Cholesterol- was- Re: [Sca-cooks] Maybe It Is Rocket Science: Bread

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Actually, I've always used Nucoa margarine.  Somebody sent me some horrors
of margarine thingy (I can forward it to list, if you like, probably bore
you all stiff).  Anyway, rather than go in with straight margarine which can
be a bit expensive (I used to bake 4 batches at a stint), I was thinking oil
might be healthier.  Now, I have a better price for butter, but I am
thinking half half.
>
> Thanks guys!  Bless you Selene, dear.
> Samrah

I wish y'all would relax a bit about cholesterol ;-) Much of the information
out there is spurious- it's not really understood as well as the health
people would have you think.

In the first place, saturated fat is saturated fat. Doesn't matter if it's
vegetable based, or animal based, it's the same stuff. If you like butter,
eat butter- it's no better or worse for you than margarine, other than some
of the garbage they add to margarine to make it "look" like butter.

Eggs are high in cholesterol. However, one of the things that was discovered
after the big flap about eggs being high in cholesterol was touted, and not
advertised anywhere nearly as much, is that eggs contain their own enzymes
and such which break the cholesterol down so it's essentially harmless.

One of the big things about the diet madness that has taken over our
country, is the belief that if too much of something is bad for you, then
none of it is better for you. This is true of some things- asbestos comes to
mind, along with lead, radioactivity, cyanide, and arsenic;-) However,
cholesterol is a perfectly natural product of your own body, necessary for
some chemical processes, and if your diet completely removes cholesterol
from your system, your body's going to produce it anyway- and your body is
going to produce the "bad" cholesterol, not the good.

If you're concerned about your cholesterol, due to a conversation with your
MD, YOU need to do the research. Most MDs try very hard, but there's a lot
of stuff they have to learn in Med school, and a lot of what they're taught
may not be entirely up to date- including the proper diets for a number of
conditions, including high cholesterol.

As it happens, high cholesterol levels are as much a genetic thing, just
like diabetes, as they are a dietetic thing. If you're one of the many who
geneticly is predisposed to have higher than average levels of cholesterol
(and I'm one of them), you're going to have high cholesterol- there's not
much you can do about that.

What you CAN do is change the balance, from high levels of "bad"
cholesterol, over to high levels of "good" cholesterol. You do that by
eating more deep sea fish, using mono and poly unsaturated fats as a regular
part of a balanced diet, and lightening up on foods that have a high
saturated fat content. Notice, I didn't say "avoid", I said "lightening up".
You can also improve your entire balance by getting plenty of exercise, so
that the foods you eat get used to good purpose.

To bring things down to an easy to digest ;-) level, probably, if your
normal breakfast incudes half a dozen eggs, sauteed in butter, a half a
pound of bacon, with bread slathered in butter, you're getting too much
"bad" cholesterol, particularly if said breakfast is followed by sitting on
your can all day in an office. You're not improving anything by subbing in
margarine for the butter.

OTOH, if your breakfast includes, say, a cold cereal (with real milk, not
that white water crap they're passing as milk), toast and maybe an egg or a
bit of a lean meat, with maybe some non-fat cooked fish and fresh veggies
for lunch, and a reasonably well balanced supper (reasonably lean meat,
starch, and more vegetables, maybe a salad- standard 3-plop- or maybe a
casserole) you're going to be fine, particularly if you manage to fit some
aerobic exercise in there.

But, as far as trying to make what sounds like a wonderful egg bread more
healthy? I wouldn't bother. Instead, I'd eat it as part of my balanced diet.
You could always do what some of the "high fiber, low-carb" breads are doing
, and make your bread, essentially, out of sawdust, if you're that concerned
;-)

And remember;

"Eat right, diet, exercise, and die anyway."

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....