The Low Fat Diet. It's a Loser and Not in a Good Way

The Friday Eve Morning Numbers:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  96 mg/dl.  Makes my morning mood. 
• Weight: 190ish lbs. 
• Exercise:  45 minutes.  A tad nippy, but tolerable for a ride this morning. 
• Mood:  8.5.  Any reading below 100 mg/dl is good. 

The  Friday Eve Menu:

• Breakfast:  Last of the tofu and kale quiche and a fruit salad of bananas, Texas's own Rio Star ruby red grapefruit and red grapes. 
• Lunch:  A hummus plate with vegetables and one whole wheat pita bread round.
• Dinner:  Pizza, one slice,  and a salad.  Project Runway All Stars tonight with model whose legs are nearly as good as Heidi Klum's.  
• Snacks: Some almonds and some Stacy's Pita Bread Chips and not too many of those.

Fat. It Does a Body Good, More or Less.

Low fat was considered the way to go for a long time to lose weight, lower the bad cholesterol and raise the good cholesterol.  Now not so much.  In a three way race, the low fat diet came in last at lowering cholesterol.  The final standings:

1.  The Mediterranean diet
2. A diet containing a "portfolio" of foods known to lower cholesterol
3. The low fat diet.

The really funny thing about this is that the number one diet, the Mediterranean diet, does not really exist.  There is no such diet.  It's just a list of foods typically eaten in Mediterranean countries. It consist mostly of eating lots of fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, seeds and nuts.

You know, low fat stuff with lots of fiber, what your mother told you to mostly eat.

Animal protean, mostly from poultry, fish and eggs were limited to one serving per day along with limited amounts of cheese or yogurt.  Red meat was limited.  Up to 40% of the calories could come from olive oil and the occasional glass of red wine was included.  Since the research showing that resveratrol, the key good ingredient in red wine, was mostly made up, I guess it was mostly used to brighten the day.

The number two diet was eating a portfolio of foods believed to lower cholesterol.  From the article:

"The portfolio approach begins with a basic heart-healthy diet (plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; daily low-fat dairy; and limited red meat and other sources of saturated fat). To it are added four types of food that have been shown to lower cholesterol: oats, barley, eggplant, okra, and psyllium; tofu, soy milk, or other soy foods; walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and other nuts; and margarine made with plant sterols or stanols (such as Promise activ, Benecol, or Smart Balance HeartRight Buttery Spreads)."

To my very untrained mind in these matters, the first two are pretty similar.  The article does not say what exactly was in the low fat diet. Must have foods low in fat and high in sugar.  That is my guess.

I Needed Frank Sinatra

Rainy this morning with the promise of getting wetter later on in the day.  I can't say getting worse because we need the rain.  I had a distinct lack of motivation or interest this morning.  I would have rather stayed in bed, yet I got for what felt like my morning drudgery, not a health giving cardiovascular session.

Even whenI got on the bike (attached to my trainer) I struggled to stay motivated, which is unusual for me.  Once I am on the bike and the heart starts to pump, my mood usuall brightens considerably. Not this morning. It was a struggle to not give into the urge to give it up this morning and 45 minutes of pedaling seemed to be verging on the point of forever.

So now, as I so often do when needing a major mood change, I put on some Frank Sinatra. Just hearing his version of "Come Fly with Me" brightened the mood.  Shower, shave, breakfast, with Frank swinging the morning away put me a mood to go out there and get 'em.

Thanks, Frank.  

My Swingin' Numbers for Today:

• Fasting Blood Glucose Level:  112 mg/dl.  
• Weight: 190 lbs  Down a pound
• Exercise:  45 minutes on the trainer
• Mood:  8.5.  A FS induced high. 

My Swingin' Menu for Today:

• Breakfast:  Tofu quiche with tormatillo sauce and a fruit salad of a banana, grapes and a Texas Rio Star ruby red grapefruit, the finest in the nation.
• Lunch: A chicken sandwich and an apple.
• Dinner:  Stuff and stuff.  It's our way of getting rid of a little bit of this and that in the fridge. 
• Snacks:  A small bowl of left over beans from last night and a few almonds.  Almonds and a glass of water do take away the hunger.

Big Time Diet News:  Fried Foods Do Not Cause Heart Attacks.

Most likely. Maybe.  With in reason. 

An article published in the British Medical Journal, based on a study in Spain, could find no evidence of a link between fried foods and heart disease. There are two caveats with this.  The oils used were olive and sunflower, oils typically used in Mediterranean diets and whether the same oil was more than once.  It doesn't say this, but I think this implies that oil used more than once is bad.

So much for fries at McDonald's.  

The British Heart Foundation also commented that olive and sunflower oils are typical of a Mediterranean diet which is considered more healthy than the typical British diet.

The Charming Ms SWMBO and I use olive and canola oil.  So how does canola oil compare to olive oil?  According to WebMD, it's better: Less saturated fat than in sunflower oil and and higher in Omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).  ALA is good for it's positive effects on blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation.

That sounds good. WebMD also notes that about 1 1/2 tablespoons is all that is needed.  There's that moderation thing again.

Canola oil also compares favorably to olive oil as a good oil to use. It's higher in Omega-3 fatty acids, but also higher in Omega-6 fatty acids, which maybe good, but not as much Omega-3.

Olive has also may have some inhibit development of colon cancer, at least in rats.

Need I remind anyone people are not rats?

So, will I start eating fried food again.  No. The stuff usually gives me indigestion, at least when I get it from a restaurant.  I think it maybe a case of too much oil in some foods and oil that has been used repeatedly in a deep fat frier.  I don't like to fry much at home because it makes a bit of a greasy mess.

Back in the 1980's fat is bad, all fat is bad.  Now, not so much.  Woody Allen may be more prescient than he realized.  From his movie Sleeper:
 


I can't wait until hot fudge is considered  a vital part of a healthy diet.  I bet hot fudge sundaes are not part of a Mediterranean diet. 

Two'fer Tuesday

The Numbers. 

• Fasting Blood Glucose:  104 mg.dl.  Okay, not great.
• Weight:  191.  Still the same 
• Exercise:  45 min. bike ride while the weather held.  A bit cool but very humid and once I got warm I sweated.  Love it. 
• Mood:  8.0.  Tuesday

Menu:  

• Breakfast:  Tofu & kale quiche and a breakfast fruit salad of a banana, Texas Rio Star ruby red grapefruit and grapes
• Lunch:  Some leftover beans and ham and a Michigan gala apple
• Dinner:  A bean sauce over brown rice, broccoli and carrots.
• Snacks:  Hummus with some Stacy's chips and carrot slices.  

A Reality Show Two'fer

There are reality shows about morbidly obese people getting help to lose weight.  There are reality shows about hoarders getting help declutter and let things go.  A Long Island man could be two shows in one, a really fat guy trapped in a second floor bathroom in a house so cluttered with junk firefighters could not get through the mess to rescue him.  He slipped and fell in the bathroom and could not get up.

To get him out firefighters had to cut through a second floor exterior wall and lower him down on a stretcher.


Photo credit: James Carbone | Firefighters remove a man from the second floor of a home in Center Moriches. (Jan. 19, 2012)

I don't envy the firefighters.