South Beach Blues

[muckefuck]

Following monshu's recent checkup (wow, I didn't know human blood pressure readings went up that high!), we have become the latest bears to adopt the South Beach diet--or we will, starting next week; I think this is going to be Binge Week until we get rid of all the nasty things lurking in his larder. He was telling me that I don't have to eat as many twigs and nettles as he does, but frankly I need the external pressure to change my diet.

I think the biggest bummer will be cutting down on the East Asian food, with its high sodium and hidden sugars. Any suggestions for tasty, heart-healthy substitutes will be much appreciated!

Comments

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest bummer will be cutting down on the East Asian food, with its high sodium and hidden sugars.

Hey, I'll take those off your hands. It's kind of like bass-ackwards Passover. ^_-

Seriously, I'm really sorry about your nena's blood pressure -- I wish you luck with this diet... (HUG)

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

I like to take a nice little piece of tilapia or sole, cook it gently in a TINY BIT of sesame oil, and then eat it with rice and soy sauce. Ah, the virtue ...

(I know nothing about the South Beach diet. This is just one of my favorite plain, healthy meals.)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Rice is out! Apparently, it is "as bad as potatoes" (for which he has an inordinate fondness). I don't know what that leaves us with--mung bean thread?

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

Oh, is this one of those low-carb things? People I've known on those get SO GRUMPY.

(brown rice? whole-wheat couscous? bulghur?)

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

the only thing lower-carb than this one is Atkins.

seriously? if people ask me about that diet, i would endorse it if you're diabetic, but not for anyone else. for anyone else i'd say: eat as many non-starch vegetables as you want. eat whole grains, and whole fruits. control how much sucrose you allow yourself. eat a lot of protein, as it keeps your stomach busy.

the rest is trial, error, and working with what you have. everybody's metabolism is different. i've recently gone over to eating hardboiled eggs, like two a day. i have no cholesterol problem, so i'm not worried. but i was apparently having a problem being hungry all the time, possibly from too much soy and not enough animal protein.

when you find yourself craving anything halfway decent for you, your diet probably needs tweaking. ;)

[prilicla.livejournal.com]

Actually, when I was diagnosed with diabetes last year, the dietitian I saw recommended a diet a lot like the one sirhc_warrior is describing, rather than a low-carb diet like Atkins or South Beach. I usually eat about 45-60 grams of carbohydrate at every meal and 15-30 grams at each of my two snacks, which is definitely not low-carb. (I think Agatston recommends eating < 60 grams per day even in the maintenance phase.) Middle-of-the-road diets like the one I'm on don't work for all diabetics, but I'm really grateful that it's worked for me so far. I'm pretty sure I'd have a hard time staying on a low-carb diet for more than a few months, though I know they've worked for a lot of people.

Good luck to you and monshu. Let us know how it goes.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I don't think of South Beach as a low-carb diet, rather a "good carb" diet. Perhaps some people are misled by the phased approach: You start out by drastically elminating carbs and then, once you've lost your taste for the worst ones, you gradually introduce them back in. rootbeer1 describe it in a nutshell as "High fibre, low sugar": Eat what you want, but make it whole grains and fresh vegetables rather than sweets and processed foods.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Our clever plan is to send him out of town for a bit so that, during the worst spots, his grumpiness will be directed outwards at people he's not likely to see again soon.

(Couscous & bulgur = okay; rice = the Little Satan.)

[niemandsrose.livejournal.com]

I just emailed you the article from the NYT about "garbage-fed bears". Thought of you.

p.s. Vinaigrette is going to be your best friend this summer.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Vinaigrette is already our live. Are you telling me that we're going to find new and fascinating things to put it on? "What's for dinner, dear? Mmmm...granola en vinaigrette! Magnificque!

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

granola en vinaigrette!

um, *covers mouth with hands*

for me, avoiding sugars means making it myself.

stir frys are pretty darn healthy if you limit your oil use and stick to the "better" oils. chicken or turkey breast, shrimp, and (although i don't eat it) lean pork are all very good for you, and permissable with that diet. i'm not sure what stage allows mucho green vegetables (although i think it's damn silly to do this diet, btw, and watching your barbs should not mean watching your veggies, but hey-) but peppers, sprouts, carrots, onion, etc - they're all very good for you.

you just have to watch the noodles.

which takes all the fun out of Thai, but whatever.

good luck!

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Tim has been growing very fond of grilled vegetables. Colored bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli... grill 'em for a few minutes and their natural sugars come out.

Eggplant!

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

You missed eggplant. Grill past mushiness.

And I kinda think "diets" are silly too. Happily I work in a bookstore that refuses to stock groovoid diet books. My advice? Eat beans.

Re: Eggplant!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I hate eggplant, but for monshu, I can learn to like it. The advice from a classmate who recently visited Turkey was: Grill the round little Asian eggplants, not the long skinny Western kind.

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

My friend's mother's bp reached 260/117 last week. You can imagine why she's been in the ICU for 6 days now.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

So monshu still has the highest reading of anyone I know who is not currently hospitalised.

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

Interestingly those are the numbers for her second emergency room trip. She went to the emergency room three different days in a row and it was only on the third night that they kept her.

[pleinweb.livejournal.com]

The good thing about Hypertension is that its a stress damage over time kinda thing, not a "your heart explodes next week thing" it is entirely treatable, and caught and treated is not going to kill you.

The bad thing is that it's mood-altered. Getting angry, stressed, or anxious increases it, so consciously backing away from these emotions becomes a survival skill. I drive less, for instance, since my genetics kicked in and launched my diastolic pressure into the low 100s, because driving in traffic stresses me the fuck out.

Sugar=carbs, so your approach is a smart one, I think. Have the labs indicated that either sodium or cholesterol are the problem?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

No cholesterol test yet, but I'm assuming yes for sodium since the doc gave him handouts on low-sodium dining. (That's one reason why Asian is such a no-no.)

[pleinweb.livejournal.com]

Not to get your hopes up, but until the labs are back they can't tell that for certain. Though reducing sodium is always a smart thing to do with hypertension... it may, as is the case with me, have nothing to do with it. It just usually is, so the doctor was being pre-emptive.

High blood pressure

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

My condolences to Monshu about having to deal with high blood pressure. You might want to check out the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet guidelines, since they are specifically aimed at reducing high blood pressure. Here's a PDF file:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf

My suggestions: beans (with chili peppers, cumin, other spices), fruits and vegetables. Go to the farmer's markets and see pretty colors and fun veggies! Whole grains -- whole wheat bread (not the phoney stuff with the molasses in it to make it brown), bulgur, brown rice, oatmeal.

Watch out for the sodium in canned food. There are salt-free options.

Let us know the parameters, and we'll fix you up a meal!