Indeed, but they think we’re all little people.

I think that’s what happens with a lot of nut oils, too. They squeeze it out, sell it separately, then add cheap oils to the nut spreads.

Steve

You too.

I too, love that mushroom and swiss angus third pounder from mcD’s, but upon looking at the nutrition information (thank you Fat Head movie!), it is said to have like 2 grams of trans fats. As do most of the best tasting things on their menus. Do you think that this is due to the bread, or the cheese? Or… could it actually be some of the very few naturally occurring trans fats from animal protein (some foods have small amounts of them, like some cheeses and even beef)? Obviously you ate all sorts of fast food items at McD’s for the film, and you LOST fat and all of your levels were great afterwards, so I would assume that it’s not too bad. Just wondering what you think of this?

Thanks a bunch!

Steve

A small percent of the fat in cattle — dairy fat included — is a naturally-occuring trans fat. Even the CSPI fear-mongers noted that the small bit of trans fats in McDonald’s burgers is the natural kind.

They were still frying chicken in trans fats when I did the fast-food diet, so I also consumed the nasty man-made stuff. I’m sure that explains the one negative effect: my HDL went down during that month. Soon as I went back to natural saturated fat, it shot back up.

Although I think they’ve also banned it from bus shelters… about time too, I remember several years ago having to step outside a bus shelter with my daughter in her sling one day when it was raining because some idiot lit up without even asking. But dear God in heaven we had to fight over the ban three times at two different levels of government because we were “violating” smokers’ “rights.” Whatevs.

I don’t have a *chronic* problem with blood pressure per se, but I know how I feel when it’s elevated, thanks to a tooth problem I had several years ago that had me in such agony the pains were shooting around to the back of my head. Went to the ER because it was the middle of the night and my BP was 140 over something or other. Since then, when I have been eating like crap and become really, really stressed out about something, I feel different like I did back then, and if it’s *really* bad, I get the shooting pains again. Haven’t had those in a while now since certain stressors left my life, but I’ve had the weird feeling. And it is always when I’ve been eating more carbs than I ought to.

Just a data point, I figure lots of people have similar stories to share.

Re: smoking bans, since it was brought up: I want a public smoking ban, not because I care whether someone smokes or quits but because if I wanted to be a smoker, I would have taken up the habit myself. Even if there is zero risk to me as a nonsmoker inhaling someone else’s smoke, doesn’t matter, it’s a frigging drug and I don’t want it, or else I would be smoking. Plus, these people smoke around my child, and she’s not eighteen, so she’s too young to smoke. If no one cares that kids being exposed to cigarette smoke isn’t a great idea, there’s always that argument. It’s the law, don’tcha know.

If you smoke at home that’s your affair, although I take a dim view of people who smoke around their kids. When I was married, the ex was a smoker and he’d go outside. Even he understood. Too many smokers don’t. When it’s in public it becomes a public problem and at that point it becomes my business if I’m out in public too.

So yeah. Ban the hell out of it. From the bars too. There are nonsmokers who like to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. Here in Ohio we’ve solved the problem by allowing private clubs to operate which permit their patrons to smoke on the premises. If you’re not a private club, you’re outta luck.

There’s just no reason to ghettoize people in their own homes just because they never took up a nasty, unhealthy habit with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Re: mayors doing this boneheaded thing that Bloomberg’s doing, don’t forget to make a distinction between local, state, and federal laws. If it’s not covered by the federal Constitution and it’s not covered by state law and if local law allows for it, then a mayor certainly *can* do it. That’s something else I do not understand, how people can go “that’s not constitutional” when I doubt they’ve ever *had* a look at their state constitution, much less their local city code.

Anyway. My hypothesis about this little boondoggle is that if it goes through, you’re going to be seeing a lot more food poisoning cases in the Big Apple. Salt retards bacterial growth, you know. Probably the reason they use so much of it in restaurant and industrial foods to begin with.

I don’t have an issue with the government banning smoking on government property. But for a bar, it should be up to the bar. That’s private property. No one is forced to work there or go there. I personally benefit from those bans — I don’t like smoke-filled rooms, either — but I’m still against them on principle.

States and localities were indeed intended to have the freedom to pass their own laws. Unfortunately, Congress often passes laws it has no Constitutional authority to pass, negating local laws in the process. So New York City has the authority to be stupid. They just shouldn’t exercise it. That’s why I was impressed when our mayor refused to ban hurricane fences. He could have done it, but decided that’s not government’s job. It’s one of the reasons I love Tennessee. No elected official from the ruling party in California ever thought anything wasn’t government’s job.

a) they think they need to tell everybody what to do, and

b) they have no idea what they’re doing themselves.

Now to the really important questions that arise from your well-though-out and beautifully written piece.

1) Mc Donald’s has a mushroom-Swiss burger? Really!!?? and

2) How do you manage to eat one of those without the bun to hold it all together? I’ve tried it with other burgers and it is not a pretty sight.

Oh, and yes, Sarah, the sweet tooth is heavily influenced by hormones of various sorts, and it’s often much more powerful in women. I promise it gets easier if you cut out nearly all the carbs for a while. Really and truly. Cross my heart.

The mushroom-Swiss is one of their Angus third-pounders (which recently won the Food Porn award from the goofs at the CSPI). I just ask for it without a bun. They usually wrap some lettuce around it and put it on a plate. I eat it with a knife and fork — after adding salt.

And second, can you include beans and legumes into a low-carb diet? Or are refried beans and transfat-free peanut butter really a bad idea?

I have noticed that more women than men seem to have a sweet tooth. Maybe it’s something hormonal; I can’t say for sure.

Beans and legumes are a tricky matter. If you like them and tolerate them well, then it’s a matter of staying within your limits for starches. I don’t seem to tolerate them very well and generally avoid them. There’s some concern that the lectins can lead to leaky gut problems, which in turn can lead to autoimmune problems.