The HDL/triglycerides trap - high density lipoprotein - interview with William Castelli, director of the Framingham Heart Study - interview

Nutrition Action Healthletter, Sept, 1990 by Bonnie Liebman

The shellfish that do move--lobster, crab, shrimp--are not as low in cholesterol, but they're so low in saturated fat that you're no worse off eating them than the lowest-cholesterol, lowest-saturated-fat meats. And seafood has beneficial fish oils.

Q: Should non-meat-eaters worry about getting protein?

A: It's easier than you think. You can even get enough from whole-grain cereals like rice and oats. We do a funny thing in this country. We take wholegrain cereals and remove the protein-rich wheat germ and sell it in a bottle. we remove the bran and sell it in a box. what's left over we puff up, fluff out, flake, and spray with chocolate and strawberry flavors.

The newest cereals--Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Batman--have one gram of protein per ounce. Oats have six grams of protein in an ounce.

Q: what's the least amount of exercise people have to do to protect their hearts?

A: The biggest benefit from exercise comes in the first 2,000 calories per week. Doing a lot more is not going to change your risk appreciably.

Now, 500 calories is what you'd use up if you were the supreme couch potato. So how do you get those other 1,500? If you jog a mile, you use up a little over 100 calories. If you walk briskly for a mile, it's still 100. I suppose you could even crawl a mile.

So we're talking about two miles a day; 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back. That's 200 calories a day for seven days, for a total of 1,400 calories. Most people should be able to do that much.

Q: How many heart attacks can we wipe out by changes in lifestyle?

A: All of them. There are five billion people on this earth. four-billion-plus will never get a heart attack. Why can't we be like them?