I read the U.K. ‘Daily Mail’, online, multiple times a day. If you are even somewhat familiar with this blog you would know that. I quote them at least once a week. I have been a Daily Mail reader from the time I was an adult, living in the UK, i.e., since the mid-1970s.
So, this morning, while reading the Mail, in bed, while drinking a cup of coffee I was DELIGHTED to read this. Why? Because I occasionally worry that I eat too much fruit! I invariably have some fruit for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Plus, as many of you might know, I am paranoid about getting diabetes. So, I worry about my carb intake.
This article was very reassuring.
I also LOVED the insert about the dangers of donuts, cereals & pizza. I haven’t eaten any pizza or donuts in years. Yes, definitely years. I do eat cereal, as a TREAT, maybe 7 or 8 times a year — & that is always a bran- or granola-based cereal rich in fiber. Over the last few months I have cut back on this too. I have not eaten any cereal in probably 6 months.
These swirls are MY addiction. I can’t get enough. I am continually gorging myself on them. I am known to eat multiple swirls a day — multiple at one sitting.
IF I could curb my gluttony when it comes to these swirls I could easily be 20 lbs lighter. I am overweight BECAUSE of these swirls.
I use restrain & moderation when it comes to ALL other food. This is the ONE exception. WINE is not a food. So, wine doesn’t count. I nearly died having caught typoid from polluted water. Since then I have avoided water — preferring wine.
These swirls. Have you ever tried them. They are DIVINE. No, no, NO. Nothing like what you can get frozen in boxes. I have no trouble saying NO to those. It is only these Market Basket swirls.
They have an ungodly fat content & are obviously v. high in carbs. That is why they are killing me. 80% of my not inconsiderable health woes can be attributed to these swirls. But, I can’t stop eating them, alas.
So, now you know why I am so unhealthy & overweight. These swirls. I wish I had never met them.
From ‘Chobani‘.The ‘Two Good’ Lemon — still one of my favorites.
Of late ‘Chobani’ has quite THE RANGE of ‘zero sugar‘ yogurts.
I have sampled most of them. I really do like the ‘milk & cookies’, ‘key lime’ & ‘salted caramel’. To be fair though, they can only do much in terms of taste & kick. They don’t, of course, have the FULL-BODY & ZEST you get with an indulgent yogurt with lots of carbs & fat. But, these are good for you.
I still get the ‘Two Good’ Lemon. I do like its sharp taste.
People just do NOT understand the link between fat & sugar (i.e., carbohydrates) particularly as to how it relates to cholesterol.
As a RARE individual with a NEGATIVE Cholesterol Risk Factor (i.e., my cholesterol-related risk factor is even BETTER THAN ZERO) I am kind of qualified to talk about this. Plus, I have spent the last 9 years controlling my carbs — & you can see the results. SMILE.
Totally contrary to what you might think & may have been led to believe over the decades eating too much fat IS NOT the only thing that will make you fat (even obese) & increase your cholesterol. Carbohydrates (i.e., SUGAR) plays a pivotal role.
IF you can keep your carbs low, i.e., low-carb diet, you can consume a LOT of fat & still not gain any weight. You might even see a drop in your cholesterol. Google it. Look it up.
Reducing carbs (i.e., sugar) is invariably better than reducing fat! Fact of life. Proven.
You have to learn the relationship. Until you do these new nutritional labels will do diddly.
Click to ENLARGE. Note it is -0.3, i.e., MINUS 0.3. Click to ENLARGE & read here. From ‘National Library of Medicine‘.
Click to ENLARGE. And here is my HDL number, i.e., 80.
Click to ENLARGE. It has been negative for 4 years, starting in 2019.
First & foremost I don’t take this too seriously. I know that I am going to die. That, of course, is a given. I can still die from a heart disease. I don’t take any of these numbers too seriously. Plus, if heart disease doesn’t kill something else will. Given my lifestyle I will most likely die as a result of an accident or by being SHOT. (Brown lives do not matter etc.) So, let’s not get too excited about this. I am NOT.
But, I would like to SHARE some facts with YOU because so many folks have the WRONG NOTIONS about lowering/controlling cholesterol. So, let me, please, tell you how & why I got here. I will probably dispel most things you previously believed when it came to lowering cholestrol.
I lucked out. In 1997 I ran into a young, Indian (Tamil) cardiologist who had just moved to Central New Hampshire. He was THRILLED to come across another brownie. We hit it off instantly & became social friends. I was 44 at the time. I was not as healthy then as I am now. I led an incredibly hectic life, travelling (by plane) 3 to 4 days a week — working 14 – 16 hour days. He was ‘worried’ about me. He said I am going to put you on a heart disease PREVENTIVE regime. He went onto add: ‘you will THANK ME when you turn 60‘. I was 44 then. I am 69 now. There is a list of 4 doctors I thank in my mind each day (in gratitude): this cardiologist, my cataract doctor, my knee doctor & an early urologist.
In 1997 he put me on 10mg of Lipitor & three (3) low-dose blood pressure medications. Around the same time, this young ex-Air Force urologist put me on ‘Cardura‘ (a miracle drug that slow down (but does not prevent) prostate enlargement). [Cardura also reduces your blood pressure!] I have been taking those 5 pills, daily, at the same dosage, for 25 years! My current doctor says I can come off them, BUT we both agree that it would be a shame to disrupt what has been a WINNING formula.
I tell anyone who will listen that they should take Lipitor, whether they need it right now or not, as a preventative — as I did. Really no side-effects to talk off. Win-Win.
OK, so I do take Lipitor — & have done for 25-years. That sure helps. It would be stupid to argue otherwise.
My eating habits.
1/ I am NOT a vegetarian. Far from it. I eat a LOT of meat, near daily — sometimes having meat for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Yes, I tend to eat ‘lean’ meat: pork, chicken, steak, turkey & ground beef & occasionally lamb, bison, venison & duck. I stay away from bacon. I used to eat ham, sausages & hot dogs more or less everyday but cut back drastically over the last 12-months to reduce the amount of processed food intake.
I eat up to a dozen eggs a week & a TON of CHEESE. I love cheese. I can live on cheese. I eat a lot, BUT AGAIN over the last 12-months I have made a conscious & conscientious effort to cut back on the amount of cheese I eat. I no longer, ALAS, eat cheese everyday. Not even every other day. Yes, I make sacrifices like that.
2/I have really cut back on carbs over the last 3 years. And I mean REALLY. No bread, no rice, no lentils, no pasta, no chocolates, no cake, no pizza, no pies, no potatoes … Yes, the list goes on. But, I do CHEAT by consuming LARGE QUANTITES of RED WINE on a daily basis. Red wine is what keeps me going. I do not function without red wine. I am told red wine is medicinal & helps with cholesterol etc. Doesn’t really matter. I can’t live without red wine.
So, I eat a lot of meat, eggs, cheese but very little in terms of carbs bar red wine.
But, my doctor FINALLY worked out how & why my HDL is HIGH.
To quote him (from last year): “That is what happens when you walk 8-miles everyday”.
For over 20-years I ate yogurt, every night after dinner, religiously. Prior to that I had assiduously avoided it thinking that I would not like the texture or smell. But, one of the many real good doctors I was fortunate enough to know convinced me that I should eat yogurt every day if I could. I started off, in the late 1990s, with all the fancy, HIGHLY SWEETENED types. Once I got in the swing of things I tried to get the more healthy varieties.
Yes, I did eat plain Greek yogurt daily, for many years. But, I kind of got tired of it. Yes, I would eat it with fruit — & I do eat a LOT of fruit daily.
Then about a ‘year ago‘ I came across ‘Two Good’ — which boasted just 2 grams of sugar. Bingo. I liked that.
In my case FAT is not the issue. I am already fat enough.
It is the carbs, the damn carbs. I have to cut back on the carbs (especially given the amount I consume with my red wine).
So, ‘Two Good’ was very good. 2G of sugar, 3G of carbs. I do NOT eat it every night. Only about three times a week. Other than wine & something else, MODERATION is my byword.
I had wondered how long it would be before ‘Two Good’ ran into competition. Funnily enough, just two weeks ago I did a Google search to see if there were others that had started making v. low sugar-content yogurts. I found none.
But, this Monday, I saw the ‘Zero Sugar‘ ‘Chobani‘ at ‘Hannaford‘. I have always liked Chobani. Plus, ZERO SUGAR! Wow.
There is something awry with the labelling, however. Chobani, with 0G sugar, as 5g carbs, to the 3g carbs in Two Good — though they have 2g of sugar. I will have to dig into that. They are both good. Of course, they don’t have the lingering kick of a high sugar yogurt. But, beggars, as I have learnt (painfully) over the years, cannot be choosers.
