Nutrition + some fun links :D
Sep. 10th, 2004 12:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
So I had a nice chat last night w/ my cousin about my food diary and what all of her recommendations were. Learned some pretty interesting things. Everyone's body behaves differently, but in general I think she imparted some pretty good knowledge that totally makes sense if you think about it. There are also things she ended up explaining to me because of her background in medicine that I wouldn't have just known otherwise. All in all, pretty helpful. I'm certainly not saying that my cousin is the be all, end all expert, but if anyone else is looking to eat healthier, some of this might be of interest to you.
So the cool thing about having a doctor in the family, as some of you will know from experience, is that they have the added bonus of knowing your family medical history. Our grandfather, for instance, had adult on-set diabetes, so that's a risk factor for us. Also, our moms are sisters, and my mom had high cholesterol at one point, too. But beyond the fact that I trust my cousin to know what she's talking about because of her profession, she and her husband also have been through this themselves, so there's that aspect of credibility as well.
Her husband had high cholesterol (an LDL level of 160; recommended is under 130). He made some adjustments to his diet/eating habits, and it dropped down to 105. That won't work for everyone, of course, but it at least gives me some hope, as he has a family history of high cholesterol as well. My own LDL level is 140, my HDL -- the good cholesterol -- is at 46 (preferably would be higher than 50, and 60 and over is considered very high, which is good). K. said that she could tell my doctor was v. aggressive, which is fine if you're someone who likes an aggressive doctor. At my age, she wouldn't even consider putting me on medication unless my LDL were at 190, and I'm nowhere close. Her bigger concern for me is how low my HDL is.
There are two types of cholesterol: blood and dietary. Blood is what's genetic, what you can't change without medication. It's the amount of LDL that your liver produces, and that's determined by genetics. What we can do something about is dietary cholesterol. That's why some people who have really bad eating habits can still have low overall cholesterol, because their liver produces very little LDL, so their dietary LDL can be higher than people whose livers produce a lot of LDL.
When D. changed his diet/eating habits, he lost a lot of weight. That contributed to his cholesterol lowering, too, because any fat in the body is part of what's considered 'cholesterol.' So pretty much I have to do the same thing; losing weight due to dietary changes will lower my cholesterol, as I can't change what my liver produces wrt LDL. Fat and cholesterol are interrelated.
During our discussion, K. was realistic. Everything she told me was best-case scenario. The stuff we should do. That doesn't mean she eats this way all the time, but being aware of these things will at least help. It's like with anything -- we all know what the best thing to do is, but whether we can adhere to it all the time is another story. So at least be conscious of it, even if there's only so much we can do.
Okay, so that's my opening statement. <g> Now I'll go on to specifics.
+++
Cholesterol Is Found Only in Animals
K. saw that I had been eating things like chips, and I explained that it was because while I didn't think it was good for me, I felt less guilty because it had 0 cholesterol.
She explained at this point that cholesterol is found only in animals, so anything fried in vegetable oil will have 0 cholesterol. That does not mean there's no fat -- in fact, it's fake fat, which is even worse. Partially hydrogenated oil, found in many processed foods in order to lengthen shelf life, is awful stuff and must be avoided.
She said that if I were to fry French fries in my fry daddy at home with canola oil1, it would be healthier than buying chips from the store. It's not good for me, of course, but is the lesser of two evils, just to make the comparison.
1 In general, canola oil and olive oil are considered the best cooking oils, as they are monounsaturaed fats. However, there is a faction of people out there who are saying that canola oil has its own evils. K. recommended using olive oil if you want a strong flavor, and canola oil if you don't want any flavor. Most people have both types of oil for that reason. The fact that K. recommended it at all makes me feel pretty fine about using it, but if you're concerned, just stick to olive.
+++
Sugar and Its Relationship to Fat
K. called me on how much juice I drink. I don't really like soda, so usually my beverages of choice are orange juice or water. I thought the OJ was actually a good part of my diet, but apparently -- no. That is not the case. While it does provide vitamin C (in that way "better" than soda), very few people actually need vitamin supplements in this country (the U.S.). Even though we worry about it, she's never seen a case of vitamin deficiency. Even the poor in this country do not lack in vitamins. Anyway -- that's a tangent.
Back to why the juice is bad for me: It's because of all the sugar and calories it contains. Have you ever made fresh-squeezed OJ? If you have, you know that it takes many, many oranges to make one little glass (and this is why they are served in small glasses!). No one would possibly eat that many oranges. But it's volume, not calories, that determines when our brain gets that hormone telling us that we're full. So even if you're getting the sugar and calories of, say, six oranges, you eat still more calories on top of that, because you're not full.
So no more juice or smoothies (unless I am going to only have those as a meal, which is ridiculous).
The other thing she was appalled by was the two times that I ate a nonfat brownie. She explained that nonfat items market well against common misconceptions -- primarily that fat content is the thing that determines fat in our bodies.
Not true -- we all know from Atkins that the consumption of sugar and carbohydrates is the same thing as consuming fat. Unused sugar gets immediately converted to fat in the body -- and v. few of us actually use all the sugar we consume.
HOWEVER, fat actually slows the absorption rate of sugar. So when you eat something that is fat-free, the way they usually make up for it is by adding more sugar. And all that sugar is immediately absorbed! But in a 'real' brownie, with the existence of fat, the fat will slow the rate of absorption, and hopefully then some of the excess sugar will pass to the bowels instead of being absorbed by the body. Interesting, no?
"So if you're going to indulge, just indulge," K. said.
One way to think of it is to "Do What the French Do." They eat a lot of rich sauces and creams and such, and yet they have very low risk of cardiovascular disease. Why? Well part of it is that their portions are definitely smaller than American portions ... but it's also because they use real ingredients, not processed stuff like we do. Would the French eat a fake brownie? No, and neither should we. <g>
In that same vein...
+++
Real Butter is Better Than Margarine
But why? I asked. Margarine has 0 cholesterol.
It has 0 cholesterol because it's not an animal by-product, K. explained, so don't look for cholesterol content. Look first for calories, then fat, then cholesterol.
However, margarine is filled with the dreaded partially hydrogenated oil, "fake fat" that is even worse for us.
Again, look to the French. Would they eat margarine instead of butter? Nooooo. :D
+++
Meat
"I notice you like to eat big chunks of meat," K. said.
Why yes, yes I do. Barbecues are like, my absolute favorite thing. Sadly, it means I end up eating far too much meat. Instead of eating whole pieces of meat, K. suggested that I slice it up thinly. Then I'll still get the satisfaction of having it in every bite, but my actual consumption isn't very much. She pointed out that if I sliced up the 12 oz. New York steak I had recently to put it into a stew, it would be a lot of meat.
(We had a chicken curry last night with v. thinly sliced chicken ... it was a big pot, but if you put all the chicken together, it probably would have equalled one breast. And yet it was still satisfying.)
+++
Fish & Seafood
Stay away from farmed salmon; apparently there is a kind of growth hormone they use that's no good at all. So eat only wild salmon.
However -- and here's the part where humanity is doomed -- I can't have wild salmon, or any other kind of seafood, more than twice a week. Why? Because due to what we do to our waters, they contain a lot of mercury. Canned tuna has a ton of mercury in it. :(
+++
Eggs
She said it was okay for me to eat two egg yolks a week, if I wanted.
+++
Fiber
One of the things that was glaringly lacking in my diet was fiber. Eat cereal and beans, she said.
Sigh. The thing is, I don't really like beans. Or cereal much, for that matter.
I do like granola, but most store-bought granola has far too much sugar in it. Recently, K. and D. have started to make their own granola, which is (they claim) delicious and easy. Oat and bran and stuff can be bought in bins at places like Whole Foods. She'll be sending me a recipe for granola, as well as for a v. simple homemade Vinaigrette.
Also, buy whole grain breads instead of processed white. Sourdough also has good properties, though not as good as whole wheat. Some of the fresh-baked bread in grocery stories (you know, like those yummy French rolls) actually use wheat flour, though it might look like white bread -- which is good! So just check the ingredients.
Cut fruit into your cereal. Eat with soy milk or vanilla yogurt.
Even white rice is processed; try and eat brown rice whenever possible.
+++
Chocolate
We're now learning that chocolate is actually good for you -- but only "real" chocolate. Milk chocolate, filled with sugar and cream, is not. But things like unsweetened chocolate chips actually contain good oils. I know, they're not exactly the best-tasting things ever, but if you were to, say, put it with your homemade granola, that might be pretty good.
+++
Nuts
Nuts are tremendously good for you. One of the things about my cholesterol levels that concerned K. was not my LDL level (though she'd prefer for it to be under 130), but how low my HDL level was. Eating nuts is one of the things that actually helps raise HDL levels, so I'm supposed to eat a handful of nuts every day.
Peanut butter? Good. But only the kind that has simple ingredients -- peanuts, salt. Luckily that's my favorite kind. I buy Adams Natural Peanut Butter, which only has those two ingredients. It has the oil at the top (good kind, from the nut), and you stir it in. The cold from your fridge will keep it from separating again. Stuff like Skippy and Jif are bad, has partially hydrogenated oil, etc. And given that nut oil is good for you, getting the reduced fat kind here actually makes even less sense.
+++
Exercise
Obviously, I need to do this more. Five hours a week, which isn't all that much if you think about it. Studies have shown, also, that people who park their cars far away from places and use the stairs, etc., are actually in better shape/lose more weight than people who go to the gym every day. Because then you're training your body to have a high metabolic rate at a constantly during the day, rather than for that one hour you're at the gym.
+++
Other Obvious Things You Can Do
Portion control. A way to help with this is to eat slower. Make a conscious effort to slow down, and you'll find that you'll feel fuller, faster.
Here's a hard one: Eat a big lunch, and a small dinner. Our culture is totally all about dinner being the meal of the day, and I think for families, that's especially true. It's practically the only time they can get together. But for single people like me, it might be something you want to try. I'm definitely going to see if I can train myself to get out of the big dinner thing.
Man, now I'm spent. We might have talked about more, but that's all I can remember at the moment.
This made me laugh hysterically.
A note from Draco to Ginny. ;) I don't know who the icon actually belongs to, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw it. <3!
Also, best thing ever, I told my boss I wanted to get a BlackBerry, and he told me to hold off, that maybe work could get it for me. :O! Well, it's not coming out till October so it's not like I'd be getting it anyway, but w00t!
So the cool thing about having a doctor in the family, as some of you will know from experience, is that they have the added bonus of knowing your family medical history. Our grandfather, for instance, had adult on-set diabetes, so that's a risk factor for us. Also, our moms are sisters, and my mom had high cholesterol at one point, too. But beyond the fact that I trust my cousin to know what she's talking about because of her profession, she and her husband also have been through this themselves, so there's that aspect of credibility as well.
Her husband had high cholesterol (an LDL level of 160; recommended is under 130). He made some adjustments to his diet/eating habits, and it dropped down to 105. That won't work for everyone, of course, but it at least gives me some hope, as he has a family history of high cholesterol as well. My own LDL level is 140, my HDL -- the good cholesterol -- is at 46 (preferably would be higher than 50, and 60 and over is considered very high, which is good). K. said that she could tell my doctor was v. aggressive, which is fine if you're someone who likes an aggressive doctor. At my age, she wouldn't even consider putting me on medication unless my LDL were at 190, and I'm nowhere close. Her bigger concern for me is how low my HDL is.
There are two types of cholesterol: blood and dietary. Blood is what's genetic, what you can't change without medication. It's the amount of LDL that your liver produces, and that's determined by genetics. What we can do something about is dietary cholesterol. That's why some people who have really bad eating habits can still have low overall cholesterol, because their liver produces very little LDL, so their dietary LDL can be higher than people whose livers produce a lot of LDL.
When D. changed his diet/eating habits, he lost a lot of weight. That contributed to his cholesterol lowering, too, because any fat in the body is part of what's considered 'cholesterol.' So pretty much I have to do the same thing; losing weight due to dietary changes will lower my cholesterol, as I can't change what my liver produces wrt LDL. Fat and cholesterol are interrelated.
During our discussion, K. was realistic. Everything she told me was best-case scenario. The stuff we should do. That doesn't mean she eats this way all the time, but being aware of these things will at least help. It's like with anything -- we all know what the best thing to do is, but whether we can adhere to it all the time is another story. So at least be conscious of it, even if there's only so much we can do.
Okay, so that's my opening statement. <g> Now I'll go on to specifics.
+++
Cholesterol Is Found Only in Animals
K. saw that I had been eating things like chips, and I explained that it was because while I didn't think it was good for me, I felt less guilty because it had 0 cholesterol.
She explained at this point that cholesterol is found only in animals, so anything fried in vegetable oil will have 0 cholesterol. That does not mean there's no fat -- in fact, it's fake fat, which is even worse. Partially hydrogenated oil, found in many processed foods in order to lengthen shelf life, is awful stuff and must be avoided.
She said that if I were to fry French fries in my fry daddy at home with canola oil1, it would be healthier than buying chips from the store. It's not good for me, of course, but is the lesser of two evils, just to make the comparison.
1 In general, canola oil and olive oil are considered the best cooking oils, as they are monounsaturaed fats. However, there is a faction of people out there who are saying that canola oil has its own evils. K. recommended using olive oil if you want a strong flavor, and canola oil if you don't want any flavor. Most people have both types of oil for that reason. The fact that K. recommended it at all makes me feel pretty fine about using it, but if you're concerned, just stick to olive.
+++
Sugar and Its Relationship to Fat
K. called me on how much juice I drink. I don't really like soda, so usually my beverages of choice are orange juice or water. I thought the OJ was actually a good part of my diet, but apparently -- no. That is not the case. While it does provide vitamin C (in that way "better" than soda), very few people actually need vitamin supplements in this country (the U.S.). Even though we worry about it, she's never seen a case of vitamin deficiency. Even the poor in this country do not lack in vitamins. Anyway -- that's a tangent.
Back to why the juice is bad for me: It's because of all the sugar and calories it contains. Have you ever made fresh-squeezed OJ? If you have, you know that it takes many, many oranges to make one little glass (and this is why they are served in small glasses!). No one would possibly eat that many oranges. But it's volume, not calories, that determines when our brain gets that hormone telling us that we're full. So even if you're getting the sugar and calories of, say, six oranges, you eat still more calories on top of that, because you're not full.
So no more juice or smoothies (unless I am going to only have those as a meal, which is ridiculous).
The other thing she was appalled by was the two times that I ate a nonfat brownie. She explained that nonfat items market well against common misconceptions -- primarily that fat content is the thing that determines fat in our bodies.
Not true -- we all know from Atkins that the consumption of sugar and carbohydrates is the same thing as consuming fat. Unused sugar gets immediately converted to fat in the body -- and v. few of us actually use all the sugar we consume.
HOWEVER, fat actually slows the absorption rate of sugar. So when you eat something that is fat-free, the way they usually make up for it is by adding more sugar. And all that sugar is immediately absorbed! But in a 'real' brownie, with the existence of fat, the fat will slow the rate of absorption, and hopefully then some of the excess sugar will pass to the bowels instead of being absorbed by the body. Interesting, no?
"So if you're going to indulge, just indulge," K. said.
One way to think of it is to "Do What the French Do." They eat a lot of rich sauces and creams and such, and yet they have very low risk of cardiovascular disease. Why? Well part of it is that their portions are definitely smaller than American portions ... but it's also because they use real ingredients, not processed stuff like we do. Would the French eat a fake brownie? No, and neither should we. <g>
In that same vein...
+++
Real Butter is Better Than Margarine
But why? I asked. Margarine has 0 cholesterol.
It has 0 cholesterol because it's not an animal by-product, K. explained, so don't look for cholesterol content. Look first for calories, then fat, then cholesterol.
However, margarine is filled with the dreaded partially hydrogenated oil, "fake fat" that is even worse for us.
Again, look to the French. Would they eat margarine instead of butter? Nooooo. :D
+++
Meat
"I notice you like to eat big chunks of meat," K. said.
Why yes, yes I do. Barbecues are like, my absolute favorite thing. Sadly, it means I end up eating far too much meat. Instead of eating whole pieces of meat, K. suggested that I slice it up thinly. Then I'll still get the satisfaction of having it in every bite, but my actual consumption isn't very much. She pointed out that if I sliced up the 12 oz. New York steak I had recently to put it into a stew, it would be a lot of meat.
(We had a chicken curry last night with v. thinly sliced chicken ... it was a big pot, but if you put all the chicken together, it probably would have equalled one breast. And yet it was still satisfying.)
+++
Fish & Seafood
Stay away from farmed salmon; apparently there is a kind of growth hormone they use that's no good at all. So eat only wild salmon.
However -- and here's the part where humanity is doomed -- I can't have wild salmon, or any other kind of seafood, more than twice a week. Why? Because due to what we do to our waters, they contain a lot of mercury. Canned tuna has a ton of mercury in it. :(
+++
Eggs
She said it was okay for me to eat two egg yolks a week, if I wanted.
+++
Fiber
One of the things that was glaringly lacking in my diet was fiber. Eat cereal and beans, she said.
Sigh. The thing is, I don't really like beans. Or cereal much, for that matter.
I do like granola, but most store-bought granola has far too much sugar in it. Recently, K. and D. have started to make their own granola, which is (they claim) delicious and easy. Oat and bran and stuff can be bought in bins at places like Whole Foods. She'll be sending me a recipe for granola, as well as for a v. simple homemade Vinaigrette.
Also, buy whole grain breads instead of processed white. Sourdough also has good properties, though not as good as whole wheat. Some of the fresh-baked bread in grocery stories (you know, like those yummy French rolls) actually use wheat flour, though it might look like white bread -- which is good! So just check the ingredients.
Cut fruit into your cereal. Eat with soy milk or vanilla yogurt.
Even white rice is processed; try and eat brown rice whenever possible.
+++
Chocolate
We're now learning that chocolate is actually good for you -- but only "real" chocolate. Milk chocolate, filled with sugar and cream, is not. But things like unsweetened chocolate chips actually contain good oils. I know, they're not exactly the best-tasting things ever, but if you were to, say, put it with your homemade granola, that might be pretty good.
+++
Nuts
Nuts are tremendously good for you. One of the things about my cholesterol levels that concerned K. was not my LDL level (though she'd prefer for it to be under 130), but how low my HDL level was. Eating nuts is one of the things that actually helps raise HDL levels, so I'm supposed to eat a handful of nuts every day.
Peanut butter? Good. But only the kind that has simple ingredients -- peanuts, salt. Luckily that's my favorite kind. I buy Adams Natural Peanut Butter, which only has those two ingredients. It has the oil at the top (good kind, from the nut), and you stir it in. The cold from your fridge will keep it from separating again. Stuff like Skippy and Jif are bad, has partially hydrogenated oil, etc. And given that nut oil is good for you, getting the reduced fat kind here actually makes even less sense.
+++
Exercise
Obviously, I need to do this more. Five hours a week, which isn't all that much if you think about it. Studies have shown, also, that people who park their cars far away from places and use the stairs, etc., are actually in better shape/lose more weight than people who go to the gym every day. Because then you're training your body to have a high metabolic rate at a constantly during the day, rather than for that one hour you're at the gym.
+++
Other Obvious Things You Can Do
Portion control. A way to help with this is to eat slower. Make a conscious effort to slow down, and you'll find that you'll feel fuller, faster.
Here's a hard one: Eat a big lunch, and a small dinner. Our culture is totally all about dinner being the meal of the day, and I think for families, that's especially true. It's practically the only time they can get together. But for single people like me, it might be something you want to try. I'm definitely going to see if I can train myself to get out of the big dinner thing.
Man, now I'm spent. We might have talked about more, but that's all I can remember at the moment.
This made me laugh hysterically.
A note from Draco to Ginny. ;) I don't know who the icon actually belongs to, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw it. <3!
Also, best thing ever, I told my boss I wanted to get a BlackBerry, and he told me to hold off, that maybe work could get it for me. :O! Well, it's not coming out till October so it's not like I'd be getting it anyway, but w00t!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 08:19 pm (UTC)I started working out regularly earlier this year, and my trainer gave me and my workout partner a nutrition talk which was about a lot of the things you talk about here. I started eating whole wheat bread years ago, and recently stopped eating margarine. I still don't eat as healthy as I ought to, but I'm doing a lot better. (I have the opposite problem that you do though...I don't eat nearly enough protein because I don't like meat.) I didn't know that about the salmon...it's one of the only types of fish I'll actually eat. Guess that means I don't have to anymore!
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 08:36 pm (UTC)Ahaha! So Remus is right!
no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 02:33 am (UTC)But...but they say eating several servings of dairy a day is also good when you're dieting. It's supposed to actually help you lose more weight. So wouldn't milk chocolate be even better for you than plain?
Oh, wait...forgot about the damned sugar. *sigh*