Porridge Evangalism

18 months ago, after suffering from that classic folk music disease, gout. ( you thought I was going to say morris dancing didn't you?) I decended on the local quack to get a diagnosis for what I already knew. That being that my big toe was very painful and I could not stand, sit, lie down or hang from my good leg from the ceiling like a bat. 

"I could perform a quick check on it now if you like", says quack. "I simply insert a needle into your toe joint and draw off some fluid. It will tell me quite quickly if its gout. How do feel about that?" he continued.

"How do you feel about being threaded through that small window by your ankles" I replied.

"Mmm. Good point. We will do a blood test. While we are at it we might as well test for a wide range of things just to be safe."

"As long as it tells  you enough to give me the right medication I don't care"...pain will make you retort thus.

So on the return of said results, I was summoned like a boy to the head teacher for a lecture. Not about the gout, which was inconclusive, but on the rather high cholesterol level.

It can come a bit of a shock, when you think that you eat healthily and have a wide diet.

"Just get some exercise", said quack.

"Porridge" said my father in law. "Thats what you need. If you can take porridge 4 times a week for breakfast, it will line your insides and any saturates will pass right on by."

As an alternative to the dreaded pills, it was worth a try. So combining that with some exercise 3 times a week resulted in a dramatic reduction in the old level from 7.5 to 4.5. It  took 12 months but well worth it. And with that regime now 3 times a week, there has been no gout, and those little fatty deposits running around inside just float on by and out the other side.

So here's to that simple, often forgotten food which does so much that you just don't know about.