Sat fat?! What won\’t I come up with next?

Sat-fat (as I prefer to spell it; but my blog-writing program doesn\’t like hyphenated titles) is my abbreviation for saturated fat; and sat fat, we now know, is a bigger culprit in high cholesterol counts than dietary cholesterol per se.

Sat fat comes largely (entirely?) from foods of animal origin; and if you happen to be vegan it should be simple to avoid it. I\’m not vegan myself; and though I\’ve been interested in a meatless diet for decades, it\’s hard to eat a diet based on plants (whole grains, legumes, veggies); get enough calories; and keep from overshooting my carb count. As a result, I now eat more chicken and tuna.

The nutritionist says I need to watch saturated fat and trans fat more than cholesterol. The former should make up less than 7% of my daily calorie intake; and trans fats should be avoided as much as possible. So I still have the leeway to enjoy a few ounces of cheese a week; and avoiding processed foods (e.g. snack cakes) ought to make sidestepping trans fat quite easy.

But how much fat do I burn off through my cycling?

I enjoy browsing through The Feed Zone Cookbook, and I think it would be fun to try more of the recipes. Unfortunately they tend to be high in fat. These dishes are designed with the pro peloton in mind, though; and I guess those folks burn off all that fat during training and racing. As a recreational cyclist, I wouldn\’t.

Talking about saturated fat makes me think of videos such as this one. That poor young man has far worse dietary problems than I do. Come to think of it, I don\’t think I\’ve had pizza in at least a year!

That Lion

As March draws to a close, things look pretty stormy. That lion might be getting ready to pounce.

When I went out on the road bike this morning, there were patches of heavy fog. I\’m glad I had planned to ride easy. Poor visibility and hard efforts don\’t mix well.

It got warm today; up to 80 degrees. As the day went on, the sky got cloudier and cloudier. The sun dodged in and out; but it was still shining when I left work at 4:30 pm. I decided to give in to my hankering after Chinese food. I\’m calling it Easter dinner! Unfortunately it means a hefty dose of sat fat.

You know how it goes when bad weather is about to set in: even though the sun was out, there were ominous-looking clouds in parts of the sky; and then it began to sprinkle. I stopped and pulled on the poncho; then hurried on.

As I got closer to the strip mall where the Chinese restaurant is located, the sky in the Northwest looked uglier and uglier. I placed my order at the Chinese restaurant; then went to the drug store (almost next door) for a soda. Then I picked up my dinner, and went home.

On the way, some pretty strong wind gusts came up; and I\’m glad they were behind me! And oh, did I get lucky. It didn\’t rain on me. About ten minutes after I got in, I heard a brief drizzle; but I suppose the worst is yet to come.

The wind will probably start to kick up any time now. That lion is making itself felt!