Saturated fats and cholesterol

[Mike Nolan]

We've been working with a diabetes educator nurse-practitioner for several months, and her information is pretty up-to-date.

Last week we got talking about saturated fats and cholesterol.

Her rule on saturated fats in proteins is: The more feet it has, the worse it is.

So, crab (10 legs) is worse than beef (4 legs) is worse than chicken (2 legs.)

There are two exceptions to this rule:

1. Eggs
2. Butter

Both are considered 'healthy' again (in moderation, of course, you still don't want to eat a dozen eggs a day), after years of being on the 'avoid' list. I've been reading through some of the literature online, and quite a few of the articles haven't caught up with the latest research.

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[BakerAunt]

I went on a low-saturated fat diet last year. Most butter went out of my diet. We rarely have beef, and when we do it is lean. we do eat lean pork. We like chicken and turkey, but I've stopped cooking chicken breasts, since most have those white streaks in them. I also banned Hershey's Kisses and M&Ms, as well as anything else of that ilk. Tortilla chips are not allowed unless my stepdaughter is here to eat most of them. I do allow mini-York Peppermint patties; f I nibble on just one, it's .5g saturated fat. I make pie crusts with canola oil, and I use olive or canola in baking. Most cheese is out of my diet unless it is low-fat mozzarella or 2% cheddar, and even there, I try to keep it low, although I like to get some calcium from it. I switched back to Land o' Lakes Light Butter-Canola spread. I drink 1% milk and eat nonfat Chobani Greek yogurt. Eggs are still in my diet, although mostly I use them in baking.

My cholesterol was tested again last week, and it has improved, but it needs to improve more:

My LDL went from 190 to 165, and my overall went from 274 to 243. I also have lost 14 pounds and can fit into clothes I could not wear a year ago. That was a nice benefit. I am a bit depressed that the cholesterol numbers didn't come down further.

I eat steel-cut oats almost every morning. I eat lots of whole grains.

The areas where I could perhaps improve, based on my reading are: eating more fruits and vegetables--easier in the summer and fall here--and exercising more.

My doctor told me to continue doing the low-saturated fat way of eating, and she will test me again in a year.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.

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