Pass the Spuds, Pass Up the Butter
Filed Under Lower cholesterol Remedies |
Pass the Spuds, Pass Up the Butter
Want to tank up on cholesterol-busting complex carbs? Follow these simple tips.
• Try to avoid processed foods, which tend to contain added fat, salt and sugar, advises dietitian Marilyn Guthrie, R.D., manager of health promotion for Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. So eat baked potatoes instead of potato chips and whole-grain cereals instead of the highly refined, sugary kinds, says Guthrie. (You might also opt for plain white or brown rice instead of preseasoned rice mixes, which can be high in fat and sodium.)
• Make room for fruits and vegetables. Apples, bananas, blackberries, prunes, pears, parsnips, acorn squash, corn and yams are rich sources of complex carbs and fiber. If fresh vegetables aren’t available, opt for frozen-they’re just as high in fiber and nutrients.
• Learn to eat bread (preferably the whole-grain kind) without butter. You might top your morning toast with sugar-free jam or apple butter or even learn to enjoy the delicious simplicity of plain wholegrain bread.
• Jazz up vegetables with herbs instead of butter or cream sauces, says Sue Chapman, executive chef at Skylonda Fitness Retreat in Woodside, California. “Flavor broccoli with rosemary, and bok choy with chopped cilantro, chives or scallions,” she suggests.
• Sprinkle baked potatoes with Parmesan cheese, suggests Guthrie. You might also try nonfat sour cream or a dab of spicy brown mustard or low-fat salad dressing.
• Don’t drown carbo-packed pastas in fatty meat sauces and cheeses. Instead, flavor spaghetti with low-fat tomato sauce or a drizzle of olive oil, fresh garlic and parsley.
Can Pasta Make You Fat? The Facts
A while back you couldn’t turn on the television or pick up a newspaper without being confronted by this ugly little phrase: “Pasta makes you fat.” Well, does it or doesn’t it? Here’s what you need to know.
According to some experts, people who produce too much insulin-the hormone that helps metabolize starches and sugars-may gain weight on a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. These experts theorize that such “insulin-resistant” people may comprise up to 25 percent of the population.
But other health professionals say that for the remaining 75 percent of us who are not insulin-resistant, whether pasta leads to weight gain depends on how much of it we eat and what we ladle on top of it.
There’s some evidence that a high-carbohydrate diet can raise triglycerides (a type of blood fat implicated in heart disease) and lower levels of HDL cholesterol (the “good” kind) in insulin-resistant people, says Wahida Karmally, R.D., director of nutrition at the Irving Center for Clinical Research at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center
in New York City, a member of the American Heart Association’s nutrition subcommittee and part of a research study examining this issue. But you can’t blame pasta for your excess pounds “unless you eat loads and loads of it,” says Karmally. “It’s the overall carbohydrate intake that counts, not just pasta, or just rice, or just potatoes.”
“You have to distinguish between complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates,” says Dean Ornish, M.D., president and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, and author of Dr. Dean Ornisb’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease. “Complex carbohydrates-fruits, vegetables and grains-do not raise your insulin level and blood sugar.” Dr. Ornish recommends that pasta-lovers avoid sauces and toppings containing fatty ingredients such as butter, oil, cream and sausage.