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  • #46
    I don't have the patience to read all the responses, so sorry if I echo others. One thing I do know is that too much saturated fat is a problem for the bad cholesterol. I think the recommended amount per day is no more than 20 grams. Dairy, eggs and meat are fine; just watch your portions. Eggs contain cholesterol, but it doesn't get added to your cholesterol automatically. 1 egg has 1.5 grams sat fat--that's it. 2% milk has 2.5 g per cup. I don't remember what fats raise the good cholesterol, but I know monounsaturated fat is good for you, which is in nuts, olive oil, seeds, etc. Fish is good, as is flax oil. I think you can be a foodie still. Besides, some people do the "wrong" thing and never succumb to a bad illness, and some are vegan and still get cancer. Your liver is proof. Yet, I still try to eat as healthfully as I can while enjoying food trends. I just feel better when I eat healthy foods, and they taste good. I guess my whole point is moderation. Edited to add: 1 slice of bacon only has 1.2 grams sat fat.
    Last edited by Food Lady; 03-12-2012, 06:45 AM.
    "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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    • #47
      I was talking about the thicker alfredos or the cheese sauce in, say, homemade mac and cheese (although my dad makes a killer cheese sauce to top eggs with.) As for pasta, Jester, wheat pasta is healther, or using, say, vermicelli (since it's thinner, less carbs if you go by handfuls instead of weight.) Pasta isn't verboten, either. I still have spaghetti and meatballs, with wheat pasta as often as I can get it, although I eat regular if I have to. As for sandwiches, the salad was a suggestion, you can really have whatever toppings on your sandwich you like. Rye bread is actually very healthy and a good low carb bread, especially the marbled kind of rye. Chocolate is not verboten, the dark kind has fewer carbs (the darker the chocolate, the less carbs,) and is actually good for your heart (unless you pig out on milk chocolate.) If we think about it, it makes sense. The human diet, even for the wealthy, didn't consist of large amounts of carbs for most of human history. It was largely meat and vegetables; pasta wasn't even discovered by Europeans until the 1300s. Bread was available, but had much more fiber since bleached white flour or highly processed flour was not available. Chips weren't invented until around 1900; crackers existed but weren't available in the snacking forms they are today until the 1960s or so; and the average American probably limited their carb intake without even realizing they did it. Now, carbs are everywhere. Fast food has fried batter, fries, and buns with all their meals, even fast food SALAD has carbs (don't ask me how.) The cheaper food that the majority of Americans buy, especially the quick options, are full of carbs. Americans like to snack on chips, crackers, bread, even fruit has some carbs, although they're healthier carbs. If you really want to try the diet, Jester, let me know. I can at least tell you what's worst and what you can try. If you must snack on crunchy goodness, try popcorn. Have it however you like; it's naturally high in fiber and you can have 2-3 cups for the same carb count as 10-15 chips.

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      • #48
        Oh! One more tip, this is a "DOH!" moment. Cook only in olive oil. Yes, it's more expensive, but it is by FAR the healthiest cooking oil available and can help bad cholesterol. Avoid canola or even vegetable oil like the plague.

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        • #49
          I use olive oil and Snart Balance for cooking almost exclusively. If I am deep-frying (rare) or making a cake that calls for oil, I do use vegetable oil. Otherwise, everything starts with a drizzle of EVOO, a la Rachael Ray. And since it's a drizzle, a bottle lasts me months. You can find good deals on it.
          "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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          • #50
            Silly Jester, I don't put cheddar in alfredo sauce, alfredo is a white sauce. Hmm, though a nice sharp white cheddar might work out ok. The cheddar is for mac and cheese.

            Yea, I've seen the recipes that call for flour...it's just so very, very wrong. Unless you cook the flour before you add it, your sauce is going to taste of raw flour since (well, at least the way I cook them) alfredo and cheese sauces never actually get even to a simmer. Only need enough heat to melt the cheese so it blends smoothly into the cream.

            The way I remind myself to take daily meds is to have the bottle of pills sitting someplace other than the bathroom that I visit frequently. In my case, it's right next to the coffee pot in the kitchen. Most of the time, simply seeing them there is enough to trigger the 'Oh, yea, gotta take my pills', which NEVER happened when I kept them in the bathroom.

            And Barracuda- to make any alfredo or other cheese sauce thicker, I simply add a bit more cheese. No flour, ever, in a cheese type sauce. My boyfriend loves my mac and cheese.

            Food Lady- try using olive oil once or twice in a cake and see how you like it. The only thing I DON'T use olive oil for this point is deep frying, which I never do anyhow. It actually works out really good in cakes and cookies and breads. Half butter and half olive oil makes a tasty, soft, moist cookie.
            You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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            • #51
              Quoth Kittish View Post
              Momentary derailment of topic- who in their right minds puts FLOUR into alfredo or cheese sauces? Cream, yes. Parmesan, romano, fontina, provolone, cheddar, and other cheeses, HELL yes. Garlic, sure. Touch of white wine, okay. Salt, not so much, the cheese usually has plenty. FLOUR?? Um... if you need flour to thicken your alfredo or cheese sauce you're doing it wrong.

              We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic.
              a basic roux is equal parts flour and butter(or oil/grease)

              you don't add flour to thicken your sauce, its a baseline - from this mix you can make country gravy or an alfredo, or many many others....
              I am well versed in the "gentle" art of verbal self-defense

              Once is an accident; Twice is coincidence; Thrice is a pattern.

              http://www.gofundme.com/treasurenathanwedding

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              • #52
                Quoth Barracuda View Post
                Oh! One more tip, this is a "DOH!" moment. Cook only in olive oil. Yes, it's more expensive, but it is by FAR the healthiest cooking oil available and can help bad cholesterol. Avoid canola or even vegetable oil like the plague.
                Could I have some more advice regards cooking oil?

                We (housemate and I are doing this together) get through a litre bottle of oil about every...couple of months? We only use a splash on meat that's going in the George, mostly because I douse it in garlic granules, and we use a splash on jacket potatoes to make a crispy yummy coating. We grill most things, and when I fry fish, pancakes, French toast or omelettes (the latter three very rarely, omelette now because it tends to give me a gippy tummy) I use Lurpak spread (half marge half butter) for flavour and browning.

                Our current supply is a just-opened 1ltr bottle of sunflower oil. Is this any good? Changing to another oil (after we've used up this bottle maybe) seems to be an easy change considering we use rather little, and our local Sainsbury's does a nice selection of oils - though its own range olive oil is a 'mixture of refined and virgin' and I know refined is all solventy...would that be any good, or should we go for the small 500ml ish expensive glass bottles?
                "...Muhuh? *blink-blink* >_O *roll over* ZZZzzz......"

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                • #53
                  Quoth Treasure View Post
                  you don't add flour to thicken your sauce, its a baseline - ....
                  And I have to be honest - in forty plus years of all kinds of cooking, I've never started any cheese sauce from anything besides a basic béchamel. But I'll give it a shot next go 'round.

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                  • #54
                    Quoth Treasure View Post
                    a basic roux is equal parts flour and butter(or oil/grease)

                    you don't add flour to thicken your sauce, its a baseline - from this mix you can make country gravy or an alfredo, or many many others....
                    *nods* A roux does make a good base for a lot of sauces and gravies. Heck, you can't make a good red-eye or country gravy without a roux. For that matter, a certain amount of flour is pretty much a necessity in stroganoff. But I still stick by my no flour in cheese type sauces stance. And that does include alfredo.
                    You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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                    • #55
                      I have two questions. First, how am I handling it that has you in such a proud, pat-me-on-the-back state? Some would say I'm in a state of denial, but frankly, I am just dealing with it the way I would deal with most things....I fit it into my life the way I fit most info in....as it suits me.

                      Secondly, how old are you, precisely? (And if it ends up being not inappropriate because of whatever age you are, are you single? )
                      22, and single but attached, sadly.

                      You ACCEPT your health and you're aware of the consequences. You're making your decisions and accepting that your choices may harm you. It's the acceptance of responsibility.

                      I guess it's just refreshing to see someone do something and go "well, it may hurt me but that's my decision, and if I die, I die happy and full!" IE Gabriel Iglesias's attitude.
                      My Guide to Oblivion

                      "I resent the implication that I've gone mad, Sprocket."

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                      • #56
                        As far as oils go, butter is actually healthier to cook in than margarine. You shouldn't need oil to cook in the George Foreman if the meat is at all fatty--let it cook in its own juices. If you really need oil, lightly brush the grill with it just before adding the meat. Saffola (sunflower) oil is better than vegetable or canola oil, but if you can't afford olive, flaxseed oil is probably the healthier option. For lighter tasting food, if you don't like the flavor olive oil adds to food but like the health benefits, grapeseed oil is almost as good for you as olive oil and has almost no flavor of its own. Regular refined or virgin olive oil will work fine for cooking, although you can use the more flavorful and expensive varieties of extra virgin for cooking as well, if you can afford it. Obviously, the extra virgin has more of the correct fats and is therefore healthier, but not so much you should ignore the cost difference--either one will be vastly better than the alternatives.

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                        • #57
                          Quoth Jester View Post
                          I know this is oversimplifying things, and I know I have exactly zero medical training, but I can't get away from the idea that, if my cholesterol levels are so bad, why is my blood pressure so damn perfect?
                          Basically, it simply hasn't caught up with you yet. You probably have some plaque buiding up in your cardiovascular system, but it hasn't increased the resistance of the vessels enough to cause your blood pressure to go up.

                          We use Starling's Law to explain how blood pressure works. Basically, the narrower the pipe, the more force is required to get the blood to flow through it. Thicker fluids (like blood) also require more force than thinner (like water). As plaque develops the pipe narrows, the force required increases and we see that reflected in hypertension.

                          You can use straws of various circumference and length as a simple experiment to demonstrate the concept

                          One day you will wake up and have high blood pressure. It's an insidious disease, and often asymptomatic. I went from 110/70 to 130/90 in six months. It just caught up with me. So now I have to watch my salt intake (salt raises the blood pressure by keeping more fluid in the circulatory system); so while ham is better than bacon in terms of cholesterol, it is as bad as bacon in terms of sodium.

                          Quoth Jester View Post
                          One thing that I have noticed is that my doctor focused on the completely out of whack ratio, but several of the articles I've read, including ones linked to by some of you (thank you for that) come right out and say that the ratio is not as important as the total cholesterol level. My total cholesterol level was high, but not as out of whack as my ratio (only 210, whereas it's considered good if it's 200 or below).
                          YMMV. I've also always worked on the understanding the total level is the more important of the two. Maybe Dr. Mike has some research that I'm not up on that show the ratio is actually more important.

                          I do have a question for you, Jester. About a year ago you started working out hoping to do a marathon; did you ever get to do it? Did it go better than the last one you did?

                          You've already made a great start on your health by increasing your physical activity. That will help keep you healthy. Some minor changes will probably be enough to fix your cholesterol level. I'm not so sure you need to make the extreme changes your doctor recommended; I'd get a second opinion on that--even though I'm positive that Dr. Mike is as good as you believe him to be. But it never hurts to get a second opinion.

                          And extreme changes are hard to stick with. Moderate changes over time are more likely to be successful and have a positive impact on your cholesterol levels.

                          Quoth Seraph View Post
                          If you do try fish oil pills, take it from me, get the "burpless" ones. They're horrifically surprising about randomly resurfacing at the worst possible times, if you don't.
                          Ugh. I just started taking fish oil in the hopes it might a) help my cardiovascular system/blood pressure and b) reduce my Alzheimer's risk since both Mom and Grandpa had it.

                          I've been having reflux all day. I wonder if it is the fish oil.
                          They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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                          • #58
                            Quoth Jester View Post
                            Now, I don't eat pasta every day, but I DO like a good Italian dinner from time to time, i.e., pasta. Or pizza.
                            FWIW, I've discovered I like spaghetti squash more than spaghetti if I'm doing a simple meat sauce. It has a really nice flavor, just a little sweet, and the texture is fantastic. It's a lot like eating a grape, if the grape were very, very thin.

                            Quoth wolfie View Post
                            As for the "Jewish but not Jewish" thing, my father is of Jewish descent, but is non-practicing
                            As I like to put it I'm Jew <shrug> ish.
                            The High Priest is an Illusion!

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                            • #59
                              Actually, it's possible to MAKE spaghetti of sorts out of squash or zucchini or...well, your favorite member of the gourd family. Simply use a vegetable mandolin (slicer with teeth, used to make shoestring potato sized sticks,) on your favorite gourd. Cook the resulting sticks of veg EXACTLY as you would pasta, until it's just al dente (not TOO long, or it gets mushy and falls to bits.) Serve as you would pasta. You can use any kind of squash or zucchini; you could even use pumpkin. Depends on what you like.

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                              • #60
                                Quoth Kittish View Post
                                The only thing I DON'T use olive oil for this point is deep frying, which I never do anyhow.
                                There is one thing you should never use extra virgin olive oil for, and that's pan searing fish, as the EVOO will burn at the temps used for it. Light olive oil is what you use for pan searing, and that is the only reason I have a bottle of light olive oil in my kitchen at all.

                                Quoth SongsOfDragons View Post
                                Could I have some more advice regards cooking oil?
                                I believe in saving money. I also, however, believe that sometimes it's worth spending a little more for better quality. And while extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is a bit more expensive than other oils, I think it is well worth the investment. I use it for 98% of my cooking, and I think y'all know that I do pretty well in the kitchen. It has a great natural flavor that won't overpower your food, just accentuates it, it is not overly greasy, and it is very versatile. With very few exceptions, it is the first thing I reach for in my kitchen when I am making...well, anything really. (Okay, the second thing, but nonstick spray doesn't really count, now does it?) Other than the aforementioned pan searing exception, EVOO is the only oil I really bother with. From what you said you guys use oil for, I would highly recommend you spending a few more bucks and getting EVOO in your pantry. And if you can justify it in your head, get a larger bottle. Yes, they are anything but cheap. But over the long haul, it is cheaper to do it that way, and it is well worth it, in my personal opinion.

                                As for brand name, I don't know that it matters, but I've been very happy with Colavita, Berio, and Goya, all of which are in my pantry. (Don't ask me why...not really sure myself.)

                                Quoth Tama View Post
                                22, and single but attached, sadly.
                                Naturally!

                                Quoth Tama View Post
                                You ACCEPT your health and you're aware of the consequences. You're making your decisions and accepting that your choices may harm you. It's the acceptance of responsibility.

                                I guess it's just refreshing to see someone do something and go "well, it may hurt me but that's my decision, and if I die, I die happy and full!" IE Gabriel Iglesias's attitude.
                                I guess the reason I don't really see anything special about that is because it's been the way I've lived my life since, well, high school, really. Which means even before I was technically an adult. Which means, if you do the math, basically 25 years or so. Yes, I know not everyone lives their life like this, but because I have been doing it for so long, I don't really see the big deal about it. It's just the way I do things.

                                Quoth Panacea View Post
                                We use Starling's Law to explain how blood pressure works. Basically, the narrower the pipe, the more force is required to get the blood to flow through it.
                                Okay, I will admit that even I know that much.

                                Quoth Panacea View Post
                                One day you will wake up and have high blood pressure.
                                Untrue. One day I MAY wake up and have high blood pressure. I may not. No one, not my doctor, your doctor, myself, you, or anyone else, can say what WILL happen. Not with any certainty.

                                Current medical science and conventional wisdom say that you will probably end up being right. But both medical science and conventional wisdom change, and change constantly. As a minor example, for years margarine was touted as the healthier alternative to butter, but now things are starting to turn around the other way.

                                Quoth Panacea View Post
                                I've also always worked on the understanding the total level is the more important of the two.
                                Under that understanding, my cholesterol is only slightly high, not completely out of whack as my ratio is.

                                Quoth Panacea View Post
                                I do have a question for you, Jester. About a year ago you started working out hoping to do a marathon; did you ever get to do it? Did it go better than the last one you did?
                                Okay, let's get something straight here: I have NEVER done a marathon, I have never WANTED to do a marathon, and I have never had any PLANS for doing a marathon. Running 26.2 miles? Are you NUTS? HELL no!

                                But I can understand the confusion. What I DID do was a biathlon, or two parts of a triathlon. In this case, it was a sprint triathlon: swim 600 yards, bike 10 miles, and run a 5k (3.1 miles). I have no illusions about being the next Michael Phelps....the fact is, I swim just barely well enough to not drown. I never had any intention of doing the swimming part, despite all my friends pushing me to do it. (Had I done it, I would have come in dead last, and been too gassed to even think about biking or running.) I did the biathlon in embarrassingly bad time--there is a humiliating photo of me stumbling to the finish line with a ten year old boy almost catching me.

                                No, I never did another one, though I think I am going to make a point to do the one in September. They have one this year on Saturday, but as that is St. Patrick's Day, AND I have not been training much (i.e., at all), I am going to give this one a pass and focus on September.

                                Quoth ArcticChicken View Post
                                FWIW, I've discovered I like spaghetti squash more than spaghetti if I'm doing a simple meat sauce.
                                Quoth Barracuda View Post
                                Actually, it's possible to MAKE spaghetti of sorts out of squash or zucchini or...well, your favorite member of the gourd family.
                                I might try this one day with zucchini, which is so far really the only gourd I care for. Not a fan of pumpkin, not a fan of yellow squash, and haven't tried many other squashes, though of course I will try anything once.


                                As always, folks, thanks for the comments, thoughts, ideas, and suggestions!

                                "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                                Still A Customer."

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