Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Trying to cook heart healthy. Cannot give up my smoking meats!

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Trying to cook heart healthy. Cannot give up my smoking meats!

    So just two weeks before Christmas I underwent a quadruple bypass surgery. All went very well and I am back to working out and most activities. However I was quite an avid BBQ smoker but now will have to watch some of the cuts I have been using. I want to share with any other members one of the things I did was switch to pork loin roasts instead of pork butts. Amazing how moist and flavorful they are. Any other tips anyone has to share for lower fat cooking? Would appreciate

    #2
    I had a mild heart attack in 2015 and had stents put in then, and I also had a quadruple bypass 11 months ago. To be quite honest, I really haven't changed my diet much at all, and over the years I've come to learn that my issues are not diet related but rather are hereditary. I've tried all of the heart healthy diets and programs (ok, maybe not all, but certainly a lot) and they have never had much of an impact on my cholesterol numbers. My numbers are and have been, really good for quite some time now, and as I said, I have not really changed my meat intake either in quantity nor in what meats I eat. Of course, I'm not a doctor so this is only an observation, not advice.

    Comment


      #3
      cruiseplanner1 I think something that I've done more the past couple of years is branch out into doing more veggies, fish and chicken on the grill. It's not the same as your low and slow BBQ like butt, ribs or brisket, but certainly less fattening and more healthy. So, more direct grilling, and less smoking. On the plus side, things get done faster...
      Last edited by jfmorris; March 26, 2020, 09:01 AM.

      Comment


        #4
        I had a heart attack and 3 stents over 20 years ago. I've found that listening to your Dietician (I'm sure they counseled you in the hospital) but preparing almost everything (tofu, chicken, lean red meats, etc) on the grill makes life worth living - dare I say it? - risk free. Plus, it's kinda fun to modify and look for recipes for your lifestyle. Throw in a low carb diet to lose weight and a little exercise and you can go crazy with food joy and live forever. Unless, of course, you get the virus. Good luck. Have fun.

        Comment


        • tbob4
          tbob4 commented
          Editing a comment
          Hello! I notice that this is your first post but have been around for awhile. It’s great to hear from you. It sounds like based on your experiences you have good recipes to share!

        #5
        My interest in BBQing coincided with the decision to lose 30 pounds. I agonized whether buying a pellet smoker (Yoder 480) would prevent my effort to lose weight. It's now 10 months later and I've lost 30 pounds and have had some of the best homemade BBQ ever. I joined WeightWatchers, which provides a simple way to eat 200 foods without limitations (chicken, fish, veggies, etc.) and limit the amount of other food by simple tracking on an app. As an example, I'll smoke a rack of baby back ribs and have perhaps 3 instead of 8, along with grilled veggies and a huge salad. Or I'll have 6 ounces of a sliced steak instead of the entire 14 ounce steak. I was surprised at how well this worked, but it proved that it's possible to enjoy BBQ while improving your health.
        Last edited by BBQPhil; March 26, 2020, 02:50 PM.

        Comment


        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          This is all great advice. I too have found that I no longer sit down and eat a half or whole slab of ribs like I might have in my younger days. I've lately been "pre slicing" steaks I cook into strips on the carving board, and find that I tend to take less this way, versus just dropping a whole steak on my plate.

        #6
        I’ve been playing a lot with fish this winter. I haven’t done it for health reasons - more because I just wanted to expand my diet. It has been fun because I have had a lot of fails. I forgot that sometimes it is fun to figure out why something doesn’t work. Sometimes is predicated by time. If I mess up fish I can start over and get it done again relatively quickly. It’s not so fun when you mess up a 24 hour brisket. You can’t just start that over.

        Comment


          #7
          It’s been 26 years since my 4x bypass. You will be fine.

          Comment


            #8
            Boneless chicken thighs are full of flavor and can be smoked (225) without drying out. I like smoke roasting them at 375 for about 40 minutes. Hot smoked (225) fish is good, too. Pork loin is lean and taste good grilled. Smoking it without drying out is tricky. Grilled or roasted veggies are good, too.

            Comment


            • jfmorris
              jfmorris commented
              Editing a comment
              I recently purchased boneless skinless thighs for the first time when making Chicken Paprikash, and its one of my new favorite chicken cuts.

            • Mosca
              Mosca commented
              Editing a comment
              Chicken thighs are great in a 375* smoke/grill. They are a staple of our outdoor summer.

            #9
            You can eat as many vegetables as you want so eat as many as you can.

            Comment


              #10
              Bone in skin on whole birds are great in the smoker. You’ll want to run in the 300-350 range.

              Yes the skin has a little fat (I don’t eat the skin) but overall it is way more lean than a pork butt. Also the medical industry has been retooling their recommendations, fat isn’t nearly as bad as was believed prior. Some fats are called, good fats, and olive oil is one of them. My overall cholesterol level is a tad high but the bad cholesterol level is low and the good cholesterol is high.
              Last edited by JeffJ; March 27, 2020, 02:43 PM.

              Comment


                #11
                I eat the skin on chicken & the fat on meat & a fair amount of bacon. Lost 30# in the last 6 mos, wife lost 20, got her off of statins. By.............tryin to quit sugar. I say tryin cuz it is really hard, bein it’s in everything. BBQ is OK, it’s the sugar that’s not, & that especially includes HFCS! (most bbq sauces have it.)

                Comment


                • JeffJ
                  JeffJ commented
                  Editing a comment
                  In 2017 I did WW and lost 58 pounds. I've put 10 back on and have stayed there. I really need to do it again. It would be really nice to take off 20 based on where I'm at right now. My wife has been doing WW and she's lost 35 pounds. She's also on an elimination diet - we're trying to find out which food groups she's allergic to. This allergy causes her esophagus to swell a bit which makes swallowing food more difficult. Fortunately, she can eat meat so she doesn't miss out on the Q

                • BBQPhil
                  BBQPhil commented
                  Editing a comment
                  HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is being used in too many bbq sauces and is a turn off of for me. . Hopefully more of the sauce manufacturers will get wise and eliminate it. It's terribly unhealthy.

                • JeffJ
                  JeffJ commented
                  Editing a comment
                  BBQPhil that is one of the reasons I make my own BBQ sauces. I will use Grade B maple syrup and always stay away from corn syrup.

                #12
                What works for me may not work for you. I have not had a heart attack, a bypass, or diabetes. I’m trying to avoid them since everyone on my fathers side has had them all. I have recently adjusted my diet now to create habits that I hope help me to reduce the impacts, or even avoid the runaway train of genealogy. I would say be skeptical, look at data and science. Listen to your doctor. Fear of pain, sacrifice, and death will impact our logic. Get educated from science and not a web blog. Be skeptical of labels like "super foods" and know the nutritional info when buying. Make a plan with your doctor, family, and friends and stick to it with love and support from them. Cheat occasionally to reward yourself. There’s no point in living if you never have a little decadence. Understand what impacts that decadence has and plan for it. See it as not loosing foods but gaining others you may not have tried. Good luck. It’s been hard for me but even after a couple weeks I’m feeling better and see the happiness in my wife and children’s eyes that I’m working hard to be there for them for a long, long time.

                Comment


                • JeffJ
                  JeffJ commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Even when I'm actively trying to lose weight I do allow the occasional indulgence. Otherwise, I'd go crazy.

                • FireMan
                  FireMan commented
                  Editing a comment
                  In research I have found "listen" to yer Dr. isn’t necessarily the best thing. There is a fellow by the name of Dr. Lustig, YouTube him, you might be in for a jolt.

                #13
                Todays word of the day: Moderation
                Everything in Moderation

                Comment


                • JeffJ
                  JeffJ commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Exactly. Don't eat the high fat stuff as often but no need to never eat it again either. Find the right middle ground.

                • cruiseplanner1
                  cruiseplanner1 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  I agree on the principal of that statement but when you have a beautiful set of baby backs coming out of your smoker hard to stick with just two or three bones. Or a beautiful brisket and some homemade flour tortillas to wrap it in...…..lol

              Announcement

              Collapse
              No announcement yet.
              Working...
              X
              false
              0
              Guest
              Guest
              500
              ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
              false
              false
              {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
              Yes
              ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
              /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here