The white bean cassoulet at a local French Bistro, Martel, is one of my favorite dishes. Even the guarantee of garlic-breath does not deter. And though I like to think it’s healthy – what with the white beans and escarole or spinach – I know in my heart (sorry, pun intended) that this oil-butter-laden dish is, in truth, not a healthy choice.
Fast forward to our annual New Year’s Eve pot luck dinner. A friend whose teenage daughter is coping with very high cholesterol brought a vegetarian white bean cassoulet that was scrumptious. And healthy. Totally amazing.
NBC Nightly News and MSNBC reported just hours ago that a new, 10-year study by the US government’s Women’s Health Initiative shows that statins (the cholesterol-lowering Rx drugs like Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor) may cause Type 2 diabetes in women over 50. Here are 2 key paragraphs from an MSNBC.com online article, Statins Linked with Small Diabetes Risk:
“A new side effect seems to be emerging for those cholesterol-lowering wonder drugs called statins: They may increase some people’s chances of developing Type 2 diabetes.” “But more and more doctors are urging otherwise healthy people to use the pills as a way to prevent heart disease.
I am addicted to Starbucks Peppermint Mocha. But it’s expensive at $4.35 a cup. And even ordering it lo-co style – skim milk and no whipped cream – it still packs 290 calories and an astonishing 52g of sugar.
While that’s sad, it could be far worse. Order the full-fat with whipped cream version and you’ll be drinking a scary 440 calories with 55mg of cholesterol and 54g of sugar.
Thank goodness I prefer skim milk – and my barista is kind enough to respond to my ‘skim milk’ request with, “so you want no whipped cream,
