Happy Fasnacht Day!

[ellyssian]

Since the conversation on TH turned to that annual Pennsylvania Dutch celebration of the doughnut, and because I've been meaning to make some mention of this, I hereby present to you the list of foods that - for a cholesterol lowering diet - I need to avoid:

Marbled beef, pork, bacon, sausage, other pork products, duck, goose, skin and fat of turkey and chicken, processed meats, luncheon meats, hot dogs, fast-food hamburgers, kidneys, liver, coconuts, avacados, potatoes, corn, lima beans, dried peas, beans, nuts, baked goods with shortening and/or sugar, commercial mixes with dried eggs and whole milk, sweet rolls, doughnuts, breakfast pastries, Danishes, sweetened packaged cereals, whole milk, whole milk packaged goods, cream, ice cream, whole-milk puddings, yogurt, cheeses, nondairy cream substitutes, butter, lard, animal fats, bacon drippings, gravies, cream sauces, palm oil, coconut oil, fried snack foods like potato chips, chocolate, candies in general, jams, jellies, syrups, milk sherbets, hydrogenated peanut butter, sugared fruit juices and soft drinks, alcohol.

To top off that list of exclusions, anything that's on the "Permitted" list must be eaten in moderation.

If I followed this diet I'd drop from 238 down to 2.38 pounds in no time!

For the record, tonight's meal consisted of tilapia (on the OK list), baked (OK), with soft margarine (OK), and garlic (curiously absent from either list), although it wasn't baked on a rack (which the OK list specifies.) The fish was accompanied by rice (OK) - a pretty pathetic flavor mix (OK for cholesterol, terrible for blood pressure, and the small amount of olive oil we used in place of butter is OK) that no one really liked. Red, yellow, and green peppers provided the veggibibble (all OK.)

Comments

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Dried peas? Jelly? WTF?

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Dried peas because of starchy content, jelly because of sugars, IIRC.

[thewrongcrowd.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, doughnuts. /Homer

The total absence of either BP or cholesterol issues is one blessed genetic gift from mom's side of the family. At least to the women. My brother is supposed to be abiding by a similar list to yours.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

My mom, her mom and dad, my dad, his mom and dad, and my brother - all are/were treated for both, at one time or another, to the best of my knowledge.

Thankfully (and heretically in some circles,) I really don't like doughnuts all that much anywho. About 10-11 years ago I was working out a lot: gym, 4 mile walk/jog/sprint, two martial arts workouts, frequent 10-60 miles-a-day biking, and my daily workout routine (which includes yoga, Pilates, along with other bits and pieces) that I'm restarting as baby steps now. During that time, my Jeet Kune Do instructor described in some gory detail how long it takes to digest a dougnut. Whether he was right or wrong is not relevant - it had a profound impact on me regardless of the truth in it. I'll eat them once in a while, but I can just as easily bypass them.

[benponder.livejournal.com]

margarine's approved?!?

margarine (or any partially hydrogenated oil) is REALLY bad for you. speaking of cholesterol/blood pressure stuff, the eskimos have a diet that consists almost entirely of animal fats. Why do they have a very small fraction of the rates of heart disease as we do? The reason is that the body needs fats to survive, fat is metabolised, some is stored, some is used, so on so forth, all locking into place like puzzle pieces into receptors on cells, so on so forth. The hydrogenation process strips the fats of all nutritional value (that happens to biological things when you heat them up around 1000°F) and makes it so they don't fit in the receptors anymore. They just kind of float around in the blood stream, thicken the blood, make the heart have to pump harder, and eventually accumulate along the sides of arteries.

they started hydrogenating oils when the majority of people started living in cities. The shelf life of natural fats is rather low, butter spoils, vegetable oils go bad... hydrogenation gives oils a nearly unlimited shelf life. That's because no microorganisms will eat it. Cockroaches won't even eat margarine, though they will eat axle grease. This is what we call a "hint"

When I can afford to, I do all my cooking with fresh, cold pressed oils. I use olive oil for everything. Also, keep track of your fatty acid intake. Since I added a lot of flax seed and fish oil to my diet, I've been wanting to eat a lot less. You eat stuff without the nutrients your body actually needs, your body will still cry out for nourishment, thus you will still feel hungry. I'm not saying to throw the entire diet your doctor gave you in the garbage, but... stay away from the margarine. Margarine like we have in this country is actually illegal in the netherlands because of the health risks attached to it. Only reason that's not the case is because the food technology companies contribute too much to the government for their products to be outlawed.

Other than that, looks like a good healthy meal.

(One of my ex girlfriends was a nutritionist. I learned a LOT from her.)

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my mom (patrixa, who commented below you and agrees with you,) was a nutrition major, so I've heard all about it all my life! =)

Actually, now that you mention it, IIRC, the list did mention that hydrogenated oils were bad. Not sure how margarine became acceptable under those circumstances... I'll have to read it closer.

I'm also wondering if the stuff we're using is hydrogenated and is actually margarine, or if it's some other form of vegetable oil spread?

That's the stuff I have to pay a bit more attention to, where before I went strictly by taste.

[patrixa.livejournal.com]

Guess what, your mom, a nutrition major with honors, agrees pretty much with benponder. I've high cholesterol and taken medication for it over 20 years. I eat, as you know, a pretty normal diet. I use mostly lean meats, have lots of fish and poultry, use butter when I want, but not in large quantities. When I want bacon or sausage, I have it -- just not often. Moderation is how I treat all foods.

That so many non-fat foods are on your list of exclusion, e.g., potatoes*, corn, beans, candies, jams, jellies makes no sense to me, unless you are also supposed to be on low calories. 1% milk is good, non-dairy creamers can be good IF no coconut oil/lecithin is used, real chocolate without butter or milk should also be ok. What I have learned over time is to not overdo any particular food. Oh, and unless you buy the expensive beef, most market selections are lean, that's why they are cheaper (less fat = tougher, not as tasty, ergo not as desirable; tender steaks and rib roasts have lots of marbeling so cost more).

* I cannot imagine why potatoes are included as they are quite nutritious. BTW, baked potato sprinkled with fresh lemon and black pepper is pretty good; also mashed with 1% milk, some herbs and a wee bit of onion or garlic powder is not bad either. Heated salsa or seasoned crushed tomatoes makes a decent gravy for potatoes or rice.

Rather than a pkgd mix of rice, use plain rice cooked in lo-fat broth with a little oil plus herbs that you can vary. There won't be all the sodium but the taste will be okay. Slow cooking on stove top is better than microwaving or instant varieties.

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was pretty surprised that potatoes - and corn - were on the kill list. Starch content, I think. The baked potato skins are permissable, even encouraged, because of a high fiber content.

Some things make the list because of sugars - but yeah, beans (which you know I mostly avoid like the plague) are usually considered something I *should* be eating, and they're excluded.

We're finally starting to get some low fat milk back in the house - when Brandon switched from formula, we switched to whole milk because that's what he needs. About a week or so ago, Deb decided it was time to stock whole and a low fat (not sure if it's 1% or 2%, probably the latter.)

[rowancat.livejournal.com]

That list sucks and sounds twenty years out of date.
Some or most of those can be eaten in *moderation*
without you falling over from clogged arteries and the like.

Even dark chocolate has health benefits with its
antioxidants.

Butter can be mixed with olive oil for dishes that need its flavour.

The obviously unhealthy foods on that list can easily be picked out and eliminated from your diet

Best diet is common sense and quality of life is more important than eating like some crazy nutrition lab experiment
that robs an everyday activity of any pleasure.

Listen to your body for specific "healthy" food cravings.

Even pizza can be nutritious with the *right* toppings that are available today...
And esp without those money making cheese "stuffed
crusts" abominations that take up to one third of the pizzas surface area and leave a lot of surface without any toppings. Those are a total ripoff, you can figure out the geometry with your own eyes.

Heh, got off track on that one. It's just that the big food companies really think people are idiots.

I hate the fact that the local supermarket has a whole *two door frozen area* devoted to those Hot Pocket garbage type foods when any decent sub shop can make an actually nutritious sub at a fraction of the cost.
After all, a good sub esp with choice of breads is just an oversized sandwich and depends on what you put into it and will not wreck a healthy diet using common sense, just to give one example... i eat half a large sub when i buy them and save the other half for a next day snack.
But the half sub is only part of a whole meal. I'll figure out how to add some exotic spicy healthy veg dish to supplement it or do an entire Asian veggie meal the next day to make up for it if i don't or fish and veg etc.

Be creative :)

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's even been updated since the copy I received two years ago when all these medical issues started being diagnosed and treated.

I definitely tend to get creative when coming up with stuff - not too many others would use sassafras leaves instead of lettuce! =)

What I do need to do is balance things out a bit more - the bulk of what I've come up with in the past involves cheese in one way or another. That's not going to go away, but it has to be limited a bit more.

You have my voice added to the chorus of disapprouval here

[salegamine.livejournal.com]

That list looks like the one my maternal grandfather was handed after his heart attack, back in 1969. And even then the nurse who gave it to him told him not to follow it too religiously, because he'd most likely starve.

Oh, and in moderation, wine is actually good for you. My cardilogist has me have one glass of red wine a day to help keep the bad cholesterol away and to help with iron levels.

I say, chuck that list and rely on common sense. You are much more likely to have a balanced diet that way.

{{{Ellysian}}}

Re: You have my voice added to the chorus of disapprouval here

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

For the past two years, I was allowed one drink of alcohol per day (I took advantage of it less than a dozen times over that period,) but with the liver coming up with iffy results I've dropped that from my list myself - the doctor didn't mention it, and the low cholesterol diet indicates two drinks per day are okay, but they have to substitute for grain.

[blackbyrd2.livejournal.com]

I've been looking for a lowering your cholesterol list, but I have to say, yours makes no sense.
pork, bacon, sausage, other pork products
Huh? Pork, and other pork products?
Potatos and corn??
Beans?
Lots of that list makes sense, but lots doesn't. patrixa can correct me here if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that cholesterol was only available from animal products. That's not to say that there's no fat in nuts, for instance, but it's not cholesterol. Reducing fat has it's own benefits, but it doesn't look like this list is entirely honest.

Also, the hydrogenated oils mentioned above? Also known as trans fats, and yes, incredibly bad for you. Popular ingredient though. One estimate placed the number of products including trans fats on a supermarket's shelves at around 44,000. I have no idea how accurate that might be, but I know that when you check the label, if the various percentages of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fats do not add up to the total fats, the difference is made up of trans fats, and that if you see the word hydrogenated on the ingredient list, it's a dead give away. (I ranted about this a while back, because it appeared my non-dairy creamer (flavored) was chock full of them.)

Man, I would kill to have a degreed nutritionist in my family. (That would continue to speak to me after I got done hounding them for ideas.)

Otherwise, I'm with the rest of the gang. Moderation, common sense, cut the fats, eat healthy, lots of dark green leafy things, blah blah blah.
My understanding is fish oil (high in niacin) is good for lowering cholesterol, although my Dr had me doing megadoses, (of niacin,) and it didn't sit well with my body. I should probably see someone about some lipitor or something. :(

[ellyssian.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping to grow a lot of my own foods - five years or so from now I should start seeing an increase in what I have available to me. At the moment, it's fairly limited to things that existed when it was just forest - a good amount of smallish blueberry bushes and an abudance of sassafras trees and/or seedlings.

I'm more into the agroforestry/permaculture thing than traditional rape-the-land agriculture, so I don't get insta-yields (just add water!) but I also don't have to do all the other annual labor associated with, well, annual crops.