In honor of Thanksgiving week, I’d like to thank (see what I did there?) Going Lo-Co reader Eileen S. for sharing both her experience and the cholesterol-lowering recipe she invented. Inspired in part by my post, Grapefruit Pros and Cons (which will forevermore be dubbed, ‘the post that keeps on giving’ as I wrote about grapefruit way back in 2013 and Eileen ran across it two years later!), Going Lo-Co blog reader Eileen S recently invented a new cholesterol-lowering recipe.
As you may recall, Grapefruit Pros and Cons is about the amazing fact that grapefruit – plain old grapefruit –
I mentioned in my last post, Losing Lox, that my folks were staying with us for a few weeks. What I didn’t mention was why. And heart surgery is the reason.
My step-father had an aorta valve replacement nine years ago. The ‘epic’ valve that was supposed to last 15+ years didn’t even make it 10. Epic Fail. (Sorry, could not resist).
So now, at 82, it was clear that he needed open heart surgery, again. Fortunately he is in great shape (other than the so-very-leaky aorta valve) and was thus a candidate for surgery —
If you don’t fancy chickpeas for breakfast (and really, why would you?) perhaps adding some apple to your daily granola is more appealing as a healthy diet change?
Though I never planned to add chickpeas to my breakfast fare, I did intend to add it to my daily diet. OK, weekly diet. Indeed, so intrigued was I to learn that chickpeas lower cholesterol (see, Don’t Like Oatmeal, Try Chickpeas!), that I decided it was a good idea to try to make my own hummus from scratch.
Every morning I feel guilty as I eat my half-bagel with a smidge of whipped cream cheese and fresh lox – guilty because I know I should be eating that miracle breakfast food, oatmeal. I know oatmeal has a lot of dietary fiber, and dietary fiber reduces cholesterol. But I just don’t care for oatmeal all that much.
So imagine my surprise when I learned while researching for my Answers.com article, Chickpeas Help Lower Cholesterol (who knew?!) that chickpeas have a lot of dietary fiber. And I mean A LOT.
On Thursday, November 7, the FDA proposed a new law which would effectively eliminate partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) or artificial trans fats.
Why does this matter?
Because PHOs are in a LOT of the processed food we Americans eat. According to the FDA, PHOs are “the major dietary source of trans fat in processed food.” In fact, PHOs are a key ingredient in many popular snack foods. The NYT article, FDA Ruling Would All But Eliminate Trans Fats, explains that artificial trans fats “still lurk in many popular products, like frostings, microwave popcorn, packaged pies, frozen pizzas,
