What do I eat???

This content has been removed.

I have taken my LDL cholesterol from 190 to 105 and my HDL from 25 to 60 with diet and exercise. I've done a fair amount of research on this and from what I gather, the jury is still very much out on the whole "avoid saturated fats" and their roll in cholesterol levels. One thing that is pretty much been debunked though is the notion that dietary cholesterol causes high blood serum levels of cholesterol...this is simply untrue for the vast majority of the population and I buy in due to the fact that I eat eggs on a daily basis which are chalk full of dietary cholesterol and my numbers continue to drop.

I have not made any concerted efforts to avoid saturated fats though I do eat primarily lean sources of protein...I eat a lot of poultry and fish (generally have salmon a couple times per week and some other white fish once) and generally lean cuts of pork and beef (usually weekend grilling)...but that doesn't mean I don't throw down a good bratwurst every once in awhile. I've actually never been much of a fast food type or much into the really fatty cuts of meat and what not so I haven't changed my diet substantially in RE to this save for I've drastically reduced the amount of dairy I was consuming.

I do eat a lot more vegetables than I used to...I try to get in a good six to eight servings per day...I drink a couple of those servings with my low sodium v-8 that I have with breakfast pretty much every morning...just gets me off to a good start. I generally eat oats 3-5 times per week with my breakfast and black beans are a staple of my regular week day lunches. I eat a lot of berries (particularly strawberries and blueberries) as well I live by the apple a day philosophy...ok, maybe not every day but I have an apple most days of the week.

I get my fats primarily from nuts, avocados, and olive oil. I use coconut oil daily, but relatively small quantity (1/4 tsp goes into the scrambled eggs I make for my wife and I and youngest son every morning)...I don't really use vegetable oils much...sometimes conola, but I don't do that much in the way of high heat frying, etc.

I steer clear of most commercial baked goods and anything that has partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredients listing even if it says "zero trans fats".

I also tend towards a diet that is very rich in whole foods and cook most things from scratch. I'm by no means a "you gotta eat clean" guy, but my diet would generally be viewed as pretty damned tidy. I eat "junk" food here and there, but not a whole lot of it and most of my processed eats are minimally so.

Eat lots of salad, green and red veg. Occasional lean white meat and fish if you must. Pulses are brilliant as low fat proteins, and kinder to the environment to produce than animal proteins.

Use a spray oil. Rapeseed oil is lower in saturates than sunflower or olive oil. Obviously the less, the better if you want to lose weight.

Try to go a bit more 'veggie'. Meat is never great for us, and we should all eat less... think of people in less developed nations – many actually eat more healthily than us, eating very little processed foods, and focussing on whole-grains and vegetables with small amounts of protein (meat and fish) when it is available.

Good luck!! :-)

Since we are omnivores, meats are the best sources of pure protein. You have to eat a hellofalotof pulses to get 100 grams of protein.

however our methods of cultivating meat make this untrue, and cutting back on how much meat you ingest can not only help your health, but the environment as well. not saying to cut out meat entirely, but cutting back is cheaper, healthier, eco-conscious, and doesn't create a protein deficiency if you know what you're doing.

Also, what's a pulse? Ya know... besides that whole heartbeat thing.

This content has been removed.