Friday 13 August 2010

What we're eating differently

Have just done some baking rather than the cleaning that needs doing and thought I would write what we have changed in our eating habits so that I remember. (Another procrastination)

Some of this is to cut out all the saturated fat and some of it is to increase the fibre and hydration and to eat the things that are supposed to lower cholesterol.

In baking I have changed every butter mention for olive oil and changed to multicereal flour. I make oatcakes with oats and olive oil, pastry with multicereal flour and olive oil. We are eating brown basmati rice instead of white. (Haven't found brown pasta anywhere local, you can get red/green but not complet.)

Changed every oil mention to olive with occasional other.

No cheese. We have some 0% cream cheese and Boursin type for when I need to sink my teeth into the creaminess before the smoked salmon in a sandwich but it doesn't work as a sauce for pasta, just disappears completely (so heaven knows what it is really).

No booze.

No meat except skinless chicken but lots of oily fish.

A 75cl (just checked, thought it was a litre) bottle of water between us with every meal.

Snacks are now oatcakes and home made hummous. Via a diversion through a red kidney bean spread and a red lentil spread which were not enthusiastically received. Fruit and walnuts.

We have swapped the daily baguette for wholemeal bread (made by Him Outdoors).

Have home made mayonnaise with olive oil/rapeseed oil.

We have either fruit juice or a lime cordial/lemonade/angostura bitters or an elderflower cordial with fizzy water aperatif.

No cake. Him Outdoors is used to cake for elevenses, pudding and afternoon tea. He works hard physically outside most of the day and gets hungry. We decided that if I didn't make it - even with no saturated fats which he has had before without noticing - he would eat more of the stuff that is recommended to lower cholesterol.

That is oats (muesli for breakfast/oatcakes/instead of breadcrumbs as stuffing for mackerel), avocado,walnuts (added to bread and munched by the handful/walnut and lentil salad), oily fish (tuna fresh and tinned,salmon smoked and fresh, mackerel, herring, trout).

Him Outdoors is a meat and two veg man really. Or definitely a meat man. We had a vegetarian chilli last night that he had made. He is thinking wistfully after the minced beef and the glass of red wine, I am missing the butter on the crunchy baguette.

We have done 5 weeks now and plan to keep it at this level until the next blood test. We have a plan to go out for lunch between that test and the results :-). After that (depending on the result I guess) we will bring back some wine though hopefully quality not quantity.

PS I'm not mentioning the yoga because I'm not doing it anymore - weird, I like doing it and felt better but still don't???? Him Outdoors is doing a long bike ride twice a week but not the extra walking he was partly because it has been hot but not really.

12 comments:

  1. Forgot the 0% fromage blanc instead of anything creamy/creme fraichey/yoghurty

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  2. So the eating change is totally for cholesterol levels? I saw an article in the newspaper last week of a 7-year study on people who ate low-fat versus people who ate low-carb diets. Surprisingly, those who ate low-carb diets had better cholesterol results, including a high number for the good cholesterol. I'm trying to eat proteins, fruits and veggies for a few weeks. Maybe I'll do that until my doctor's appointment and let you know if it lowers the cholesterol. Good luck.

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  3. Yes. A response to very high numbers from a blood test.

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  4. I know it was an enforced change, but it does sound interesting...my mother had lots of australian recipes using oil rather than butter in baking and that was long before anyone thought about cholesterol, so I don't know what all that was about, but I've resurrected a few and, not being a great baker, they seem to work better for me.

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  5. It is interesting. I have really enjoyed the challenges of finding and making new things. Thank heavens for Google.

    Was your mother in Australia? Would that be to do with the butter going rancid in the heat maybe?

    Certainly in my mother's time, olive oil was something that you bought at Boots the Chemist but I can't think what medicinal use it must have been apart from softening ear wax? But we had a huge bottle under the sink in the kitchen. (I think it was because it was too big to fit on the shelf, not for any cleaning purpose!)

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  6. I thought my diet was a bit unhealthy, but reading about your changes has made me think it's not so bad. The only meat I eat is chicken. And I use olive oil for baking instead of any other fats. I do love puddings and cakes but I've cut these out recently and eat fruit instead. And I only ever drink alcohol when I visit the UK...my once every 6 months treat!

    Keep up the good work, and I hope the results show in the tests.

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  7. I can remember going to the grocer when first setting up home and ordering a large tin of olive oil...the only alternative to tiny bottles obtained from a chemist.
    The delivery man...yes, it was that long ago...asked me sympathetically if we had a lot of problems with our ears.

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  8. Does it make it difficult when you have guests who aren't on your strict diet?

    This is not a loaded question since we won't be visiting you for some time ;-)

    x

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  9. JJ we don't really know yet. This week should tell. The friends we have been seeing most of since we started are also on a non saturated fat regime and hardly drink so they've just been pleased to be somewhere where it's catered for.
    This week we have some old friends and also the kids coming so no alcohol will be more difficult. The rest of the diet things aren't a problem.

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  10. Gosh, I am in awe of your dedication! Hope all the hard work pays off when you get your test results!

    C x

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  11. Hopefully they are not red meat fanatics ;-)

    Yes we all look forward to hearing how many 'whatever-it-is's you have lost (and lbs!)when you're next tested!

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  12. Congratulations on the changes that you are making together to your diet. They should reap nice benefits for you over the long-haul. It is very nice that you are in accord about the changes. It can be hard when there is only one of you who is interested in making a change. I wish you the very best luck with lowering your cholesterol.

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