Low Cholesterol My Butt!

You know I love looking at cookbooks that make special claims, cashing in on America’s dietary obsessions. I found one claiming to be a low cholesterol cookbook. Guess what? A lot of Crap.

An example….I put together a 1640 calorie daily menu by randomly opening to pages in chapters called “bread”, “soup”, “vegetable”, etc. and ended up with 200 milligrams of cholesterol. The government’s dieticians recommend no more than 130 mg. for a 2000 calorie diet (and less, obviously if you already have high cholesterol).

You don’t have to jump through hoops. If you come home from the doc and your cholesterol is high, don’t run to the book store for the latest faddy-daddy’s diet advice: go straight to the fridge and throw out Butter, Creamy Salad Dressings, Mayonnaise, Whole Milk, and Eggs.

Then you can get on the internet and find out that you need more fiber, more exercise, less fat in your diet, MANY more vegetables and fruits, (if you’re like the rest of us), grains and beans, and leaner meats in smaller portions.

It’s that simple. I lowered mine 110 points in less than a year. That ain’t Crap.

Cutting saturated fats (like exchanging butter for margarine) will help your cholesterol levels, but here’s something THEY don’t want you to know…..remember that every gram of fat (about 4 grams to a teaspoon) is 9 calories.

No matter what kind of fat….saturated, unsaturated, polly want a cracker…..it’s 9 calories. So you get just as fat from using olive oil as you do from using lard. (Carbohydrates are 4 calories per gram).

When you think about it, you see that this means you can eat more if you eat less fat. Sounds good to me. I really like guilt-free food….like steamed vegetables, home-made baguettes (no fat in a lean bread like that), fruit, greens….you know.

But I love my steak fatty, juicy, and medium rare.

Listen, for real……it’s not hard to eat well. Shop around the walls of the grocery store as much as possible…..you’ll see what I mean when you get there. The less packaging there is, the better it is for you and the environment…..so go for it. It’s hella cheaper too.