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The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

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71–80 of 129 posts

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#71
Prediction before reading to test myself:

Whole grain all the things. Oats or rye where possible for more beta-glukans(clinically proven to lower LDL). Multi-grain is ideal.

Use lean meats or fish.

Don't sweat it about the dairy. Dairy fat is surprisingly good compared to fats from meat due to the high proportion of the saturated fat that's made up of short or medium chain fatty acids. These don't affect cholesterol and may even improve HDL/LDL ratio on their own. If you throw some pesto on there you get even more healthy fats from the olive oil and choice of nuts in the pesto, as well as a nice little splash of green from basil. Add some salad if you want more greens.

Here's my recipe for an absolutely delicious, and yet healthy and wholesome sammich based on all this.

Multigrain whole grain bread. Pesto, premade or homemade with a nut of your choosing. I really like pistachio or cashew for homemade pesto though it's far too pricey to do every day. Mostly I just use the barilla stuff.

Pre-heated chicken breast, with ehatever spices you like.

A full fat cheese of your liking. My favourites include real buffalo mozzarella(luxury choice) and Jarlsberg(day to day).

Add salad or other veg to your liking, or omit.

Heat in a panini press and enjoy.

Edit after reading: yeah pretty much, though I think they left out some crucial details on how fats work that a lot of people are miseducated about.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#72
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simple carbs have low satiety and come with a glucose spike. Complex carbs are much better in this regard and are far more nutritious. The next level past becoming aware of nutrition is becoming aware of meta nutrition, or the culture around nutrition. Do not fall in to the trap of demonizing nutrient after nutrient. It never ends.

It's not so much demonising as knowing most people eat too many carbs, they're in everything so if you cut down you're probably still eating enough. I do eat vegetables, nuts and seeds, I just don't really consider those "carbs" I guess. You are clearly an advanced nutritionist far beyond my level of knowledge so I apologise for using the wrong terminology.

> It's not so much demonising as knowing most people eat too many carbs

That's not accurate. Complex carbs (e.g. beans) are the foundation of longevity, and most people don't eat enough of them.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#73
post #48
post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

As a Dane - what is Warburton's "Danish" bread - and do you know what makes it Danish?

Haha, it's probably not remotely Danish, but here it is:

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/255727936

It is delicious though. It's quite airy.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#75
post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

> a large sub can be as much as 500 calories by itself

A large sub at somewhere like Jimmy Johns is easily 800-1100 calories depending on what kind of meat is on it.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#76
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Carbs are terrible for diets, don't satiate you and most people eat too many. I think most people's experience is precisely the opposite with regards too satiety - non-sugary carbs are the most important component for satiety. Bread, rice, potatoes - these are all commonly eaten to increase the feeling of fullness.

FWIW, a lot of kinds of bread you see on sandwiches in America have sugar. I don't know what the threshold for "non-sugary" bread is, but after having learned how to make bread during the pandemic, I have to, um, wonder , why bread should have any more than zero.

Typically yeast need _some_ sort of sugar to eat in order for the dough to rise, but it doesn't need to be very much at all.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#77
post #28
post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

There’s a big misconception that wraps are somehow more healthy than bread. They’re more processed and have at least as many calories as bread does, despite often being presented as the healthier option.

It's just compressed bread, or a tortilla (which definitely aren't low-calorie)

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#78

Nothing tortillas can't fix.

Can't tell if this is sarcastic. Hispanic communities suffer from large amounts of obesity, some due to genetic issues, but diet is an overwhelming factor. A proper tortilla has three ingredients: flour, lard and salt. Not exactly a staple in a slimming diet.

Proper corn tortillas have no lard. If you live near any sizable community of Mexicans it shouldn’t be hard to find fresh masa to press.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#79
post #5

> Twenty years later, a turkey sandwich contained about 820 calories. Not sure where they got those numbers from. Just for comparison - in England, where many people eat sandwiches every day, the range is more like 300-500 for a supermarket sandwich. The meat is processed, but chicken is a fairly popular option, and the bread is thinner and less sweet. Really the main takeaway is to reduce your bread. Carbs are terri…

Carbs are terrible for diets

And when you get a sandwich, it usually comes with chips, pasta salad, or something similarly carby, and in line with the article, sometimes something similarly high in sat fat.

Re: The American Diet Has a Sandwich Problem

#80
post #7

> Since a soggy PB&J is unappealing, Dr. Roberto says it’s pretty easy to rein in the amount of sweet jam. “There’s a built-in mechanism against overjellying,” she says. “It’s a really nice type of sandwich.” The trick is to put peanut butter on both pieces of bread so it can't absorb the jam. Then you can put as much as you like :-).

Triple deckers, jelly on both sides of the slice of bread in the middle, you'll get a 1cm layer of goodness by lunchtime when it has fully saturated the bread
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