I mentioned in Faith/Religion about my Seventh Day Adventist grand parents. They, like many Adventists were strict vegetarians. I can remember my grand mother making a small Mock Turkey from veggies when I was a kid.
I am a strict Vegan, no animal products consumed, ever. Since I'm also a gourmet vegan chef, I have no problems, whatsoever, when it comes to preparing dishes that I like, and everyone else usually likes.
I was back in the 80s. Despite being athletic and low body-fat, cholesterol was in the 280s with poor HDL levels. I read a few of Nathan Pritikin's books, followed his dietary regimens and within a month, TC was in the 180s with improved HDL. Kept at it for a few yrs. but the lipids slowly climbed back up and TC hung out in the 220s. Stopped worrying about it. I still don't eat meat -- just never been crazy about meat -- but am not vegan. And I take in a lot of junk and fatty cheeses, butter. Yet, right now TC averages in the 140s and all the fractions, eg, LDL, VLDL, and HDL are within normal and appropriate limits as are their respective relationship percentages.. I don't know why. Bodyweight since the 80s dropped from a solid 210 to a wasted 140-150. Maybe extreme weight drop loss -- albeit over several decades -- has something to do with it. Upper body is shot and no longer permits upper body exercises. Or maybe I have liver disease. The liver is the primary producer of cholesterol which is needed to ensure the structural integrity of all our cells.
I'm a Vegetarian too! I always include a Vegetable or two with my Steaks, Chops, Roasts, and Burgers! Hal
I,too, went meatless in the 80s to get my numbers down. It worked well, but I was unable to make an entire life of it. 6 months was as long as I could go. I still recall the first burger (actually I only ate half of it) I had after going meatless for so long...it about killed me. Regarding your liver: I know I get a routine liver enzyme test because I'm on statins. I'm not sure if that blood test is part of a "regular physical" or not. I would think you would know if your liver stopped working properly. Not only would you not feel well, you'd be the color of a Dr. Seuss character.
I’m not vegetarian however I enjoy 2-3 meat free meals a week ,so maybe you would be kind enough to share a couple of meat free meals I could try , I’ve tried tofu as I like soy products but I’ve never any success with it ..tried baking cubes but they were like dried up rubber ...,tried adding to veggies which I like heaps of ..but it was rubbery Seen on a cooking show recently where the show host simmered the tofu before adding it to a heap of veggies ( tried that to but was tasteless IMO) , I’ve worked as a cook but never tackled vegetarian @Trevalius Guyus I find some tofu very salty and try to ovoid salty foods due to touchy BP . I like beans but don’t eat allot due to get issues that get upset by to much fibre Thanks in advance from an Aussie member
Others will have better input than this, but there's a product I used to eat called Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP.) That pic is from an Australian website you can buy it from. If you pick apart the words, it's pretty much what it says: soy protein is processed and then formed into a texture that can easily be cooked. I've seen it as hard granules (sort of like Grape Nuts cereal) that you soak in warm water and then cook in soups & stews as a ground beef substitute. You can saute it with seasonings, onions, garlic, etc so it picks up those flavors (as tofu would) and then finish your dish. I've made a pretty good vegetarian chili with it.
The ALT, AST, ALP, and bilirubin have been on my yearly routine labs since the 80s. (The first two had different initials SGOT and SGPT -- forget which was which.) Those 1st two are also used to assess cardiac function. In recent years, routine lab studies include three or four others, LDH, GGT, .... I can't keep up with all of them. You're right when you say that you'd know it symptom-wise if the liver was not working. Enzymes above have always been normal. Just kidding when I said my low cholesterol and bodywgt. might be linked to hepatic disease.
You never know. As you said, the liver is the body's cholesterol machine. And that Dr. Suess pallor could be an excess intake of beta carotene I look at my lab results, but if everything's in the "normal" range (or I have a reason to wonder about something specific), I don't pay a lot of attention to what's tested. Good for you for remembering that list! I'd have to go look.
You are not alone, in your frustrated attempts to get to the point where you like tofu, and can add it, successfully, to your dishes. So, Basic Tofu 101: First off, do not buy tofu with any additives other than the "normal" ingredients used in the process of making it: Water, soybeans, calcium sulfate and magnesium chloride. Nasoya, Extra Firm, is what i normally use. Basic preparation: It's all about the oil and temperature of your skillet. You must use the proper oil at the proper temperature. Canola oil works best, for me. Its smoke point is high enough to do the job correctly. I have found that the spray preps actually work best. Spray your stainless steel skillet. Do NOT use those totally worthless, no-stick, pieces of crap! Heat the skillet until the smoke point is almost reached. You'll see a few plumes. Toss your cubed tofu into the skillet. Immediately, shake the skillet and flip the cubes. Spray them very lightly, but be prepared for a flame to jump up from the burner. Have your exhaust fan on, in your hood. Shake any seasonings you prefer onto the cubes. Flip them, again, shake more seasonings. Keep flipping, every few minutes, until the cubes are lightly browned. Empty onto a plate. I don't use paper towels: They dry the cubes out. If you've done everything correctly, your cubes will be a bit crispy, outside, fluffy and moist, inside. They will be the flavors you added to them. Delicious! Bon Appétit!
I firmly believe that we do best when eating a Whole Foods plant-based diet. I have been on and off of doing this several times, and this time, it seems to be fitting me a lot better than it did before, so maybe I am learning more this time. I have joined some of the plant-based diet Facebook groups, and that is helping me with learning more. I read a book by Dr. McDougall called The Starch Solution, and it made a lot of sense to me ; so that is what prompted this foray into being a WFPB person. I feel so much better, and I am actually losing weight (need that !), and I am not even missing meat or cheese. I actually started a thread about this in the health section, if someone wants to more about the McDougall way of eating. I am not calling myself a vegan, because a person can live on things like Coke and French fries, or coffee and Twinkies for breakfast, and still be considered a vegan because they are not eating any kind of animal product food; but they are not focusing on eating healthy foods. The Whole Foods Plant-based is an eating plan that is built around eating healthy food and taking care of your body.
I wouldn't worry too much about total cholesterol. Reference ranges were changed when statins were developed to allow Big Pharma to sell more of them. HDL is another matter, but the LDL and VLDL (directly related to Triglycerides) are the things to watch. If your doctor orders fractionated LDL, it would give you a better indicator of cardiac risk if that is what concerns you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apolipoprotein_B
AHA! That article echoes my complaints with calculating LDL (and VLDL) from TriG: From the article (*****) However, primarily for historic cost/complexity reasons, cholesterol, and estimated LDL-cholesterol by calculation, remains the most commonly promoted lipid test for the risk factor of atherosclerosis. (*****) TriG can change radically day-to-day, sometimes by the amount of fresh fruit consumed. It does mention more specific assays but they are not routinely used presumably because of cost. At any rate, my lipids are no longer an issue in old age. TC ranges 140-160 and the hdl/ldl ratio is well WNL.