judging by the link below, it seems the only ones who seem to think that the med diet is alive and well, and good, health home cooking is the norm in Spain, are expats on forums.

According to some experts, the art of home cooking will be a thing of the past sooner than we think for the Spanish population.

A shortage of "abuelas" has been cited as the reason for this.

Which is confusing because abuels will always exist, it is just that they anre not "tan abuela" as they used to be

Another point, is that Andaluca has the most obese people in Spain followed by Galicia. Which I do find strange considering that it is often said that in the hot climate people eat more healthy, lighter food.

In Galicia, I know, nearly everything is fried, and not a great deal of veg is eaten, but what is the excuse in Andalucia, could it be that all the, always referred to (on this site) pie eating Brtis are adding to the numbers, and giving a distored view as to the fat map of Spain.

http://www.lne.es/gijon/2010/10/16/d...as/981071.html

I'm never sure what people mean by the term 'Processed foods' nor what is intrinsically wrong with them.

For some reason I love Spanish cookery programmes, they’re on every day. I watch the chefs prepare all the lovely healthy ingredients and always take careful note for the next time we go shopping.

But then the cameras swing round to show at least two frying pans on the go and a minute later all the fresh ingredients are shovelled into them. It somehow spoils it for me, couldn’t they grill some things or cook them in the oven?

We’ve got four frying pans in the kitchen, all different sizes, and they’re replaced on a regular basis. Luckily the frying pan shop has a chemist right next door to it. I think the stuff is called Almax, and it settles your stomach after all the fry-ups.

Processed foods have additives. It's the nature of the beast. Some are vital, some are tolerable, and some cause problems.

A lot of food allergies can be triggered by food intolerances to preservatives and additives.

In some cases processing can be a good thing. Peanut butter is safer when processed more as it destroys aflotoxins. I have a friend that has a potentially terminal allergy to a chemical found in tomatoes, but he can eat ketchup, which is presumably well processed.

I have seen some programmes in Spain and half a litre of oil has gone into a casserole I wonder if they use frying pans a lot for traditional dishes because years ago most working class people only had one gas ring.

I think it's the almost blanket condemnation of those foods termed 'processed' that I have an issue with.

All bread has been processed, milk has been processed - just about everything has unless it is freshly harvested and untreated in any way.

Maybe 'processed' is the wrong word for it although I can't off hand think of an alternative.

Perhaps altered, modified, concocted, converted, then of course there`s unhealthy , tastless etc

That's perfectly true. The trouble is that processing can be good or bad, so how the hell do you tell?

Adulterated maybe?

I still like bacon butty's

Reading what is written is such hard work on this forum, with all the squabbles and oneupmanship. Hence you (and I) are writing about something that has nothing to do with the thread title anyway

Jo x

Is that the adult version?

We eat mainly Spanish food at home - and probably 90% of what we eat is fried, most of which is shallow fried in a small amount of olive oil.

What British people dont realise is that if you fry in olive oil then it isnt unhealthy. Olive oil contains "good" fats and cholesterol. Of course, it is calorific, but that just depends on how much you eat.

There was a mention of British food on the Intermedio the other day. They were commenting on how Top Gear had insulted the Mexicans, and one of the insults was "All Mexican food looks like vomit with cheese on top". To which Gran Wyoming replied "Well, the British should know, their food is vomit without the cheese"

All this talk about food is upsetting for someone on a diet. We’re weighing things, counting up calories and eating so much fruit and vegetables we might turn into rabbits.

I rebelled this afternoon when she was supposed to be having a siesta and got the frying pan out. The trouble is, you can fry quietly but you can’t hide the smell. When this ghostly figure appeared at my side, I was turning beef burgers and sausages as quietly as I could, and then the shouting started.

I haven’t eaten anything tonight and I feel as guilty as hell. I feel like going out to get a Doner takeaway, with double chips and a deep fried Mars bar or two. (The guy pretends he’s Turkish but he speaks with a Glaswegian accent).

The only problem with losing weight is this. You have to accept that certain things are off limits, sometimes for ever.

Seriously. If you take it down to where you should be, ie your midpoint on the BMI, the amount that you can eat without putting on weight is miniscule.

No booze, no dairy, no refined carbs, deffo no wheat products, very little meat, just stalks, leaves and shoots, a few roots, a few fruits and seeds, and that's it.

A (small) baked potato is a luxury.

If you can't face that, then why bother? Just edit down what you eat, ie reduce the amounts a bit until you reach the level of intake you aren't prepared to go below.

Otherwise you will be miserable for ages, and then as soon as you start eating more normally, the weight will come back overnight.