Mince Pies – what’s in them?

I stuck a box of Tesco (Finest) (Mini) Mince Pies in the trolley this week and here is what is in them:

Mincemeat (40%), wheat flour, butter (15%), sugar, whey powder, salt, raising agents (sodium phosphate, sodium carbonate).The mincemeat contains: sultanas, sugar, apple, glucose syrup, currants, orange peel, sunflower oil, COURVOISIER VS Cognac (contains colour (plain caramel)), almonds, brandy, acidity regulators (acetic acid, citric acid), lemon peel, corn starch, mixed spice, walnuts, glucose-fructose syrup, malted barley extract, vegetable oil, modified maize starch, preservative (potassium sorbate), orange oil.

Per 100g of product there are 58.5g of carbohydrate and 16g of fat. There are also 400 calories per 100g – remember calories are just fuel – but this is not the most nutritious fuel.

What would The Harcombe Diet say about this product?

1) If it is a real favourite food of yours then have it as a ‘cheat’ (checking all the tips for cheating), but if you could take it or leave it – leave it!

2) It is full of sugar, dried fruit (which the body sees as much the same as sugar) and wheat, so it is going to feed Candida, Food Intolerance and Hypoglycaemia.

3) Like most processed food, it mixes fats and carbs. The fats are actually good fats – butter, sunflower oil, walnuts etc. The carbs are not so good. Here are all the sugars – in case you missed any – sugar listed separately, sugar listed again under mincemeat, glucose syrup, caramel and glucose-fructose syrup. It is common for food manufacturers nowadays to list out all the sugars separately – if they lumped them altogether, sugar would invariably be the top ingredient.

4) Much better cheats would be dark chocolate, winter berries and cream, a glass of red wine, Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream etc.