GI (46) or high GI (66) meal for breakfast. Blood samples were then taken every 30 minutes for 150 minutes, and levels of the gut hormone GLP-1 and insulin measured. GLP-1 is a hormone produced by the gut that has been shown to cause a feeling of fullness and suppression of appetite. Volunteers who ate a low GI breakfast had 20% higher blood plasma levels of GLP-1 and 38% lower levels of insulin compared to those who had consumed a high GI breakfast.



Researcher Dr Reza Norouzy said: ‘Our results suggest that low GI meals lead to a feeling of fullness because of increased levels of GLP-1 in the bloodstream. We now need to expand the findings of this preliminary study and look at the effects of low versus high GI meals in a larger group of people.’
– Kings College London press release.

Low GI diet halved number of women with gestational diabetes needing to use insulin
Women with gestational diabetes can halve their chances of needing insulin by following a low GI diet, according to a new Australian study. Sixty-three women (aged 18–40, all non smokers) followed either a low GI diet or a conventional high fibre (and higher GI) diet. Women on the low GI diet consumed foods such as whole grain pasta and breads, and unprocessed, high fibre breakfast cereals. The control group was advised to eat a high fibre, low sugar diet with no specific guidelines with respect to GI. Both diets met current dietary recommendations for pregnant women.

The results published in Diabetes Care, show that 29% of the women on the low GI diet required insulin, while 59% on the higher GI diet needed insulin. Of the 19 women in the control group who met the criteria for starting insulin, 9 were able to avoid insulin use by switching to a low GI diet.



Gestational diabetes is the type of diabetes that women can develop during pregnancy. In any pregnancy, some insulin resistance develops as a pregnant woman’s insulin needs are 2–3 times her normal needs. But, if you are overweight at the same time, it’s worse. And if your body can’t produce enough insulin to overcome the insulin resistance, your blood glucose levels increase above normal. If gestational diabetes is undetected and untreated, the baby is at risk of growing too big in the womb, which can make the birth difficult. The baby is also at risk of other complications and is more likely to be overweight as a child and develop health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes later in life.

About 5%, or one in every 20 pregnant women, will develop gestational diabetes, and those numbers are increasing. Most women can manage their gestational diabetes with healthy eating, exercise and regular blood glucose monitoring. Here are dietitian Kaye Foster-Powell's healthy eating tips for women with gestational diabetes.

• Eat regular meals and mid-meal snacks, and avoid getting overly hungry.
• Limit sugary foods and drinks including soft drinks, cordials, confectionery and desserts.
• Limit fatty foods, especially foods high in saturated fats such as crisps, pastries, take-aways, butter and cream, biscuits and cakes.
• Include low GI (slow release) carbohydrate foods at each meal and snack.
• Eat a wide variety of nutritious foods

And be active in as many ways as you can each day!

Great discoveries in nutrition, and the challenges we face
The past 30 years have yielded major new discoveries in nutrition and health. At a one-day symposium at Wageningen University the audience voted on the greatest discoveries in nutrition since 1976 – and on the greatest nutrition and health challenges ahead. The results have now been published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The participants chose ‘Folic acid prevents birth defects’ as the greatest discovery in nutrition science since 1976. GI (‘Interaction of carbohydrate/glycemic load with insulin resistance’ – Jenkins) came in at #12 and GI News’ Prof Trim (aka Prof Garry Egger with Prof Boyd Swinburn) at #7 with ‘Obesity is a normal response to an abnormal environment’. ‘Controlling obesity and insulin resistance through activity and diet’ was voted as being the biggest challenge we face with ‘Can diet delay cognitive decline’ coming in as the #2 challenge for the years ahead.

The Joy of Cooking … too much
Eating out is often blamed as being one of the key culprits for gaining weight, but a letter published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggests that what we do in our own homes may be just as bad. In the study, the researchers found recipes for four, that would have served around seven people in 1936.



Examining 18 ‘classic’ recipes found in seven editions of the ‘classic’ The Joy of Cooking since it was first published in 1936 until the 2006 update, Dr Brian Wansink and Dr Collin Payne found that the average calories per serving jumped 63% in 70 years in 17 of the 18 recipes. In calories that's from about 268 calories (1125 kJ) per serving in 1936 to about 436 calories (1831 kJ) in 2006.

In analysing just the calorie density of the recipes – the total amount of calories, regardless of serving size – the foods in the 2006 edition had 37% more calories than the 18 recipes did in the 1936 edition. Similar increases were found in other classics such as the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.

Speaking to Susan Lang of Cornell Chronicle Wansink said: ‘This jump in calories was influenced by both changes in ingredients – usually increases in fat and sugar – and changes in serving size. Family size has gotten smaller, but calorie content and portion sizes have gotten bigger’. The researchers cite beef stroganoff as an example. In the 1997 edition, the recipe called for three tablespoons of sour cream (that’s less than ¼ cup). The 2006 edition calls for 1 whole cup. The study also found that some of the added calories came from substituting ingredients, such as extra meat instead of vegetables.

Meat and mortality – the real risks
High intake of red and processed meats is associated with increased risk for death in older adults, while white meat may have a protective effect are the findings of a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine.



More than a half million adults aged 50 to 71 completed food-frequency questionnaires and then were followed for 10 years. The study relied on people’s memory of what they ate, which can be faulty. In the analysis, the researchers took into account risk factors such as smoking, family history of cancer and high BMI.

Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27% higher risk of dying of heart disease. That's compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces (150 g) per week. Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50% higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less. High intake of processed meat was also associated with increased mortality risks. Conversely, consumption of white meat (poultry and fish) was associated with significantly decreased risks for total and cancer-related mortality.

In an accompanying editorial, Prof Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote that reducing meat intake would have benefits beyond improved health. Livestock increase greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, he wrote, and nations should reevaluate farm subsidies that distort prices and encourage meat-based diets. ‘We’ve promoted a diet that has added excessively to global warming,’ Popkin said in an interview. Successfully shifting away from red meat can be as easy as increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet, said Elisabetta Politi of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C.

What’s new?
www.foodwatch.com.au has had a facelift



Catherine Saxelby’s website is a one-stop information shop on all things food and nutrition. It’s just had a facelift and now offers product reviews (goji berries, vitamin waters), free fact sheets on topics like fibre, salt and portion caution, expert articles, and delicious recipes to try. You can sign up for Catherine’s free monthly newsletter, take part in one of her regular polls on nutrition and food hot topics, or post your own comments on her blog: Catherine’s News, Chews and Reviews!

www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au
Interested in controlling your cholesterol and looking after your heart? Check out Nicole Senior’s website where you’ll find the latest research, news you can use, fascinating facts about heart-friendly food, food myths, frequently asked questions, and the recipe of the month. Nicole presents the scientific facts in a way that’s easy to understand and, importantly, to put into practice. “It’s all about food that’s good to eat and good for you”, says Nicole.

Foodwatch with Catherine Saxelby

Stevia to the rescue in the noncaloric beverage business


Catherine Saxelby

Zero-calorie sweetener, stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) hit the headlines in the Wall Street Journal in December 2008 with the announcement that the FDA were approving two rebiana-based sweeteners (from rebaudioside A, a highly purified extract of stevia) as being safe for use as a general purpose sweetener in foods and beverages. Australia’s food regulator, FSANZ, had granted approval earlier in 2008.

Cargill is marketing its rebiana-based sweetener Truvia with Coca-Cola; Merisant is working with PepsiCo with their version, Purevia. Both have developed non-nutritive tabletop sweeteners from it.

In what they expect to be the first of many new low- and zero-calorie beverages sweetened with Truvia, Coca Cola has launched a reduced-calorie version of Sprite, called Sprite Green, in the US. Odwalla, also owned by Coke, has added two new reduced-calorie juice drinks to its product line – Mojito Mambo and Pomegranate Strawberry. Apparently not all flavours taste good sweetened with stevia. Citrus flavours taste the best – so we may not see Coke Zero with stevia.


Rebaudioside A – stevia extract

Not to be outdone, Pepsi has three flavors of a stevia-sweetened zero-calorie SoBe Lifewater in Fuji Apple & Pear, Black and Blue Berry, and Yumberry Pomegranate with added vitamins as well. They’ve also just brought out an orange-juice drink called Trop50 with 50% less sugar and calories and the juice of freshly squeezed oranges.

Why the interest in stevia? It’s all part of a move away from aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet) and acesulphame K towards more ‘natural’ substitutes for sugar for diet drinks. Despite being cleared twice by food authorities, aspartame has been plagued by persistent internet rumours linking it to brain cancer and Alzheimer’s that refuse to go away. Trop50, for example, replaces Tropicana's previous Light 'n Healthy orange juice beverage that was made with an artificial sweetener.

Stevia and blood glucose Stevioside does not appear to affect blood glucose levels, good news for those with diabetes. The human body does not metabolise the sweet glycosides and they pass through and are eliminated, so the body does not obtain any kilojoules/calories. You’ll see it sold as a white powder, a liquid extract or as tablets for tea or coffee. It has a slight liquorice flavour. It works well in beverages or yoghurts but not in biscuits or muffins as it can’t duplicate sugar’s ability to add bulk and contribute to the golden-brown colour of baked goods.

So far, so good. If you’re after a non-kilojoule sweetener that’s more ‘natural’, stevia hits the spot. It will be interesting to see how well its safety remains over time and how consumers take to the taste of these new drinks.

Background on stevia Native to South America, the leaves of this semi-tropical shrub are around 30 times sweeter than cane sugar but without the kilojoules/calories. As a herb, the leaves can be used fresh or dried – less than 2 tablespoons of crushed dried leaves can replace a cup of sugar, although it’s hard to be specific as actual sweetness can vary. You can buy stevia leaf powder online from specialty spice merchants such as Herbies Spices (www.herbies.com.au). Ian Hemphill says ‘use sparingly as there is a bitter aftertaste if too much is added to food.’

Catherine Saxelby is an accredited dietitian and nutritionist and runs the Foodwatch Nutrition Centre. For more information on stevia and healthy eating, visit www.foodwatch.com.au.

Low GI Recipes of the Month

American dietitian, Johanna Burani invites GI News readers to try recipes from her Italian kitchen (photographed by Sergio Burani).


Johanna Burani

Herbed fettuccine nests
Here is a terrific tasting pasta dish that is easy to make and just as easy to digest. The ingredients are few and unassuming, yet with careful attention given to their quality and freshness, this humble dish is fit for a king. Buon appetito! Serves 4

230 g (8 oz) 100% semolina fettuccine (or pappardelle) nests (8 nests)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 heaping tablespoon minced fresh sage
1½ teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

• Slowly melt the butter in a small saucepan. Shake or stir the pan to allow the butter to melt evenly. A foam will form and when the butter starts turning brown (approximately 3½ minutes), remove it from the heat. Add in the lemon juice, sage, and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm
• In the meantime, cook the pasta according to the packet directions until al dente. Cooking time should between 6–8 minutes. Drain the pasta, return to the pot, pour over the sauce and mix thoroughly. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Per serving (1 cup)
Energy: 1310 kJ/ 312 cals; Protein 7 g; Fat 12 g (includes 7 g saturated fat and 30 mg cholesterol); Carbs 22 g; Fibre 2 g

UK dietitian Azmina Govindji shares recipes from her new book (with chef Sanjeev Kapoor) Healthy Indian Cooking for Diabetes photographed by Yuki Sugiura. It’s available from bookshops in the UK, from Amazon and in ANZ online from www.greatideas.net.au.


Azmina Govindji

Bengali mixed vegetables (Chorchori)
The story goes that in many Bengali households, shopping for fresh vegetables was the duty of the man of the house; and this was done once a week on his day off from work. By the end of the week, the lady of the house was left with bits of all sorts of vegetables – hence this nutritious medley. Eat it with a small amount of rice, dal and natural low fat yoghurt.

1 tablespoon mustard oil
1½ teaspoons panch phoron (Bengali five-spice)
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
125 g (4 oz) cauliflower, broken into florets
2 medium potatoes (200 g/7 oz), diced
Piece orange-fleshed sweet potato (100 g/3½ oz), diced
100 g (3½ oz) peeled pumpkin, diced
1 medium size long brinjal, diced
6–8 French beans cut into 1 cm/½ in pieces
6–8 spinach leaves, shredded
¼ teaspoon turmeric
2 green chillies, slit
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

• Heat the oil in a non stick pan until it reaches smoking point. Remove from the heat, cool and heat the oil again on a medium heat. Add the panch phoron and, when it begins to crackle, add the chilli powder, stirring briefly.
• Stir in the prepared vegetables, followed by the turmeric, chillies, sugar and salt. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally or until the potatoes are cooked. Uncover and stir fry for 1 minute or until the chorchori is dry.

Per serve (without accompaniments)
Energy: 532 kJ/ 126 cals; Protein 4 g; Fat 4 g (includes 0.5 g saturated fat); Carbs 19 g; Fibre 4 g; 538 mg sodium

Busting Food Myths with Nicole Senior

Myth: Heart attack is a men’s problem


Nicole Senior

Fact: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women (in the US, Australia & the UK)
I always prick up my ears when a high-profile person dies from a heart attack. The list is very long, and not really surprising when you consider heart disease is the developed world’s biggest killer: singer Robert Palmer (1949 – 2003), McDonalds CEO Jim Cantalupo (1944 – 2004), US NBC political journalist Tim Russert (1950 – 2008), major league baseball pitcher Darryl Kile (1968 – 2002) and disc jockey Wolfman Jack ( 1939-1995 ). In Australia: mobile phone mogul ‘Crazy John’ Ilhan (1965-2007) and rock legend Billy Thorpe (1946-2007). Then there are those who’ve gone under the knife: former US president Bill Clinton, and TV personalities Larry King and David Letterman. Dick Cheney’s had four heart attacks. But hang on, these are all men. The only famous woman I could find online was Phyllis Diller who had a heart attack in 1999. This list would seem to suggest heart disease is something only men need worry about, but is this true?



In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death in women (US, Australia & UK). While breast cancer is the oft-quoted baddie, four times as many women die of heart disease than breast cancer. Experts estimate that one in two women will die of heart disease or stroke, compared with one in 25 women who will die of breast cancer. Sixty percent more women in the US die of cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke) than all cancers combined. While both men and women have heart attacks, women are more likely to die from it: no second chance, no opportunity to change, no chance to say goodbye – just gone.

A recent survey revealed 70% of Australian women were unaware that heart disease is the main cause of death among females. “It is a common misconception that heart disease is a ‘male problem’, with women tending to dismiss their symptoms and not seek help until the condition becomes serious”, said Heart Foundation (Australia) CEO Dr Lyn Roberts. “But heart disease should not be underestimated. It is a real issue for all women and younger women should heed our warning and take action now to reduce their risk. Most women recognise that smoking and obesity are major heart disease risk factors along with saturated fat, lack of exercise and family history. Worryingly however new research suggests that there is a poor understanding of the dangers posed by high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.”

Heart disease tends to strike women at an older age because female hormones are protective until menopause. But afterwards this protection disappears. Menopause signals a biological change, but requires behavioural change to best maintain health and wellbeing. For many women, this involves looking after number one for a change, instead of always putting the needs of others first. A heart-healthy diet and regular exercise are more important than ever and the best known anti-ageing therapy as well.

In Australia, May 3-9 is Heart Week and marks the beginning of the Go Red for Women awareness campaign. Coincidentally, it’s also Mother’s Day around the same time (US and Australasia). If you’d like to spoil yourself (or your mum) with a healthy gift that keeps on giving, check out Nicole’s books at www.eattobeatcholesterol.com.au

Move It & Lose It with Prof Trim

Vitamin D deficiency: a lack of sunlight or something else?
Vitamin D is a pro-hormone, which comes from sunlight, or artificial UV light exposure, as well as some types of foods (oily fish, some meat sources and fortified processed foods). Sources from sunlight however are more potent. And Australians have plenty of this. So it seems hardly likely that they would be suffering from a vitamin D deficiency. Yet that’s just what recent evidence shows. Surveys support the fact that up to half of the elderly may be vitamin D deficient, leading to problems of bone weakness.



Some experts have suggested that our skin cancer messages may have been too successful – that people aren’t getting the 20 minutes of sunlight exposure a day which is sufficient. Others say that sun creams may now be too effective. This latter idea has been dismissed because adequate UV light gets through sun cream with sufficient exposure. A more likely scenario is the rise of obesity and inactivity, which also cause Vitamin D deficiency. Perhaps, again, it’s the whole lifestyle that needs to be looked at.


Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

For more information on weight loss for men, check out Professor Trim.

Curly Questions

What’s the GI and GL of raw wheat bran. We have a brand here in the UK called Jordans Wheat Bran which is quite coarse.
If your raw wheat bran is the same as ours here in Australia, then this is a very low carbohydrate product that can’t have a GI or GL (it’s too low to test). This means it won't cause any rise in blood glucose levels. In fact, studies show that it will have a ‘second meal’ effect, which means it will lower the blood glucose response to the next meal.



Are products containing sucralose in the high GI range? If so, are Swerve, stevia, Truvia, or xylitol acceptable sugar substitutes?
By sucralose we assume you mean Splenda. Sucralose is a non nutritive sweetener and is hundreds of times sweeter than table sugar (sucrose), has no effect on blood glucose levels and does not provide any calories because it is not absorbed into the body. It contains no carbohydrate and does not have a GI. There's an excellent chapter on sugar and sweeteners in The New Glucose Revolution for Diabetes (The Diabetes and Pre-diabetes Handbook in Australia) by Prof Jennie Brand Miller et al PLUS a great ‘What sweetener is that?’ summary table. The information there should answer many of your questions about sugars and sweeteners of all kinds.

Email your curly question about carbs, the GI and blood glucose to: gicurlyquestions@gmail.com

Your Success Stories

‘We found the GI the most critical tool in managing our children’s diabetes.’ – Margie
'I have two type 1 diabetic children, one diagnosed 12 years ago at age three and the other in 2007 at age two. Thanks to Prof Jennie Brand-Miller and colleagues, my husband and I were able to use the GI in managing my three year old’s diabetes way back 12 years ago after diagnosis (and have done so ever since, and also with my latest diagnosed child) and we found it THE most critical tool in managing our child’s diabetes. It was truly a godsend. This was despite the GI at the time not being something that was widely recognised or recommended, and in fact even frowned upon by some old-style diabetic educators who preferred the complex carbohydrate and counting method.

However, we KNEW from first-hand experience exactly how very well it worked, studied the original little handbook til we could shop without it and then we fashioned our family diet around it generally. We loved the freedom it gave us in making dietary choices, particularly for a toddler, in addition to improving our understanding of diabetes, the relation of foods to blood glucose levels and of course ultimately achieving better blood glucose levels for our child! So we just did our thing without the guidance of the medical profession until such a time as the GI was eventually given the recognition it deserved. Which as Australians, we are proud of, as we know the international recognition and acclaim this research has achieved since.'



‘Dear Professor Brand-Miller, I just want to thank you for your very sensible and helpful eating advice in The Low GI Diet’ – Frances
‘I have just finished the first 12-week weight-loss period during which I lost 10.5 kg (23 lbs). I am now no longer morbidly obese. I now intend to continue with a 3-month weight maintenance period before trying another period of weight loss. I am in my forties and have been obese for over 10 years.

Your book has really helped to re-educate me regarding my eating habits and attitude towards my health. I particularly liked the fact that whilst following the weight-loss program I did not become neurotic about what I could or could not eat, and I also felt that I was not embarking on some kind of self-punishment program. I now eat regularly and sensibly, I enjoy buying and preparing food and eating it and I enjoy a much more active life – swimming, walking and going to the gym. I do not feel as though I were on a diet that I am in a hurry to finish and return to “normal” eating habits – instead I feel like I now have a much happier and healthier relationship towards food and my body. I really am so happy that I picked up your book.’

GI Symbol News with Alan Barclay

LoGicane™: your questions answered


Alan Barclay

The launch of the low GI sweetener LoGicane™ in Australia in March sparked immense interest from around the globe. A growing disenchantment with non-nutritive tabletop sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose, and the hypothesis that high fructose corn syrups are fuelling the obesity epidemic in the USA, are a couple of likely reasons for the high level of interest.

How does LoGicane™ compare with other tabletop sweeteners?
It is important to realise that it is a nutritive sweetener – it provides energy (kilojoules) and carbohydrate, as well as small amounts of minerals like potassium, calcium and magnesium, and other nutritive substances like polyphenols and antioxidants. Other nutritive sweeteners like honey and raw sugar also provide similar amounts of energy, carbohydrate and some of these other nutrients, but on average, they have a higher GI value. All other nutritive tabletop sweeteners are so highly refined that they only provide energy and carbohydrate, and with the notable exception of fructose, have a higher GI. Therefore, LoGicane™ is an overall better choice of nutritive tabletop sweetener.

However, like all nutritive sweeteners, it may contribute to weight gain, and will elevate blood glucose levels in people with diabetes, if consumed in excessive amounts. It is worth noting that total sugar consumption per head of population has been decreasing in Australia over the last 35 years, while rates of overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes have approximately trebled over the same period.



How does LoGicane™ compare with non-nutritive table top sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose?
As their name suggests, non-nutritive sweeteners provide essentially no nutrients (energy, carbohydrate, minerals, etc…) when consumed as directed. As such, they will not affect blood glucose levels, and in theory may aid in weight management. However, perhaps surprisingly, there is actually little evidence that they help with weight management for reasons that are as yet unclear. It is worth noting that aspartame and sucralose were introduced into the food supply in the early 1980’s and 90’s respectively, again coinciding with the global obesity and diabetes epidemic.

Is Logicane™ low GI due to added chemicals or sweeteners?
Logicane™ is low GI due to the polyphenols that occur naturally in molasses. The important GI lowering polyphenols in molasses are recovered using a membrane filtration process and this material is reincorporated back into washed raw sugar crystals to ensure the clinically “right” amount is captured in the final sugar product to ensure it is low GI.

Where can you buy it?
While LoGicane™ is currently only available in Australia and New Zealand supermarkets, Horizon Science are negotiating with major North American and European manufacturers, and expect the product will be available in these territories in the near future. For more information email: alan@gisymbol.com



Contact
Dr Alan W Barclay, PhD
CSO, Glycemic Index Ltd
Phone: +61 2 9785 1037
Mob: +61 (0)416 111 046
Fax: +61 2 9785 1037
Email: mailto:alan@gisymbol.com
Email: alan@gisymbol.com
Website: www.gisymbol.com.au

New GI Values with Fiona Atkinson

Lychees
Fresh lychees (B3 variety, Australian grown) GI 57
Serve size 8 lychees (about 100 g or 3 1/2 oz); Available carbs per serve 16 g; GL = 9

Nektar Sweet
Nektar Sweet™ GI 34
Serve size (1 teaspoon) 4 g; Available carbs per serve 4 g; GL = 1.4
This nutritive sweetener is a white powder-like sweetener. The ingredients are fructose, lactose, honey, maltodextrin and natural flavours. The product packaging says ‘replace table sugar about 1:1, adjust to taste’.

To have your product GI tested, contact an accredited GI testing laboratory
North America
Dr Alexandra Jenkins
Glycemic Index Laboratories
36 Lombard Street, Suite 100
Toronto, Ontario M5C 2X3 Canada
Phone +1 416 861 0506
Email info@gilabs.com
Web www.gilabs.com

Australia
Fiona Atkinson



Research Manager, Sydney University Glycemic Index Research Service (SUGiRS)
Human Nutrition Unit, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences
Sydney University
NSW 2006 Australia
Phone + 61 2 9351 6018
Fax: + 61 2 9351 6022
Email sugirs@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Web www.glycemicindex.com

New Zealand
Dr Tracy Perry
The Glycemic Research Group, Dept of Human Nutrition
University of Otago
PO Box 56 Dunedin New Zealand
Phone +64 3 479 7508
Email tracy.perry@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Web glycemicindex.otago.ac.nz

See The New Glucose Revolution on YouTube

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Colorado Senate committee backs eliminating death penalty

DENVER—A proposal to eliminate the death penalty in Colorado cleared another hurdle at the Capitol on Wednesday.

The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee endorsed the measure (House Bill 1274) in a party-line vote, sending in to another committee for a vote. The bill would take the $1 million now being spent to prosecute death penalty cases and use it to investigate cold cases. That would add seven employees to the state's cold case unit, which currently has only one investigator.

All three Democrats on the committee voted for the measure, and both Republicans voted against it.

Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, acknowledged the death penalty is expensive but said the state should find other ways to fund cold case investigations, such as cutting funding for tourism promotion or prison recreation programs. Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, said the state could have spent less on promoting renewable energy instead.

But bill sponsor Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, argued that no other item the state spends its money on has gotten it so little in return. She said the state has spent between $1 million and $4 million a year for about 40 years to prosecute death penalty cases but has executed only one person during that time.

The last execution in Colorado was in 1997, when 53-year-old Gary Lee Davis was put to death for his conviction in a 1986 slaying.

Two men are now on death row in the state, but their sentences wouldn't be affected by the bill.

Two Democrats who voted for the bill—Sen. Betty Boyd of Lakewood and Sen. Bob Bacon—said they backed it because they believe capital punishment is morally wrong, not because of the cold case connection.

"I do not like what capital punishment does to my soul and to the soul of the United States," Bacon said.

Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, said she didn't think the state's money was being well spent on prosecuting death penalty cases. But she also said a comment from a witness about giving criminals time to seek redemption gave her something else to consider.

A group of families of murder victims whose cases remain unsolved are the main force behind the bill, which passed the House by a single vote last week. They lined up to testify in front of the committee, some of them with framed photographs of their slain relatives. Some recounted how their loved ones were killed, offering details about how many times they were stabbed and how their bodies were disposed of.

Howard Morton said his eldest son was killed when he was 18, and it took 12 years to find his body.

"We don't want to hear that we're sorry for your loss. We want action for our murders. We want justice for our loved ones," said Morton, executive director of Families of Missing Homicide Victims and Missing Persons.

The bill has also gained support from national anti-death penalty advocates including Bud Welch, whose daughter was killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and Randy Steidl, a former death row inmate from Illinois who was later exonerated.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers and all but one of the state's district attorneys oppose the bill, as do the families of other murder victims, including the mothers of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe. One of the two men on Colorado's death row, Sir Mario Owens, was convicted of masterminding the slaying of the couple as Marshall-Fields was getting ready to testify in a murder trial.

The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee. If it passes the Senate, it will be sent to Gov. Bill Ritter, Denver's former district attorney. He hasn't said whether he would sign it.

Source: denverpost.com, April 29, 2009

I am going to the UK for dinner

I have been invited as the honorary guest at this do http://www.pcg.org.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4291&Itemid=734 I was the founder members, on the first board as PR Director and Chairman for 2 years, elected unopposed 12,000 members 97% male. Yes I am very proud of my time at PCG and it is a great accolade to be rewarded like this. Bit expensive to go to London for dinner but hey!!!

Georgia: William Mize executed

A Georgia man has been executed for the murder of a follower of his white supremacist group.

William Mark Mize was put to death Wednesday by lethal injection at the state prison at Jackson. The 52-year-old inmate was pronounced dead at 7:28 p.m. by authorities. Mize became the second person executed in Georgia this year. Mize was convicted of the October 1994 murder of Eddie Tucker, who was shot after he failed to follow orders to burn down what Mize considered to be a crack house in Athens. Prosecutors say Mize shot Tucker in the head with a shotgun after leading him into some woods.

Mize's attorneys sought this week to block the execution. But an appeals court dismissed their appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court also rejected a request to stay the execution.

Mize becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death in Georgia this year and the 45th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983.

Mize becomes the 23rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1159th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, April 30, 2009

Is this a gimmick?

A Labour list MP is to lodge a Member’s Bill seeking the entrenchment of the Maori seats in Parliament. His name is Mita Ririnui. Some of you may have heard of him. He sometimes contributes to debate in Parliament. Like on four days in the past seven months. One of those days was today. But he could soon have a higher profile.

Labour supported entrenchment of the Maori Seats while in Government, but didn't have the balls to do anything about it. The Maori Party drafted a bill but that got scuttled in the confidence and supply agreement with National. So what Labour is trying to do now is cause havoc in the Maori Party by hoping they will support it if the bill gets pulled out of the ballot. Under the agreement with National, the Maori Party can vote for entrenchment, provided that it is not "pursuing" entrenchment.

Given that 75 percent of Parliament have to vote for this bill in the committee stags to make it law, this will require National support. National won't support it and Ririnui knows that. So this is wedge politics aimed at causing a rift between National and the Maori Party.

Hopefully Maori will see this bill for what it is: a gimmick bill.

While in Government Labour pushed through legislation that affected about 300 people a year. That was the Civil Union Act. Then they pushed through a bill they did not expect to be upheld. That was the anti smacking legislation. They then pushed through a bill that it did not want to enforce - the Electoral Finance Act. Now it wants to push through a bill that with a primary aim other than that of passage. The aim is purely to piss off both the Maori Party and National - for different reasons - and Labour is using Parliament's lowest profile Maori MP to do it. Race-based bill fronting is what I call it.

UPDATE Indeed, the Maori Party is pissed off. Labour's motto seems to be "if you want 'em, but can't get 'em, your main opponent has 'em but doesn't want 'em, try to entrench 'em".

Church rules on swine flu

New Zealand's Catholic bishops have issued hygiene recommendations for church services in preparation for a swine flu pandemic.The bishops are stopping parishioners receiving communion wafers on the tongue, communion wine from the chalice and from shaking hands at the sign of peace at masses.

So what will happen instead? The communion wafers will be on a plate, wine from a drinking fountain or some such - or little cups. The sign of peace could be merely a "thumbs up", a cheerie wave or a " high five". However the two finger peace sign would be safer and apt.Let's hope the wrinkly side of the fingers are facing towards the peace maker or else it may look offensive.

Also, it would be good to have no dipping hands in the bowl of holy water before leaving, to be consistent.

Or shaking hands after the service.

If this starts an international trend, let's hope Mr Shake Hands Man is not Catholic.

UPDATE SundayI was advised that only the priest took communion today, there was no hand shaking - but a "smile" of peace - and use of holy water was banned. Which begs the question if it really is holy water, and the wine is transubstantiated, surely this would veto or cure any disease of swine fluness.

Read more on this over here.

Bollard cuts interest rates to all time low

Its just been reported that Allan Bollard has taken 0.5% off the official cash rate, bringing it down to 2.5%.Bollard said:

We consider it appropriate to provide further policy stimulus to the economy. We expect to keep the OCR at or below the current level through until the latter part of 2010. The OCR could still move modestly lower over the coming quarters.

Statement on Salient news editors: Spamming done in Salient offices

Students Association threatens Big News with defamation

updated
Salient is the newspaper of Victoria University. Its news editor is Michael Oliver. Oliver was a sports reviewer under former editor Steve Nicol, and, as I was a sub, I had to sub his stories.

Readers will know that someone left multiple comments on this blog, under different names earlier this week, including the names of some well known journalists such as Mike McRoberts, Mark Sainsbury, and Carol Hirschfield, as well as under Salient news editors including Steve Nicol, Jackson Wood - and a “Janet Sampson”. I can now reveal that those comments on this blog were done in the offices of Salient, and a Salient volunteer has taken the rap. I doubt whether this volunteer was alone. I was advised today, after being threatened with a defamation suit by the Victoria University Student's Association(VUWSA) two days earlier, that current editor Jackson Wood was "aware of it" and knew "who is responsible" after initially writing to me denying any knowledge of the spamming. Perhaps others were also aware of it. A statement denying any involvement in the spamming of this blog from anyone in Salient was also posted on the Salient Twitter page by Jackson Wood. It has now been deleted.

It was my reasonably held opinion that Oliver was the person who left the comments. This was based on similar comments, names and phrases on the Salient website, some of which Oliver wrote. So I spoke to Oliver and offered him the opportunity, on this blog, to refute my claims, but he refused to do so. Instead, Salient (actually to be correct, it was VUWSA ), threatened to sue me and I received a letter from barrister Paul Chisnall. As it transpired, it was not Michael Oliver who spammed this blog.

The lawyers advised that Salient and Oliver considered statements I made were defamatory. But this afternoon, just as I was about to shoot off a letter to the lawyers telling them why they weren't, VUWSA and Salient called off the legal action. However, this was not a sudden move, it was the result of an ongoing – and helpful - dialogue with one Salient representative over the previous 24 hours. Wood emailed this to me and his lawyers:

I would like to formally apologise on behalf of Salient for the comments that were posted on your blog on 20 April 2009. As discussed, I have talked to the volunteer responsible to ensure that they understand what they did was wrong and I believe that they are genuinely sorry for their actions. I will ensure that they do not do this again.

This happened in my office under my watch and so I would like to extend my personal apology to you as well. Once again, I'm very sorry about what happened…all legal proceedings will be terminated…I hope that this can be the end of issue, and that there is no ill feelings between us.

I'm tired. It's a pity that those who use VUWSA computers to spam or write comments like this are not told at the time to "understand what they did was wrong"; rather, wrongdoing is only understood when grownups get involved.

Iran: three hanged

April 28, 2009: Iran has hanged three convicted criminals, two murderers and a drug trafficker, in a prison in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, a local newspaper reported.

The report identified the murderers as Ala H. and Mostafa Kh. who were sent to gallows some time in the Iranian month of Farvardin-March 21 until April 20.

The report in the Karoon newspaper did not name the drug trafficker. No additional information was given.

Source: Afp, 28/04/2009

*SINGLE PIE CRUST*

A reader of my blog requested this recipe which is part of the Glazed Strawberry Cheese pie recipe below. Sometimes I produce "teasers" and don't give all the details, in the hope that I'll interest people in my books from time to time. Thing is if I give away everything, why does anyone need them?

SINGLE PIECRUST
This is a lower carb and more substantial crust that tastes great. Recipe from Splendid Low-Carb Desserts.

1 1/8 cups Low-Carb Bake Mix, (275 mL)
page 22
3 oz cream cheese, softened (90 g)
1 tbsp SPLENDA® Granular (15 mL)
1 tbsp butter, softened (15 mL)
1/4 tsp baking soda (1 mL)
1/8 tsp salt (0.5 mL)

In food processor or in bowl with electric mixer, process Low-Carb Bake Mix, page 22, cream cheese, SPLENDA® Granular, butter, baking soda and salt until mixed. Form a ball with dough using your hands. Chill dough about 1 hour.

Roll dough out between two sheets of wax paper to fit shallow 9-inch (23 cm) glass pie dish with a flat border (do not roll out too thin). Remove top sheet of wax paper. Pick up sheet with dough and invert over pie dish. Use flat dinner knife to carefully ease dough off wax paper. Use small rolling pin or small cylindrical object in pie dish, if necessary, to further roll dough. Patch dough where required.

Press dough onto pie dish border, cut to size and patch where necessary. Make an attractive edging by pressing dough with tines of fork and leaving spaces in between. Bake in 350°F (180°C) oven 10 minutes, or until golden brown. This crust browns extremely quickly; therefore, if baking again with filling, it’s best to bake only 5 minutes before adding filling and baking. Cover pie lightly with foil tent (See Helpful Hints, #10, page 5) from beginning of baking to end, otherwise crust becomes too dark. It will still be edible, but it’s best to aim for a golden brown color.

Helpful Hints: If using a deep 9-inch (23 cm) pie dish for more substantial fillings, press dough up sides only (straight edge). Push down slightly from edge onto dough with thumbs and this will make a slightly thicker border for the crust. It is possible to skip chilling the dough, however, it is easier to handle when chilled.

Nutritional Analysis: 10 servings: 1 serving: 1.6 g carbs

Chronic Inflammation Makes One Fat by Blocking Insulin Receptors

I had to mention this when I read it. I was in a bit of shock at this revelation! I guess it makes sense: Jonny Bowden's article.

Roger Deutsch, co-author of the excellent book, "Your Hidden Food Allergies Are Making You Fat" had this to say: "Now we know that chronic inflammation, caused primarily by exposure to incompatible foods, is at the root of metabolic problems like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity. The immune system chemicals block insulin receptors; so, guess what happens to the sugars we eat? - they get stored as fat. Cut the inflammation, cut the fat storage."

Update from Osirisnet

Dear friends,
We are especially happy and proud to announce to you that the mastaba
of Watetkhethor, which is part of the fascinating complex of Mereruka,
is now online.
With this third section, the mastaba is now covered entirely, since it
specifically adds to the pages dedicated to Mereruka, as well as to
those concerning their son (and for a time, heir to the throne), Meryteti.

http://www.osirisnet.net/mastabas/watetkhethor/e_watetkhethor_01.ht

National begins dirty tricks campaign in Mt Albert, apparently

Excellent media release here from Annette King, DLOTPWNCFMA (Deputy Leader Of The Party With No Candidate For Mt Albert).

National’s dirty tricks have started even before Labour has selected a candidate for the Mt Albert by-election, Deputy Leader of the Opposition Annette King said today.

National and John Key’s dishonest attempt to discredit one of eight potential Labour candidates shows the Government’s eyes are off the ball when they should be focusing on peoples jobs and the upcoming budget. National has trawled through research papers written by David Shearer dating back to1998. The papers looked at the use of private security in war torn nations where innocent civilians, mostly women and children, were dying and there were no better alternatives.

“They’ve fed this information to their right wing blogging friends.

So why haven't I been fed? Or aren't I "right wing blogging" enough. Actually I' m not even left wing blogging enough, either, as nobody gave me any papers after Mike William's trip to Melbourne.

Actually I've already got the research paper. On my internet. (Okay its just the first page). The full article is also on the Internet thanks to Kiwiblog, the right wing blogger who did not get it from National, because it wasn't a Nat staffer who checked the databases.Annette King, DLOTPWNCFMA, says:

Why are they trying to dig dirt on one of the nominees, I predict that by the weekend they would have gone through the whole eight.

Now, there's a thought! Lets start with the candidate who is named after a Christian radio station: Rhema Vaithianathan. She's written a journal on the Economics of Female Genital Cutting which you can download here. In the article she argues that female genital cutting is a pre-marital investment associated with better marital outcomes. Which has got to be good for social and economic policy. Anyway back to King, DLOTPWNCFMA:

“I hope it’s not a sign of the tactics National plans to adopt for the campaign. Labour is committed to fight a strong, clean and fair by-election.

...now that they have kneecapped their best candidate because they don't want their worst list MP back in Parliament if he wins.

Iran: Yunes Aghayan at imminent risk of execution

Yunes Aghayan, a member of Iran's Azerbaijani minority and an Ahl-e Haq follower, is at imminent risk of execution after being convicted of "enmity against God." He is held in Oromieh Prison in West Azerbaijan Province, in north-west Iran. Another man, Mehdi Qasemzadeh, was executed after being convicted in the same case around 28 February 2009, giving rise to fears that Yunes Aghayan could be executed at any time.

Yunes Aghayan was arrested around November 2004, following at least two clashes in September 2004 between members of a group of Ahl-e Haq members and police. The group had refused to take down religious slogans at the entrance to their cattle farm in Uch Tepe, West Azerbaijan Province. During the clashes, five Ahl-e Haq members and at least three members of the security forces were killed.

Yunes Aghayan and four others were tried before Branch 2 of the Mahabad Revolutionary Court. In January 2005, Yunes Aghayan and Mehdi Qasemzadeh were sentenced to death for "enmity against God," usually applied to those who take up arms against the state. Their sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2005 and Mehdi Qasemzadeh was executed around 28 February 2009. Three others -- Sehend Ali Mohammadi, Bakhshali Mohammadi, and Ebadollah Qasemzadeh -- were also sentenced to death, but their death sentences were overturned by the Supreme Court in September 2007. They are serving 13-year prison sentences in internal exile in Yazd Province, central Iran.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Ahl-e Haq are members of a religion founded in the 14th century, who live mainly in Iraq and western Iran. Most members are Kurdish, with smaller numbers from other ethnic minorities including Azerbaijanis.

The Iranian constitution guarantees equality to minorities in Iran, who are believed to number about half of the population of about 70 millions of inhabitants. Article 3(14) provides for equality of all before the law. Furthermore, Article 18 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a state party, states: "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching."

Under Article 13 of Iran's Constitution, three religious minorities -- Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians -- are entitled to practice their faith. However, adherents of unrecognized religions, such as Baha'is, the Ahl-e Haq, and Mandaeans (Sabeans), or those who convert from Islam to another religion, are not permitted the freedom to practice their beliefs and are particularly at risk of discrimination or other violations of their internationally recognized human rights.

Click here to take action now.

Source: Amnesty International, April 28, 2009

Hassan Fathy

Please sign the international petition for the safeguarding of Hassan Fathy's New Gourna village and transfer the message to all concerned individuals or institutions.

Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SaveNewGournaVillage/

Thanks again for your support and Best Regards!

SAVE THE HERITAGE OF HASSAN FATHY

It's by-election time

Labour has its billboards up already for the Mt Eden by-election


Perhaps this is appropriate.
hattip Kiwiblog.

@googlenews on Twitter

Posted by Jack Hebert, Software Engineer

Google News aggregates stories from over 25,000 news sources updated continuously. Starting today, we're offering users an additional channel to follow the news by posting links to top stories as they become available on the new googlenews Twitter account.

As with the Google News homepage, click on any headline that interests you and you'll go directly to the site which published that story.

Here are some of our first tweets:

The 2009 BAFTA Awards

Click here to view the full set...

We've added a couple of new photos of David backstage at Sunday night's BAFTA Awards here.

Plus you can watch him at the ceremony presenting Jane Tranter with The Spceial Award below:

Click here to view the full set of pics...


David attended the BAFTA Award ceremony in London last night. He presented the TV Executive and former controller of BBC Fiction Jane Tranter with 'The Special Award' for her outstanding creative contribution to the industry.

Unfortunately neither Doctor Who nor Einstein And Eddington won thir categories.






You can watch an interview with David and Jane above.

The full list of winners are now online at http://www.bafta.org/

Burundi's new criminal code abolishes the death penalty but makes homosexuality a crime punishable by jail

April 22, 2009: Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza (pictured) promulgated the new criminal code which abolishes the death penalty but makes homosexuality a crime punishable by jail.

The new criminal code also introduces laws against genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture which had previously been lacking.

More than 60 national and international rights groups have slammed the measure making homosexuality a crime punishable by jail.

According to the law, "whoever has sexual relations with a person of the same sex is punished by a prison sentence of three months to two years and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 (CFA) francs, or one of these penalties," a joint statement said.

The lower house of Burundi's parliament in March reversed a Senate vote that rejected an amendment to the new criminal code that would make homosexuality punishable by a jail sentence of up to two years.

On March 6 thousands of Burundians took part in a government-organised demonstration to protest the senate's decision not to criminalise homosexuality.

A local human rights organization stated at the end of 2008 that there were approximately 800 people on death row.

Sources: Afp, 26/04/2009; AI, 24/04/2009

Digital Karnak

Check out this website and fly round Karnak http://dlib.etc.ucla.edu/projects/Karnak/experience/AnimationsOfTheTempleModel/6

MILK CHOCOLATE (GF)

All I did was add an extra square of baking chocolate. Easy! If making chocolate frosting use only 1 square of chocolate. If making the milk chocolate use 2 squares of chocolate. It makes for a more substantial chocolate confection.

Milk Chocolate:
3/4 cup Splenda Granular
1/4 cup whole or skim milk powder (Hispanic section of Super Walmart or Publix)
3 tbsp whipping cream (or evaporated milk)
2 tbsp powdered erythritol
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp water
1 tsp olive oil
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 oz (2 squares) unsweetened baking chocolate

In blender, combine Splenda Granular, milk powder, whipping cream, erythritol, butter, water, olive oil and vanilla extract; blend. In cereal bowl, place 2 squares baking chocolate. Pour boiling water over chocolate and pour off when molten (test with a sharp, pointy knife). Add to blender; blend until combined. Spread in two mini loaf pans, or whatever metal or glass pan you have on hand and freeze. Cuts easily right out of the freezer with a blunt knife into pieces for a nice chocolate fix and pick-me-upper.

If you like, add almonds or hazelnuts to the molten chocolate, before freezing.

The BAFTA Awards On TV Tonight

It's the 2009 BAFTA Awards tonight and two of David's recent projects have received nominations.
Doctor Who has been nominated in the Drama Series category. Also nominated in that cateogory are Shameless, Spooks and Wallander.
And Einstein And Eddington is in the Single Drama category alongside Hancock And Joan, White Girl and The Shooting Of Thomas Hurndall.
The awards will be shown on BBC One tonight from 20:00pm.
You can view the full list of nominations here.

Tour operator helps donkeys go AWOL in Egypt

Tour operator helps donkeys go AWOL in Egypt

This article alerted me to a charity I knew about but had not realised how much it had moved on. As they state there is little on the West Bank both for animals and for children and being as that is where I live I am delighted to give them a bit of publicity.

The actual charity link is here http://www.awol-egypt.org./

The Banality of Bush White House Evil

WE don’t like our evil to be banal. Ten years after Columbine, it only now may be sinking in that the psychopathic killers were not jock-hating dorks from a “Trench Coat Mafia,” or, as ABC News maintained at the time, “part of a dark, underground national phenomenon known as the Gothic movement.” In the new best seller “Columbine,” the journalist Dave Cullen reaffirms that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were instead ordinary American teenagers who worked at the local pizza joint, loved their parents and were popular among their classmates.

On Tuesday, it will be five years since Americans first confronted the photographs from Abu Ghraib on “60 Minutes II.” Here, too, we want to cling to myths that quarantine the evil. If our country committed torture, surely it did so to prevent Armageddon, in a patriotic ticking-time-bomb scenario out of “24.” If anyone deserves blame, it was only those identified by President Bush as “a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values”: promiscuous, sinister-looking lowlifes like Lynddie England, Charles Graner and the other grunts who were held accountable while the top command got a pass.

We’ve learned much, much more about America and torture in the past five years. But as Mark Danner recently wrote in The New York Review of Books, for all the revelations, one essential fact remains unchanged: “By no later than the summer of 2004, the American people had before them the basic narrative of how the elected and appointed officials of their government decided to torture prisoners and how they went about it.” When the Obama administration said it declassified four new torture memos 10 days ago in part because their contents were already largely public, it was right.

Yet we still shrink from the hardest truths and the bigger picture: that torture was a premeditated policy approved at our government’s highest levels; that it was carried out in scenarios that had no resemblance to “24”; that psychologists and physicians were enlisted as collaborators in inflicting pain; and that, in the assessment of reliable sources like the F.B.I. director Robert Mueller, it did not help disrupt any terrorist attacks.

The newly released Justice Department memos, like those before them, were not written by barely schooled misfits like England and Graner. John Yoo, Steven Bradbury and Jay Bybee graduated from the likes of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Michigan and Brigham Young. They have passed through white-shoe law firms like Covington & Burling, and Sidley Austin.

Judge Bybee’s résumé tells us that he has four children and is both a Cubmaster for the Boy Scouts and a youth baseball and basketball coach. He currently occupies a tenured seat on the United States Court of Appeals. As an assistant attorney general, he was the author of the Aug. 1, 2002, memo endorsing in lengthy, prurient detail interrogation “techniques” like “facial slap (insult slap)” and “insects placed in a confinement box.”

He proposed using 10 such techniques “in some sort of escalating fashion, culminating with the waterboard, though not necessarily ending with this technique.” Waterboarding, the near-drowning favored by Pol Pot and the Spanish Inquisition, was prosecuted by the United States in war-crimes trials after World War II. But Bybee concluded that it “does not, in our view, inflict ‘severe pain or suffering.’ ”

Still, it’s not Bybee’s perverted lawyering and pornographic amorality that make his memo worthy of special attention. It merits a closer look because it actually does add something new — and, even after all we’ve heard, something shocking — to the five-year-old torture narrative. When placed in full context, it’s the kind of smoking gun that might free us from the myths and denial that prevent us from reckoning with this ugly chapter in our history.

Bybee’s memo was aimed at one particular detainee, Abu Zubaydah, who had been captured some four months earlier, in late March 2002. Zubaydah is portrayed in the memo (as he was publicly by Bush after his capture) as one of the top men in Al Qaeda. But by August this had been proven false. As Ron Suskind reported in his book “The One Percent Doctrine,” Zubaydah was identified soon after his capture as a logistics guy, who, in the words of the F.B.I.’s top-ranking Qaeda analyst at the time, Dan Coleman, served as the terrorist group’s flight booker and “greeter,” like “Joe Louis in the lobby of Caesar’s Palace.” Zubaydah “knew very little about real operations, or strategy.” He showed clinical symptoms of schizophrenia.

By the time Bybee wrote his memo, Zubaydah had been questioned by the F.B.I. and C.I.A. for months and had given what limited information he had. His most valuable contribution was to finger Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as the 9/11 mastermind. But, as Jane Mayer wrote in her book “The Dark Side,” even that contribution may have been old news: according to the 9/11 commission, the C.I.A. had already learned about Mohammed during the summer of 2001. In any event, as one of Zubaydah’s own F.B.I. questioners, Ali Soufan, wrote in a Times Op-Ed article last Thursday, traditional interrogation methods had worked. Yet Bybee’s memo purported that an “increased pressure phase” was required to force Zubaydah to talk.

As soon as Bybee gave the green light, torture followed: Zubaydah was waterboarded at least 83 times in August 2002, according to another of the newly released memos. Unsurprisingly, it appears that no significant intelligence was gained by torturing this mentally ill Qaeda functionary. So why the overkill? Bybee’s memo invoked a ticking time bomb: “There is currently a level of ‘chatter’ equal to that which preceded the September 11 attacks.”

We don’t know if there was such unusual “chatter” then, but it’s unlikely Zubaydah could have added information if there were. Perhaps some new facts may yet emerge if Dick Cheney succeeds in his unexpected and welcome crusade to declassify documents that he says will exonerate administration interrogation policies. Meanwhile, we do have evidence for an alternative explanation of what motivated Bybee to write his memo that August, thanks to the comprehensive Senate Armed Services Committee report on detainees released last week.

The report found that Maj. Paul Burney, a United States Army psychiatrist assigned to interrogations in Guantánamo Bay that summer of 2002, told Army investigators of another White House imperative: “A large part of the time we were focused on trying to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq and we were not being successful.” As higher-ups got more “frustrated” at the inability to prove this connection, the major said, “there was more and more pressure to resort to measures” that might produce that intelligence.

In other words, the ticking time bomb was not another potential Qaeda attack on America but the Bush administration’s ticking timetable for selling a war in Iraq; it wanted to pressure Congress to pass a war resolution before the 2002 midterm elections. Bybee’s memo was written the week after the then-secret (and subsequently leaked) “Downing Street memo,” in which the head of British intelligence informed Tony Blair that the Bush White House was so determined to go to war in Iraq that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.” A month after Bybee’s memo, on Sept. 8, 2002, Cheney would make his infamous appearance on “Meet the Press,” hyping both Saddam’s W.M.D.s and the “number of contacts over the years” between Al Qaeda and Iraq. If only 9/11 could somehow be pinned on Iraq, the case for war would be a slamdunk.

But there were no links between 9/11 and Iraq, and the White House knew it. Torture may have been the last hope for coercing such bogus “intelligence” from detainees who would be tempted to say anything to stop the waterboarding.

Last week Bush-Cheney defenders, true to form, dismissed the Senate Armed Services Committee report as “partisan.” But as the committee chairman, Carl Levin, told me, the report received unanimous support from its members — John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman included.

Levin also emphasized the report’s accounts of military lawyers who dissented from White House doctrine — only to be disregarded. The Bush administration was “driven,” Levin said. By what? “They’d say it was to get more information. But they were desperate to find a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq.”

Five years after the Abu Ghraib revelations, we must acknowledge that our government methodically authorized torture and lied about it. But we also must contemplate the possibility that it did so not just out of a sincere, if criminally misguided, desire to “protect” us but also to promote an unnecessary and catastrophic war. Instead of saving us from “another 9/11,” torture was a tool in the campaign to falsify and exploit 9/11 so that fearful Americans would be bamboozled into a mission that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. The lying about Iraq remains the original sin from which flows much of the Bush White House’s illegality.

Levin suggests — and I agree — that as additional fact-finding plays out, it’s time for the Justice Department to enlist a panel of two or three apolitical outsiders, perhaps retired federal judges, “to review the mass of material” we already have. The fundamental truth is there, as it long has been. The panel can recommend a legal path that will insure accountability for this wholesale betrayal of American values.

President Obama can talk all he wants about not looking back, but this grotesque past is bigger than even he is. It won’t vanish into a memory hole any more than Andersonville, World War II internment camps or My Lai. The White House, Congress and politicians of both parties should get out of the way. We don’t need another commission. We don’t need any Capitol Hill witch hunts. What we must have are fair trials that at long last uphold and reclaim our nation’s commitment to the rule of law.

by Frank Rich, The New York Times, April 26, 2009

Campaigning in the Mt Albert by-election

Many are calling the Mt Albert by-election a win for National. Since the Mt Albert electorate was formed in 1946, the party of Government has never taken a seat from an opposition party in a by-election.

So this by-election could make history if Mt Albert turns blue. From figures in the last general election, all it takes is some Clark-loving National voters to vote for the National candidate, and for Green to vote for Russel Norman, and a few hundred extra to vote for the National candidate, provided the rest vote for someone other than Labour.

If Norman wins, the Greens will get an extra seat in Parliament. Labour would like to get an extra seat, too so it has to select a person other than a current List MP to stop Judith Tizard getting in. Its failed list selection process meant that should their favoured candidate win, Tizard will be back in Parliament. Labour wants to avoid that. Tizard should have been way down the list. Favoured candidate Phil Twyford - a list MP - has a right to be pissed off.

Given the number of people in the race, it remains to be seen how many votes fringe candidate and Salient editor Jackson Wood will get. He has issued a media release on the candidacy of Russel Norman - and even spells Norman's name incorrectly. He has even set up a Facebook campaign page as part of the joke. One of the members is a Michel Olivier. He is the Salient News editor.

It would be fitting if Michael J Oliver - or Jean-Michel Olivier - was Wood's campaign manager. Perhaps if he was in one of Wood's politics classes he may have been. Nevertheless, I'd encourage everyone to vote for Jackson James Wood, because as far as I know, he is the only candidate to live in a suburb starting with "Mt".

Update He has also got a good sense of humour.

Low-carbing on a Budget

These days low-carbing is an expensive proposition for folks, unless one has some practical workarounds. Being lazy and a bit clueless myself, I went to lowcarbfriends' forum and searched for some threads on the topic of low-carbing on a budget. It's amazing the ideas one can get from these clever people! If you're interested, perhaps read through the threads and jot down in a note book the ideas that make sense to you personally, and then try implementing them. Hopefully, your food budget will decrease and low-carbing will still be an option. When times are bad, people often resort to buying carbs, because they are cheap; long, white French loaves, rice, pasta, potatoes (oh, not this one so much lately. Anyone noticed potatoes going up in price? They sure have over here.), etc.

Here is one from lowcarbfriends and another thread and $20 a week food budget and here is the biggest thread ever!

"Charles & Company"

Here's one for the record books! The Rolling Stones, featured in Sebastian's largest painting to date. This Fine Art Painting is pure Krüger, and a tribute, by the artist, to the band themselves and their fans. The lines in their faces tell the story of 45 years of Rock 'n' Roll by the greatest rock band the world has ever known. Proudly displaying their life lines like a badge of honor, a triumph to their supreme accomplishments. Revealing an intimate narrative of the legendary rock group, without superfluous makeup, botox or photo manipulation. A summary of impressions and idiosyncrasies meticulously collected and mapped by the artist over his many years of personal contact with the band.