I think it's a lot more complected than the kinds of fats you consume.

For example we're told that a high fat diet promotes weight gain but the Atkins diet has disproved this theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical...ohydrate_diets

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@arrie,
In the US, we have an ethnic food made from fried pork fat. Might be similar to what you are describing. The real biltong sounds good. I need to find a SA deli in Cleveland.

John

 

I've seen a documentary on the Atkinson diet.
Point was that it didn't work. I know some people have lost weight using it, but so have people doing some other weird things.
Weight-loss is also a state of mind I think. I think some people will stone me on that statement again.
The fat does not necessarily lead to weight gain, but, clogs your main arteries, that can lead to a stroke or even heart failure amongst other things.
Seed fats seem to have the opposite effect.

Hey John, the thing is biltong is not fried/cooked or anything for that matter.
You basically take the raw piece of meat, add some special goodies to it, usually spices, vinegar, oils etc. and hang it in a cool place for a long period.
The meat basically dries out, giving you biltong. You eat it like that, without cooking, for those not knowing.
We also have the pig fat crisp thing here, but I don't eat pork, quite allergic to it. I forgot the proper name we called it, but yes, from what I can remember it was very tasty, mainly due to being very salty.
Biltong is really good, but really expensive, places charge average of R130 per kg. That's rough considering the raw meat is much less, but we love the stuff, that's the problem.
It has been linked to high blood pressure problems, so I suppose eating the fish rather than the biltong is preferred.

 

In the UK they are called "scratchings", you can buy them 'fresh' from some local butchers, or in sealed bags like you'd buy potato crisps.

Another lovely 'pig' food, is "black pudding", pigs blood and pieces of fat.

Both are delicious.

You're missing out not been able to eat pork!

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I know. I looked up the recipe on Wikipedia before my last response.

My comment about fried fat was in reference to this:

I would still like to try biltong.

John

 

Are you really allergic to pork or can you just not eat it for religious purposes?

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There is a difference in the way they process the milk. I'm not sure but I believe there is no pasteurization of cheeses. I'm not sure if they Homogenize there milk either.

It may be the difference in the way the body will use it. They have not truly concluded why there is Plaque developing. HDL & LDL is not just the indicator.

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No I'm not Muslim, nor Jewish.
I'm really allergic to the stuff.
That and potatoes, nuts, milk, apples, oranges, mangoes, paw-paw, spanspek(don't know the English name, also a fruit similar to paw-paw), soya and more fruits. I can basically eat strawberries (well, most berries), grapes, watermelon, oh spanspek could be a type of melon, and I believe that's it.

I fell really ill while I was studying full time many years back, doctors wanted to put me in hospital with permanent steroid(or something) feed, and all sorts not nice stuff.
My doc got this great idea, they took a crap-load of blood, I almost looked like a raisin, sent it who knows where for testing. And that is the result. I stopped eating those foods, and I was alive again.
Funny thing was, while studying, every lunch I bought myself a burger and chips. Three big no-no's, burger patties here normally are full of pork and soya, plus the chips.
Interesting he. Oh, and the migraines, I had about three a day, five a week, that was not fun.
Now I may only have 2 migraines a year, you see I love chocolates too much to totally give up on it. But I can live with that.
Interesting.

 

No, we call those fat bits something else, but my brain is weak tonight, or alzheimer light, I don't know.
That black pudding sounds interesting, doubt whether I will try it. You can also wrap your mouth around some cow brain, sheep stomach or ostrich anus.

If you want.

 

Then why is it some of the studies have indicated an greater improvement in cholesterol in subjects on an Atkins style diet than a calore restricted Mediterranean diet?
I'm not saying that the Atkins isn't without its risks or is the best way of loosing wieght. I just think it's a bit more completed than avoiding certain types of fat to reduce the risk of heart disease.

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I wish I could tell you, but I personally have not tested or tried it.
But this is sure, animal fat is not good for you.
Don't care what Atkins said, I'll stick to that, have seen it through and through.
We have a tremendous heart failure rate in SA, but unfortunately some bad habits when it's time to eat, I'm sure it stems from back in the day when people were still travelling on horses etc. here in SA.
It became tradition to consume large amounts of fat. And most farmers died and left their wife's with farms to run, especially in the Afrikaans community.
It's been proven many times locally that animal fat causes bad cholesterol, and a measure of controlling it is cutting out the bad fat.
In the same sentence I would like to add, ditto anything deep fried.

So yes, I guess it probably is more complicated than that. But some fats just are not good. Accept it as that.

 

This isn't what Atkins said, it's a totally independent study.

If you read the Wikipedia article, you'll find that there are other studies that have found improvements in cholesterol who have been on high fat low carbohydrate diets.

Sorry, I forgot to post the link to the srouce for the above quote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical...ohydrate_diets

Not all the articles about low carb diets have been good and I'm not suggesting that they are.

I just think your reasoning is out dated, I suppose I can't blame you as the dangers of animal fats have been drummed into everyone over the years.

It's known that a high protien diet induces a state known as ketosis. This is when the body starts using fat and protien for fuel and is what happens to someone when they're starving. The difference being in this case they aren't, it's just the food they're eating is the similar in nutritional value as flesh and fat. I think what happens is because the kidneys are converting fat to glucose, the cholesterol is being consumed and not left in the veins and arteries clogging them up.

This is different to being on a normal diet high in both carbohydrates and animal fat, in which case the body isn't in ketosis and all the cholesterol is left to clog the veins and arteries.

This is an oppinion I've formed from reading many articles about this stuff. I'm not saying it's right, I just think that the body process foods differently when the main source of energy is switched from vegitable matter to animal matter.

I'm not that fat, I'd just like to loose a bit round the middle. I've been thinking about going on an Atkins type diet for awhile now. I've tried the GI diet and it worked but I put the wieght back on over about three years.

I know about most of the risks but I feel that the general consenses now is that the Atkins is both a faster and easier way to loose weight. I only need to loose a couple of stone (12.7kg) at the most so I won't need to be on it for very long.

Maybe I'll wait untill I move out of my parents, that way I can choose what I eat.

Oh sorry for derailing the thread, if you want to bring it back on topic then please feel free to do so.

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If you have to ask someone else if you're drinking too much, you're an alcoholic, ask on an electronics forum and you're going to get a whole lot of numbers that don't mean a whole lot to the individual. A 6 pack in a day is binge drinking, a six pack on the weekend is border line binge drinking and over consumption at the very least. Individual metabolism even in weight/body type class can vary DRAMATICALLY (to the point of being lethal) from one individual to another. The medicinal effects of alcohol occur bellow the realm of human perception, and most of those are related to red wines where there are antioxidant benefits. Never justify drinking ANY amount of alcohol by weather or not it's 'good' for you. ANY level of alcohol intake on other than a random extremely long term basis is a bad idea. From someone that knows I would at your point immediately decrease over the long term and immediately decrease the 'peak' drinking you do NOW. A primary sign of being or having the ability to become an alcoholic is justifying the intake of alcohol itself at any level for any reason.

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I don't care if it's good for me or not in the most technical of senses. I'm not justifying it at all. I'm just doing it because I want to, but I'd like to keep it at a point where there are no long-term side effects.

I've already decided I'm not going to have a drink for 3 weeks and note the changes. Right around now is when I usually have my drinks every week. One thing I've already noticed is that the stuff that used to get my angry is actually making me angry again. Related to that is that lifting weights 7 days from my last drink (rather than the regular 1 or 2 which is when I usually do) is that lifting weights also gets my anger pumped up. These things used to happen all the time before I started this routine drinking. Not exactly the greatest results so far, but what you going to do?

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Hero999, you make an interesting statement there, making a lot of sense.
I would still be scared, because if your body is in the wrong state, you can harm yourself.
I think any time you have lost weight, you need to keep some routine of exercise and good eating, otherwise you'll get it back over a period of time.
A lot of these powder based diets also work without side effects, like the herbalife and related stuff. Just if you're interested.

Sceadwian, I actually agree with you on that, alcohol is a dangerous substance, that much of it is not a good idea, us humans form habits that are broken with difficulty to easily, and before you know it, you're in a bad place.

dknguyen, if you are drinking because of an anger issue, stop, and rather find what is making you angry within, sort that out. The drinking route is no solution.
I'm talking from experience, anger is a mental thing, a physical thing will not fix it, just get you in trouble more.
Anger is a lot of times something that you are blocking up inside, many times you do not even know what, because you are actually hiding it from yourself.
Get help from someone who knows how to get to it, sort it out. You'll see, your quality of living will become much better. Without external factors influencing it.
Heck man, send an e-mail to dr. Phil if you have to.

Good luck with that.