First, an apology for my absence. November and December were crazy—had a gall bladder attack which resulted in surgery and then a virus (not Covid) masqueraded as a surgical complication… It’s been a crazy past two months with a LOT of medical testing. But the good news is things are finally sorted, so I am back to writing.
If you’ve never had a gall bladder attack (and I hope you don’t) here’s one irony: it’s very important to eat a LOW FAT diet. And if you blog about cholesterol and already do that, well, then it’s a waiting game until surgery.
Last week at my annual visit, my cardiologist asked if I’d seen the study that for every hot dog eaten, life is shortened by 30 minutes…
Wait, what?
Not that I eat a lot of hot dogs. Not that anyone with high cholesterol eats a lot of hot dogs. But seriously, what? There’s a MEDICAL STUDY that shows hot dogs lead to earlier death?
It turns out that there WAS a study done. A real one. Which was then written about with the kind of headline known as ‘click bait.’ Which works, obviously, as my doctor mentioned it.
One of the best things you can do to lower cholesterol is to eat less (red) meat AND more greens…but for many of us a vegetarian or vegan diet is too large a shift. One small step that can pay big dividends is to incorporate more ‘plant-based’ (aka vegetarian or vegan) meals into your meal planning.
But I’m often at a loss for vegetarian meal ideas—it just feels so much easier to throw chicken on the grill. So when the New York Times recently launched a newsletter called THE VEGGIE I decided to give it a try.
Health issues due to the pandemic affected nearly everyone in 2020. Lockdowns and working from home wreaked havoc with exercise routines. For many, stress eating and drinking replaced healthy habits. The result: millions of Americans know they gained weight last year. But many may not realize that weight gain alongside months of anxiety and stress might also have elevated blood pressure. And that is alarming as weight gain, alcohol consumption, and elevated blood pressure all increase risk of heart disease… sometimes significantly.
So if you’ve had—or are about to have—an overdue physical, don’t be surprised if your doctor newly diagnoses you with high cholesterol (or high blood pressure or diabetes.) If that happens,
While searching for an easy dinner to make while on vacation (why I’m cooking on vacation is another story), I found an article in the New York Times by Ali Slagle, with a recipe for Crisp Gnocchi with Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter. I tried it because the opening line said:
“For a fantastic meal that can be ready in 20 minutes…”
That was all I needed to hear.
That said, I almost didn’t try this recipe as it calls for 6 tablespoons of butter (and, um, has ‘butter’ in the title). But when I scanned the recipe comments,
