Your Cholesterol Matters by Richard MD Furman

Author:Richard MD Furman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Hypercholesteremia—Popular works;Hypercholesteremia—Diet therapy—Popular works;Low-cholesterol diet—Popular works;HEA010000
ISBN: 9781493406791
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2016-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

The Evils of Rationalization

A woman asked me a very good question the other day. “I read that hard cheese is not as bad for you as other cheeses. It would be helpful to limit your eating to just those special cheeses, wouldn’t it? I think they come from Switzerland.”

Her husband, who happened to be a physician, jumped right into the conversation. “I am sure you are aware that the small LDL cholesterol particles are the ones that do the most damage to our arteries.” He didn’t allow me to respond before moving on to the point he wanted to make. “I read that cooking steak on the grill is more dangerous because there are more small LDL particles. That’s why I eat my steak rare.” He smiled. “Not raw, but very rare. And I try to eat only grass-fed beef.”

They had both fallen into a trap so many people fall into when they attempt to appease themselves. I call it the evils-of-rationalization trap.

My response was to point out the fallacy of their thinking. “You have to realize that cheese and red meat contain lots of saturated fat. Also know that food is an addiction.” I looked initially at the wife. “If you try to eat only a special type of cheese, such as a hard cheese from Switzerland, your desire for cheese in general will remain the same. It may even increase. In trying to teach your mind not to want the foods that contain saturated fat that will harm your arteries, you have to wipe out your desire for those foods. If you eat the special cheese, you will eventually go back to eating any cheese.

“As far as eating red meat not cooked as warm, the same answer applies.” I wasn’t going to argue with either of them about whether hard cheese is not as bad as other cheese or whether overcooking your steak is worse than eating rare meat. But I did want to get them thinking about a good plan to follow if they really had a desire to improve their lifestyle of eating. I ended with my favorite gnat illustration. “Just remember that when you begin focusing on small details, most of the time you think you are shooting at elephants but you are actually only killing gnats.” They both laughed and agreed they probably needed to face the reality about saturated fat.

Much is also coming out in the media concerning sugar. Books are being written stating that it is not fat that causes heart attacks and plaque in your arteries but sugar. The problem with such reports is that they contain 80 percent truth and then take off on a tangent to get a point across concerning how bad sugar is for your body. I read a book of Mark Twain’s quotations, and one I like relates to what I am saying about such reports. He said that a particular someone he knew always told the truth . . . but not always the strict truth.

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