Sauteing with water...
 

I just sautéed some eggplant in water....clean up was a breeze, no yucky oily mess to deal with...just imagine all that oil mixed in your bloodstream...and we wonder why heart disease and obesity is so rampant in this country...that's the problem right there.

Dr. Esselstyn is right, stay away from cooking oils and you'll be much healthier.

While there is nothing wrong with braising, I disagree with Dr. Esselstyn.

Avoiding vegetable and seed oils high is poly-unsaturated fats is a good idea, however saturated fat and mono-unsaturated fat are very good for you and should be consumed in order to stay healthy. As an example; use butter, coconut oil or olive oil. Some, including myself, add extra coconut oil to their diet simply due to its health benefits. These fats will not cause heart disease or obesity.

I don't like the idea of demonizing - or promoting - any kinds of fats. I have been avoiding saturated fats in my diet for quite a while, and only see improvements in my blood chemistry results. However, that doesn't mean I don't get saturated fat in my diet anyway. There's so much saturated fat in foods that it has made me eat more vegetables and fruits, to the point of being 'almost vegetarian.'

Fitday is one website that shows this very clearly. If you don't add any fats (oil, butter, etc.) to your foods, you will still see a lot of fat in your diet. Less than before, for sure, but a surprising lot of fat! Especially meats. Even a skinless, boneless chicken breast, poached with no fat, has fat!

So, fussing about good vs bad fat is kind of a waste of time, IMO. It's extremely hard to control the type of fat you eat. You can try to avoid certain fats, but good luck with it.

Unfortunately this misconception the general public has on fat is the driving force behind most nutrition based problems. This is exacerbated by what is pushed in the media and taught to our doctors. Not all fat is the same, drastically so. You can very easily keep the good fat to bad fat ratio at reasonable levels, it is simply the lack of knowing what is truly good or bad about various fat that impedes us.

The eggplant recipe sounds good.

Well last week was my 8 week milestone on Dr Esselstyn's diet. I've been staying as far away from oil as possible for the whole 8 weeks. I had my blood work done last week and my cholesterol is down from 159 to 144, my LDL is down from 72 down to 56, my weight is down 18.7 pounds, my 1AC is down from 6.7 all the way down to 5.6.

These numbers are great to me because they signify that I am no longer at risk for a heart attack. The goals of the plan are cholesterol to be under 150, LDL under 80, 1AC under 7.0. I reached all these goals in 8 weeks time !!

Cutting out all oils was a major part of this success. I'm sticking with the diet to get even better numbers and to get my weight down even further.

Here's a picture of Bill Clinton taken today. Bill is also on Dr Esselstyn's diet and looks great !!



http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photo...-7QCShWd-L.jpg

Blood cholesterol has nothing to do with atherosclerosis
2. Blood cholesterol has nothing to do with atherosclerosis Cholesterol Facts You Should Know

Sticking with a low fat diet does more harm than good, it is just playing to your affinity for "good" numbers, which was instilled by a fabrication.

7 Ways The Low-Fat Diet Destroys Your Health
Why A High-Fat Diet is Healthy and Safe | Mark's Daily Apple

There are many more references I could link if you would like. I joined here to try and help guide people who are putting themselves at risk due to the slew of misinformation that is trusted and followed. Health is far more than appearances; how you look and feel.

If you like Esselstyn, check out the Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn, his son, an Austin, TX firefighter. Recommended to me by my doctor, who followed the diet.

I already have the Engine 2 Diet book. I found many good inspirational ideas there for great vegan meals. I'm now even making my own whole wheat vegan pizzas !! That's also where I got the idea for trail mix snacks.

I sautee in broth...especially my onions. When I sautee red onions, I wait until they are real tender, then I add balsamic vinegar and sautee until done. Yum.

The eggplant recipe sounds good and tasty

I have also followed the no fat diet (remembering there are plenty of fats in many of the foods I eat). Even though I'm a vegan, my cholesterol was always high - 245 and up. After eating this way, my cholesterol dropped to 180. It has never been this low and my doctor did the test twice because he thought it was an aberration. I'm all for this way of preparation.

I've been cooking without oil for a year now....according to a recent blood test, my cholesterol is at 152. Down from 240 years ago. I threw out my olive oil last year and haven't bought any more since.