I've believed for a long time that any unprocessed "natural" fat is better for you. Your body knows what to do with butter...hydrogenated fat hits your system and it says "whoa...what the heck do I do with this!?" I don't use butter for frying simply because of the low burn temp, but use it melted on things or for a quick, low-heat saute. My cholesterol issue is simply because, and I admit it, that I don't eat as healthily as I should. Dave's whole family has a history of high cholesterol and even tho he was vegan for many years that didn't drop it even a point.
A couple of years ago, we went out for lunch and I ordered some potato skins. They came with melted cheese and bacon bits. He took one of them, picked all (probably 8 pieces) the bacon bits off and ate it. He spent most of the rest of the afternoon and evening in the bathroom
So...just ain't worth it to get him near any piggy stuff. Not likely to kill him, but it's just not a price worth paying
They tried me on one of the statins as well, but it made my arthritis so bad I could hardly move! They've got me on Tricor now...it's not quite as effective but it's helped some and doesn't make me hurt. I could probably get off that and my diabetes meds as well if I had the will power to eat properly. Sheesh, pushing 60 and still no control over myself! But we are at least moving toward producing as much food as we can ourselves...with no additives of any sort except plain old compost which we make ourselves as well. It's a little step, but in the right direction, I think.
I've never rendered or used fat/suet. I don't know if we could even get a hold of any around here. It's almost impossible to find a grocery store with an actual butcher shop in it any more. They almost all get all their meat in pre-cut and packaged. And to find just a "butcher shop"??? pffft...good luck with that one! What might be possible is some of the places that process animals. There's a lot of hunting in this area and a LOT of people keep a cow or two to process for their own freezer or for a little sale. Might be able to swing a deal to get some of the leaf fat from them.
Not wanting unearned kudos, I'll point out that those two quotes were Tennessee Chicken, not me...but I do concur wholeheartedly
And, while they choose a number for cholesterol, I think it's a generality and not necessarily good for every person. All our bodies work differently when it comes to specifics...my last labs showed my "bad" cholesterol under control, they'e now concerned that my "good" cholesterol isn't high enough. My BP is high as well, but well controlled with my meds. I will say though, that my doc doesn't get his knickers in a know over my cholesterol...he's concerned but not freakishly so. He is worried about heart disease primarily cuz I can't get off the nicotine. As he's fond of saying, he'd hate if we finally got everything else under control only to have me croak from a stroke or heart attack because of the cigarettes, LOL.
I don't like what I hear about soy, either...so other than Dave using soy milk on his cereal, it doesn't come in our house. We moving toward growing most of our own non hybrid, heirloom veggies, and going with non-gmo grains for feed for our chickens and rabbits. I'm not quite ready yet to commit to getting our own non-gmo grains to grind to bake bread yet, though, LOL. Still, we're wanting to move toward a mainly "real" food household. Some "improvements" aren't really improvement and I can see doing natural selection to get better yield and such but when you really start meddling with Mother Nature I think you're taking too big a chance.
