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6764. thoughtful - 3/19/2007 11:09:14 PM wonks, reducing intake of fat won't do it...it's the lipitor, and it's reducing sugar shock and insulin rush that will help your heart. Rather, shoot for a balance of fats in the diet.
See for instance Atkins diet best for weight loss - US study
"Compared with women who were assigned to follow diets having higher carbohydrate content, women assigned to the diet with the lowest carbohydrate content had more weight loss and more favourable changes in related metabolic risk factors at two and six months," wrote lead author Christopher Gardner in JAMA.
Despite previous concerns over low carbohydrate diets adversely affecting blood lipid profiles, the current study did not report any such adverse effects.
This is also consistent with the research on 'syndrome x' which suggests that diabetes, with excess carb intake and excess insulin, excess weight around the abdomen and high blood pressure go hand in hand with heart disease.
Frankly it will take time for heart docs to catch up with what the endocrinologists know about the damaging effects of excess insulin and the low fat diet cannard that pushes people into excess carb intake and increased risk for obesity and heart disease.
My MIL always said if you want to lose weight, cut out the bread and pasta and desserts. It's taking another 40 years for the medical profession to catch up with what we knew back then. 6765. wonkers2 - 3/19/2007 11:58:47 PM Well, I try not to eat a lot of carbohydrates, either. One or two pieces of toast and a lot of vegetables and salads. My wife has turned into a semi-vegetarian. I sneak out for a couple of sliders or a Coney Island a couple of times a week. We eat a fair amount of fish and fowl. I do miss steaks, lamb chops, etc. Whatever I'm eating my blood tests are all okay according to my internist, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, etc. That's why he okayed my taking a Lipitor 10mg pill every other day instead of every day. 6766. wonkers2 - 3/21/2007 4:44:07 PM For temesis--Are you getting your "fair" share of this loot? Pharmaceutical companies bribing our doctors 6767. wonkers2 - 3/23/2007 4:01:54 PM Diagnosis as Art, Not Rocket Science 6768. judithathome - 3/23/2007 8:34:48 PM One or two pieces of toast and a lot of vegetables and salads.
Wonk, try Pepperidge Farms Very Thin sliced breads...two of them are about 18 grams of carbs and 80 calories. (A serving is 3 slices but I always do only two...brings the numbers down that way and is still satisfying.) Toasted, they give you that crunch and a bread fix without a lot of damage to your numbers. 6769. wonkers2 - 3/24/2007 3:02:10 AM That makes a lot of sense. It's amazing that for the past couple of weeks we've been buying unsliced bread from Breadsmith, a local franchise bakery, and slicing it thinner ourselves. That way I can still have two slices for breakfast and a grapefruit. How does that sound? 6770. judithathome - 3/24/2007 7:35:22 AM Sounds great! I like my toast very crunchy and with this thin stuff, it's perfection every time. I can't stand a piece of toast that is limp and chewy. 6771. wonkers2 - 3/24/2007 2:47:52 PM Same here. 6772. thoughtful - 3/24/2007 3:41:42 PM great ideas...but make sure you're eating whole grain breads...far healthier than the white stuff.
I so enjoy whole grain breads now that I skip the white stuff even in restaurants...tastes like eating paper and it isn't the least bit filling or worth the calories.
We've been making our own homemade graham crackers and they are wonderful. They are crispy and chewy at the same time. Easy to make with honey and molasses...yum and no trans fats. 6773. judithathome - 3/24/2007 4:01:52 PM Yes, I thought "whole grains" was a given...can't imagine eating white bread myself, either.
However, I will do it at restaurants...our fave Italian place makes THE best garlic yeast rolls and I always have one even though I know it's "waisted" calories. 6774. judithathome - 3/24/2007 4:03:09 PM Wonks, I can't recall if you are on cholesterol meds or not but I am and mine had a warning that I not consume grapefruit at all. 6775. wonkers2 - 3/26/2007 1:58:29 PM Insurance companies make money by not paying claims So what else is new? 6776. robertjayb - 3/26/2007 5:45:22 PM Drugs for "good" cholesterol fail tests...(NYTimes)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The hot new strategy of trying to prevent heart disease by raising good cholesterol had more setbacks Monday as new studies showed that experimental drugs didn't work and also had safety problems.
The news follows Pfizer Inc.'s abandonment in December of an $800 million investment in torcetrapib, the leading contender in this class of drugs, because it raised the risk of heart attacks and deaths.
Heart specialists have been anxious to know whether the problems extend to all such drugs and doom this approach.
6777. thoughtful - 3/26/2007 6:02:58 PM won't be long before they figure out that reducing cholesterol is not the way to avoid heart attacks...
I'm keeping hubby on the statins though since I read that they can postpone the onset of dementia... 6778. wonkers2 - 3/26/2007 11:20:32 PM Your point on cholesterol differs from what I've read and been told by my internist. What do you base it on? 6779. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 2:08:10 PM Uh oh...do we really want to start another 'global warming like' discussion here? Where you can tell me I'm in the pocket of the gopers? Or i must work for wesson or crisco? Or that I'm in denial or insane or just plain stupid? All because I'm not willing to accept the "low fat" paradigm as the be all and end all to a healthy heart and a long life? Because I don't drink the kool-aid and keep an open mind and recognize that science is not only all one way but often results in conflicting data and that science also frequently reverses itself as more data comes to light.
But we've been through all that.
But since you asked, I base this on the fact that
- multiple studies have shown the atkins diet which includes lots of fat but restricted carbs results in the best cholesterol profile of participants as well as the greatest weight loss
- 50% of women who have heart attacks have acceptable cholesterol levels
- the 'new' syndrome x which relates high blood pressure with diabetes and fat around the abdomen also greatly increases the risk of heart disease. Other studies have shown strong relationship between abdominal fat and risk of heart disease.
- cholesterol is an essential element the body requires to make necessary digestive biles and to support cell walls
- 80% of the cholesterol in your body is made by the liver and diet accounts for the minority of cholesterol in your system. Further if you eat less saturated fat, your body will make more. That's why many people will find that even with low fat dieting, they may reduce their cholesterol at first, but then it will start to rise again. That your cholesterol levels are largely genetically determined.
- the body lays down plaque in arteries because of inflammation and inflammation is triggered by excess insulin
- high carb intake leads the body to convert the sugars into fat immediately if it's not burned off in order to protect the brain from excess glucose, and that this fat is largely laid in around the abdomen
I could go on, but you get the idea. The cardiac guys need to start listening more to the endocrinologists who understand the impact of insulin on the body. In excess it can be very damaging, and they are only beginning to learn how damaging it can be.
But of course, this requires breaking paradigms and a whole nutrition machine (which has been politicized by everyone from the beef growers to the sugar growers to the corn lobby) to eat a low fat diet where the fats are replaced with sugar and the mainstream medical community is left scratching their heads as to why diabetes and heart disease are now epidemic.
If you want to learn more about insulin and its impact on the body, I recommend reading "The Schwarzbein Principle". While I don't support her hormone replacement therapy at this point, the rest of her program makes incredible sense.6780. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 2:30:05 PM Consider your typical 'healthy' american breakfast. It is nothing but a total sugar load, so everyone starts their day with a sugar high and insulin rush.
orange juice
Raisin bran
Skim milk
banana
coffee
You're looking at about 85 grams of sugar or about 21 teaspoons, depending on if you add milk and sugar to your coffee.
6781. alistairconnor - 3/27/2007 2:45:50 PM Makes sense to me Tful... I have been suspicious of the cholesterol cult for decades.
Well anyway, you're telling me what I want to hear. I've been feeling a bit uneasy that since I went back to eating meat a couple of years ago, I may be overdosing on animal fats... I like the message that it's all good except the sugar/carbs. 6782. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 6:53:13 PM Knock me over with a feather!!!
This paradigm, I can break, but not the global warming one.
OK.
Since you're willing to listen, I'll give you a little more.
Don't worry about saturated fat. Rather avoid transfats like the plague. They are sand in the gears of the body. When it comes to fat, it's more important to get a balance of fats including your monounsaturated (olive oil) and your omega-3s (fish oil and flax seed oil and walnuts). These are essential fatty acids (essential meaning the body can't make them out of other things).
Eat adequate protein...6-8 ozs per day for the average woman; 10-12 ozs per day for the average man...it's necessary to build muscle.
Adjust your carb intake to control your weight. Eat good carbs not bad carbs...brown rice and whole wheat bread and starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes or acorn squash are good carbs...chocolate cake, cheetos, and french fries are bad carbs. Remember all carbs get converted to sugar so your body doesn't care if it comes in a grape or tostitos chip. Only difference is the nutritional content that comes with the carb. But a grape can raise blood sugar just like a cookie, and should be counted as carbs. Milk which is full of lactose is a carb.
Balance your meals. Every meal should consist of a fat, a protein, a carb, and a nonstarchy vegetable. This will limit the sugar shock from the carb and make sure you are getting a full complement of nutrients. Nonstarchy vegetables are especially important as they a) are low calorie but filling b) add a lot of necessary fiber c) are nutrition powerhouses which help fight cancer, add anti-oxidants to eliminate free radicals and much more. Further, balance your snacks. Better to eat a handful of walnuts with an apple than to have just an apple...the walnuts add fat (omega-3) and protein, slowing down digestion and minimizing sugar shock from the carbs in the apple.
Drink lots of water. Avoid processed foods and chemicals and excess salt. Eat what comes naturally...what you can fish, farm, pick, milk, etc. Don't eat stuff your ancestors wouldn't recognize. Cheese does not come in cans. Fruit does not come in rolls.
6783. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 6:55:07 PM BTW, when I was in wyoming a couple of years ago, I struck up a conversation with a biochemist about this diet stuff and he was surprised at what I was telling him as he said that's what the biochemical science is discovering and that medical science hasn't caught up with them yet...he said I was very leading edge.
Maybe so too with the global warming, eh?
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