RE: Weil on coconut oil

[Guest guest]

Their desserts are so sweet too. They have this fried looking balls that i

think have cardamom seeds, pistacios, etc. steeped in sugary syrup. Oh, it is

just wonderful....but stayed away from it due to my diabetes. Their ice cream

too is so good.

By the way there is a new Indian Restaurant at Salcedo Village in Makati across

the end of Valero Street. It called New Kashmir (i think). It is in the ground

floor of one of the buildings. I haven't tried it though but friends says it is

really good.

Re: Weil on coconut oil

At 06:15 PM 3/18/2004 +0000, Sharon M wrote:

>please don't take these people as representative of vegetarians! Most of

>those that I know are Indians or connected with India, where it just isn't

>a big deal. Certainly not something you would go to a discussion board to

>talk about and fight over. The only problem is that we do have a hard

>time getting decent tasting food somethimes when we go ot to eat. People

>just shove a plate with a few lettuce leaves on it, and call it a meal!

Sharon -

I have a lot of respect for vegans - at one point a couple of years ago

when I was so freaked out over being diagnosed type II diabetic I did

attempt to go vegetarian myself (it didn't work out so I switched to a

'relatively low carb' diet, which was more sustainable)

What made the vegetarian routine difficult to follow was not so much a

taste issue but the fact that modern urban life is quite a toxic

environment as it is and it is difficult to find something to eat in the

urban jungle. If one just stayed at home and prepared all meals it wouldn't

be too bad but it was difficult to find a vegetarian meal at work, in a

shopping mall, or on social occasions which are awash with meat and

processed foods - later on when I discovered the link between starchy

carbohydrates and blood sugars it was difficult to find low carb veggies

(the usual rice and potatoes were no-nos). There's also a cultural aspect -

I live in the Philippines and a cafeteria meal here is traditionally a meat

main course, rice and tiny side dish of veggies. I was able to ditch the

rice but there was not too much variety in the veggie department.

When I ate Indian food, veggies were tastier because of the spices ( I love

spicy food), but you have to eat this food with a lot of rice, which

defeats the purpose of trying to lower blood sugar :-)

So for me it was really difficult to maintain the lifestyle. If I stayed at

home all day or lived in a farm it would make much sense, but going out

into the real world over here one is likely to starve. Maybe if I lived in

India or some other veggie-friendly environment things would be different

:-) Still if you can maintain the lifestyle, hats off to you and good karma!

What did work for me is laying off sugars and all other refined and starchy

carbs whenever possible, and that for me meant more meat, fish, and good

fats which was easier to follow - the result was lower weight, normalized

blood sugar (based on my hemoglobin a1c tests) and very low triglycerides.

The relatively low HDL is still a mystery, I suspect I may have been eating

too much fried food cooked in hydrogenated oil - damn that KFC and Jolibee

fried chicken! And lumpia shanghai from Chow King :-)

One thing that I did notice though was that a lot of people in the Indian

communities here in Manila have managed to hold on to their culture and

cuisine which I am presuming is mainly vegetarian - I noticed that the

middle aged women are usually obese around the middle and that Indians have

an unusually high percentage of diabetes (I did read somewhere that India

is now considered the Diabetes capital of the world). Then again maybe this

is the result of switching from traditional coconut oil to polyunsaturated

vegetable oils??

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

jim ayson / jim@... / www.philmusic.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Sharon

In most of Asia, fermented bean curd (soy) is used as a condiment or an

ingredient for a dish. We really do not make a meal out of it like Westerners

do.

Re: Weil on coconut oil

Judith,

please don't take these people as representative of vegetarians! Most of those

that I know are Indians or connected with India, where it just isn't a big deal.

Certainly not something you would go to a discussion board to talk about and

fight over. The only problem is that we do have a hard time getting decent

tasting food somethimes when we go ot to eat. People just shove a plate with

a few lettuce leaves on it, and call it a meal!

It's true that many vegetarians eat soy, but that's out of ignorance. I did

too but as soon as I knew better I stopped. It's not a religion; I wouldn't even

bother to think about it if I were not challenged by disapproving meat-eaters!

Sharon M

When I was on the diet and health forums it seemed that the only really

nasty people were vegetarians trying to convert the world. " This is MY way

of eating. You WILL follow it or be damned! "

Enjoy! ;-)

Judith Alta

-----Original Message-----

From: Sharon M [mailto:smaas@...]

I never ever thought of myself - as a quasi-vegetarian - as conventional!

Indeed, all my adult life I've been marginalized, teased, lectured to and

attacked for being UN-conventional in my eating habits! As I said before,

I've never ever met the kind of militant vegetarians talked about here.

Please, please don't throw us all into one pot; there are as many varieties

of vegetarians are there are meat-eaters. We aren't some kind of sect, where

all the members toe some kind of a party line!

Sharon M

Weil

seems to be very partial to vegetarianism or at list minimizing

animal fats. He's become totally conventional

[Guest guest]

Hi Jim,

I think it wouldn't be so bad in India if only they would use whole grain rice

instead of thge white rice -and such heaps of it! That's the trouble - you do

need rice or chappitis to mop up the sauces.

And though I was in South India - which is probably the coocnut-richest region

in the world! You could not find coconut oil for cooking. Coconut oil is sold in

the hair care department! I consider what was done here - makingthem change to

polyunsaturates - quite criminal. In Bruce Fife's book there's the statistic

that in Kerala, after they swirched from coconut to corn oil, the heart diesease

rate trebled!

Nevertheless, you really do not see many fat people down there. I could count

the fat people I saw on one hand.

I lived in Germany for 25 years where it was truly difficult eating out. Most of

all, I hated giving people a hassle when I was invited anywhere; they just

didin't klnow what to serve me - that's actrually the main reason I satarted

eating chicken again, because it made life easier, and I never disliked chicken

the way I dislied other meats.

(That reminds me; as a child back in Guyana I was such a picky eater. I refused

this, I refused that. Finally my aunt would place one chicken leg on a plate for

me and that was my lunch - ever day! I ate heaps of fruit, though.)

In a restaurant, for instance. Germans can't even consider a meal as not

having meat and the restaurants never have anything except leafy salads. And

even if you asked for a salad they might put strips of meat in it, trying to do

you a favour. Here in Britain it's easier.

Sharon