The Anonymous Widower

Soluble Fibre

In an earlier post, Does Gluten Lower Cholesterol, I pondered why my cholesterol was higher than it should be.

Yesterday, I went to see a dietitian and it would appear that I’m not eating enough soluble fibre; oats, beans and pulses.  In fact, with the exception of the odd tin of baked beans and broad beans when they are in season, I don’t eat much at all. 

As I drove back home, I pondered why I don’t eat as many of these as I should.

For a start, I should say that I actually love beans and when I was left alone in my teens, supper would nearly always be a cold tin of baked beans and orange squash.  How we lived then?  I’ll eat most beans and pulses, so why have they dropped from my diet.

Could it be that, when it comes to vegetables, that I actually prefer the broccolis, cauliflowers and greens of this world?  I do and I wonder if it is because my late wife didn’t eat any of them, so when she cooked the vegetables were inevitably peas or if it was something like sausages, baked beans.  So now, I’m in charge these have been relegated to the subs bench. I do eat baked beans, but because of my high cholesterol, I’ve been avoiding the sort of fatty foods that I usually eat them with!

So it looks like I could have been drawn into a trap of my own making, by cooking food I like for myself, rather than following a correct diet.

How many others don’t eat enough soluble fibre becuase of ignorance like me?

There was a sad footnote to the appointment with the dietitian.  They used to know my old doctor from Woodbridge, Dr. Ian Bowles, who was our GP for perhaps fifteen years or so.  It was sad to hear that he died a couple of years ago, many years before he should.  Such is life!

July 8, 2009 - Posted by AnonW | Food, Health | Coeliac/Gluten-Free, Death