Eating Right is Not Restrictive

[sos007]

If you want to improve your body's health and lower cholesterol, you need to eat well. Eating a healthy diet is NOT restrictive, unless you consider not being able to eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) a restriction.

The SAD diet has been killing us for more than 7 decades. There's an epidemic of heart disease, cancer and diabetes that did not exist before the middle-part of the 20th century.

Filled with sugar, highly processed foods, vegetable oils, fried foods and simple carbohydrates among other things, the SAD is convenience and comfort food that only serve to damage your health in the process of saving you time.

Eat real food and there's plenty of variety and tasty recipes. Here are a few to start with and you can get more by getting a Mediterranean Diet or Greek cookbook.

Make this soup on a regular basis: ricardocuisine.com/en/recip...

Here’s a great Greek recipe using green peas – pea protein is the highest quality vegetable protein - olivetomato.com/greek-style...

Here’s another great Greek vegetarian recipe: olivetomato.com/briami-the-... (go easy on the potatoes, or use sweet potatoes instead).

One last one: olivetomato.com/greek-style...

Watch these two programs:

youtu.be/RsFYee4li-w(Not working as expected?)

youtu.be/klnYh7SZRic(Not working as expected?)

[Red18]

Helloooo sos007 What a fab post! Lots of very informative info... Thankyou so very much for sharing all your knowledge. You have helped me so verymuch. Thankyou

[sos007 Ambassador]

Thank you for the kind words. Enjoy your weekend!

[sandybrown]

I am afraid I am unable to afford many items in the photo in mu simple life.!!

[DakCB-UK]

Not at all restrictive except you need to...

- cut out all sugar

- cut out all highly-processed foods;

- cut out all soft-drinks and fruit juices.

- limit alcohol to 3x per week and no more than one glass each time

- cut out simple carbohydrates - white flour products, white rice, and white potatoes

Apart from that, it's a piece of cake. Except you shouldn't eat cake made with white flour and sugar!

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to DakCB-UK]

Yes, it restricts you from fake food. That's a good thing.All of nature's bounty under the sun is still there to be eaten: fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, poultry, meat, and fish.

That is our natural diet, not the highly processed 'food' invented by companies in the last hundred years.

Its your choice to make.

[DakCB-UK in reply to sos007]

Oh sure, it's a choice we can make, but let's not pretend it is not restrictive. I will be saying "no" to a lot of food my family thinks is traditional, especially at Christmas, things made with sugar and white flour at home, not only company food.

[Hidden]

I switched to a clean, very low carb diet at the start of September, having been on the Mediterranean diet since an April heart attack.

I can report some interesting results, especially cholesterol.

~50lbs weight loss

BMI from 30 to under 23

Fat mass from 35% to 19%

All looking good. On the Med diet my total cholesterol went from 7.1 to 6.2. Small improvements with each measure (HDL up, LDL and TG down).

I've just had a cholesterol panel done and it has moved from 6.2 to 9.2 which has surprised me. HDL up 50% yay! LDL up about 40% boo! Triglycerides up by 20% bizarre!

Doctor wants me on more meds than a drug dealer and a referral to a lipids clinic, but at the moment I'm steadfast refusing.

[sos007 Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

If your triglycerides are up, it reflects elevated consumption of simple carbohydrates and/or sugar equivalents (that includes fruits and fruit juice). I would suggest you keep a food diary for 3 days. You can message me privately if you want my feedback based on my own experience. My trigs are 0.50 mmol/l. If you keep your trigs down, your LDL-P will follow.

[Hidden in reply to sos007]

My research suggests the same. The thing is my triglycerides were at 1.0 on the med diet which included bread, pasta, pizza and several beers a week. I've never eaten sweet stuff. Now after 4 months on keto it is registering 1.2 and I've cut all that out. Most of my carbs are fresh veg, no sweet drinks, beer replaced with whisky. I do the odd sanity check and my carb intake is always under 30g, pre keto it would have been 200-300g. I've been very strict with no added sugar, no grains, no seed oils, no citrus or tropical fruit, no potatoes, few legumes, lots of cruciferous.

I'm wondering if there was an error with the blood test.

[sandybrown in reply to Hidden]

Where did the increase in lipid numbers come from ? after lowering your BMI!!!

I am confused, may be a blood test lab error? Need another test soon.

[Hidden in reply to sandybrown]

I'm scratching my head (see above). I understand the LDL rise and I'm trying not to worry about that, but the triglyceride rise makes little sense.

I'm thinking blood test error or strange anomalous blip.

[sandybrown in reply to Hidden]

Sir,

I am 74, may be 7 years ago I was told of high cholesterol and high blood glucose.

To day I have done my duty as a husband and a father, grand father.

My life style is keeping me away from mediation. I like my moult whisky, which I have it every Saturday. I also take other drinks during the week, I have no plans to give this up !!! I do watch out for hidden and free sugar in food and drinks.

I eat sensibly, daily walk because of lock down, 1 hour per day and out side condition,no gym. Keeping my weight under control for the last 3 years.

I do not know what will come first, COVID -19 or heart problem or type 2 issues. I am prepared for it.

So far no medication for high cholesterol or high blood glucose, may be soon on medication after the year end blood test.

Take care, enjoy one life.

[sos007 Ambassador]

I'm not on keto, and I know keto does not favour legumes, but the Mediterranean Diet does.My principle source of protein are beyond fish are legumes. I have thick lentil soup daily or alternate that with a bean or chick pea dish.

I have 3-4 glasses (5 oz) of red wine weekly. Plus I exercise daily - that also helps.

With that my trigs are kept at 0.5 mmol/l.

Perhaps check your whisky consumption volume and frequency.

A lack of sleep and stress can also cause trig spike. Keep that in mind.

[Hidden in reply to sos007]

Thanks that helps. Maybe my alcohol intake was high in the weeks preceding the test. And I know my stress levels were high as I have an acute needle phobia. I'll think about another test soon.

[sos007 Ambassador]

Best of luck!