Many of you have probably noticed we cook
french fries at least once per week as part of
our healthy diet.
What? French fries? The backbone of the fast-food industry
which lately has come underfire for causing the majority
of the obesity problem in the United States? Healthy?
Yup, french fries :)
True, prepared with transfats, cooked in trans-fatty
oils and consumed unchecked by the handfuls with other
unhealthy menu options can definately make french
fries unhealthy.
Is there a way to do better?
Well, as we all know french fries are just cut up potatoes.
Potatoes in themselves are very, very healthy. High in
fiber (with the skin), high in potassium and vitamin C,
having a handful of other necessary nutrients, potatoes most
definately can fit into a healthy lifestyle.
French fries are best when made fresh at home using a device
to cut the potatoes or by simply using a knife. They can
also be found pre-cut in your grocer's freezer; just be sure
to read the ingredient label to be sure there's no
partially-hydrogenated oils or butter solids listed that
were used in the preperation process. You CAN find them.
Just dig! :) Many common brands are now making
organic varieties which are excellent choices!
How should they be cooked? They can be baked in the oven
or fried in healthy trans-fat free oils. But, what are healthy oils?
There are two classes of oils. One is good for raw applications
like salad dressings. The other is best for high temperature
cooking applications such as making french fries.
The best oils for high temperature cooking are those highest
in monounsaturated fats, such as peanut oil. Oils high in
polyunsaturated fats such as canola, soybean, corn, sunflower
and safflower degrade when heated up and are very unstable.
When fats are heated these unstable fatty acids are easily
transformed into harmful compounds such as free radicals
and 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE). When you cook
with polyunsaturated oils you create these toxic substances.
HNE is particularly insidious. Over the past 20 years an
increasing number of studies have found links between
HNE and increased risks for cardiovascular disease, stroke,
Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s
disease, liver problems, and cancer. Researcher A. Saari
Csallany, a professor of food chemistry and nutritional
biochemistry at the University of Minnesota calls it, “a
very toxic compound.” Based on her studies presented
recently at the American Oil Chemists Society annual meeting,
she recommends that people avoid all foods fried in
polyunsaturated vegetable oils.
You also have to take into account the calories associated
with the french fries. When deep fried, they absorb about
4-6 grams of oil per serving which adds roughly 50 calories.
1 to 1&1/2 servings is typically what my wife and I enjoy
which is normally between 200-250 calories, including the oil.
When eaten in the right amounts with other healthy meal
choices and cooked in a healthy oil, french fries can easily fit
into any healthy eating lifestyle!
Enjoy!
What's a Youatarian? It's my own phrase I have used when people ask me how I have lost my excess weight. I'm a Youatarian and live the youatarian lifestyle. Simply put, a Youatarian is someone that follows YOU On a Diet. For any YOAD followers out there that would like to adopt the phrase
for themselves, please feel free.
- Marshall (aka Orlando Tek)
for themselves, please feel free.
- Marshall (aka Orlando Tek)
Welcome to my blog!
More Pictures of Us
My Story
In July 2006, I visited the doctor for a multitude of
ongoing medical problems and when I weighed
in I remember being 305lbs. That was the heaviest
I could ever remember weighing on any scale in my life.
My wife, also overweight, started some small changes
in her diet at that time and those changes made its way
through into my diet as well.
In September 2006, I watched my mother undergo
triple bypass surgey. And I always believed her
to be of modest health although she had passed
on a few of her problems to me including high blood
pressure and acid reflux issues. In her early 20's,
unaware of her high blood pressure problem, she
actually had a stroke, although not very severe.
My dad is a bit healthier even though being
12 years older than my mom, but he has borderline
adult onset diabetes and he had a stint put into an
artery a few years back.
Taking in all this information, It was then I decided
I needed to make some serious changes in my life
or I will be the next one on the heart ward not too
long from now.
It was Novemeber, 2006 and I was already following
the few changes my wife had made to her diet and we had
both lost about 15lbs in the last few months. Any
change at this point was a good change. We watched
a Discovery Health special called YOU: On A Diet featuring
the YOU docs and a few families incorporating YOAD
into their daily lives and showing their amazing progress.
The very next day, November 7th, 2006, my wife and
I went through every cabinet and cupboard in our
house and got rid of ALL the bad foods. We then
went to the grocery store and bought foods that
met YOAD and from that day we have not looked back!
We could not find the book at any local store so we
ordered it off Amazon. It took a few weeks to arrive
but we started cooking with only YOAD approved foods
using YOAD approved methods and we WERE seeing
results even before the book arrived.
From there it has been all downhilll. I have lost 110lbs
since starting on YOAD in November but about 125lbs
over the last 18 months total. Wahoo!
And most of my medical problems related to my weight
have now vanished including high bood pressure, acid
reflux and sleep apnea. I have much more energy and
I feel better than I can ever remember!
And its all thanks to YOAD!
ongoing medical problems and when I weighed
in I remember being 305lbs. That was the heaviest
I could ever remember weighing on any scale in my life.
My wife, also overweight, started some small changes
in her diet at that time and those changes made its way
through into my diet as well.
In September 2006, I watched my mother undergo
triple bypass surgey. And I always believed her
to be of modest health although she had passed
on a few of her problems to me including high blood
pressure and acid reflux issues. In her early 20's,
unaware of her high blood pressure problem, she
actually had a stroke, although not very severe.
My dad is a bit healthier even though being
12 years older than my mom, but he has borderline
adult onset diabetes and he had a stint put into an
artery a few years back.
Taking in all this information, It was then I decided
I needed to make some serious changes in my life
or I will be the next one on the heart ward not too
long from now.
It was Novemeber, 2006 and I was already following
the few changes my wife had made to her diet and we had
both lost about 15lbs in the last few months. Any
change at this point was a good change. We watched
a Discovery Health special called YOU: On A Diet featuring
the YOU docs and a few families incorporating YOAD
into their daily lives and showing their amazing progress.
The very next day, November 7th, 2006, my wife and
I went through every cabinet and cupboard in our
house and got rid of ALL the bad foods. We then
went to the grocery store and bought foods that
met YOAD and from that day we have not looked back!
We could not find the book at any local store so we
ordered it off Amazon. It took a few weeks to arrive
but we started cooking with only YOAD approved foods
using YOAD approved methods and we WERE seeing
results even before the book arrived.
From there it has been all downhilll. I have lost 110lbs
since starting on YOAD in November but about 125lbs
over the last 18 months total. Wahoo!
And most of my medical problems related to my weight
have now vanished including high bood pressure, acid
reflux and sleep apnea. I have much more energy and
I feel better than I can ever remember!
And its all thanks to YOAD!
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Thursday, September 13, 2007
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3 comments:
Nice post. French Fries.. yummmm....
I also understand that if you fry properly and keep the oil at the right temperature you can end up consuming no more fat in your fries than what you would add to a baked potato?
Well, I'm not sure what fat you would add to a baked potato.
The only thing I have read about
temperature is at a higher temperature and frying the fries quicker would result is less oil absorbtion; which make total sense. Basically, the less time in the oil the less oil they absorbs.
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