Monthly Archives: June 2015

Oh Oh! Pork is RED MEAT

AVOID these foods

I am so sad. I am thinking that the pork chops I have in my refrigerator will be good for supper. They are fairly lean. Since I have been on the TLC diet, I don’t eat a large portion.  I am going to make Brown Rice and a salad with garbanzo beans to go with them, so it should be all good.

BUT, now I see that the USDA says PORK is red meat. And, RED MEAT is on the AVOID list. Actually, this is what the USDA site says:

“Oxygen is delivered to muscles by the red cells in the blood. One of the proteins in meat, myoglobin, holds the oxygen in the muscle. The amount of myoglobin in animal muscles determines the color of meat. Pork is classified a ‘red’ meat because it contains more myoglobin than chicken or fish. When fresh pork is cooked, it becomes lighter in color, but it is still a red meat. Pork is classed as ‘livestock’ along with veal, lamb and beef. All livestock are considered ‘red meat.'”

Actually, RED MEAT is limited to 4 servings a week, so I just have to limit what I eat the rest of the week. With the chicken and fish I have had this week, I will be fine. Whew! I know CBS News would not be considered a reliable source for this. I did check it with the actual article published by Morris et al. and this is correct, but I cannot link to the article itself.

So, why did I think of pork as white meat. Because the Pork Board said so. Their advertising campaign used Pork – the Other White Meat for years. Pork Board about how successful that advertising campaign was. They do have a good point, that lean pork can have less fat than chicken.

Here is another wrinkle: According to Science Daily, a Purdue University study of the DASH diet found that lean, uncured pork could be used in place of chicken and fish without a significant effect on blood pressure, which is the target of the DASH diet. This may or may not apply to the MIND diet, though. I haven’t had time to find the actual article yet, but this is the citation:

  1. R. D. Sayer, A. J. Wright, N. Chen, W. W. Campbell. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet retains effectiveness to reduce blood pressure when lean pork is substituted for chicken and fish as the predominant source of protein. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2015; DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.115.111757

 

 

4th of July – the perfect time to eat BERRIES

Berries, , ,

Berries on Dessert

Berries on Dessert

I got this photo from the Pillsbury site. I am not providing the link because I really don’t want you to go there. It is full of things that fit the AVOID category: Pastries and Sweets.

But, it gave me an idea for the 4th of July picnic I need to bring something to.  For sure, I will be using the blueberrries and strawberries. It’s what I am putting underneath that will be different. I am going to use Sugar-Free Strawberry Jello and put Strawberries in it. I have a glass 9×13 dish that will look pretty good. I am going to “frost” it with Fat-free Cool Whip. With that as a base, I will make the flag as shown in the photo (except my stripes will be strawberries because my husband hates raspberries.

Question:  I know that SF Jello and FF Cool Whip are probably not the best nutrition sources. The MIND diet does not address them specifically and I wouldn’t put them in the Pastries and Sweets category. They have served me well in my weight loss journey, so I am going to use them. The question: How do they affect the possibility of Alzheimer’s?  I will have to research that at some point.

Another thought on Blueberries and Strawberries: They are on sale quite often these days. I am going to buy up some, wash them, and put them in small zip-lock bags to freeze.