My dad is ready to get eat more primally page

[milkycereal]

My dad is fat. He's a short guy with a big belly. Think George Castanza but more pregnate. He owns a jewlery store and lives a sedentery life. When he gets home from work, he eats dinner and then lounges/naps on the couch. Occasionally he'll get up and have a carby meal like pasta or rice pudding or cookies, then he hits the couch again. At around 1am he goes to bed and he's up at 6am to go back to the couch to lounge/nap till 8. Then he leaves for work.

Since i've been eating healthier latley i've noticed my dad getting worse and worse. He does that every night.

I finally told him, "Dad, you eat like crap, and im suprised your not diabetic already". His cousin's diabetic from the same lifestyle, so he got the message.

He knows I've been eating healthy and I gave him a quick rundown of what he's gata do to loose weight.

-Get your carbs from veggies
-fill up on protein/fat
-walk 2-5 hours a week
(I know there's more too it than that, we're gonna talk)

This sunday we're gonna talk and im gonna set him up for his own 30day challenge. I think if he sticks to it he can loose alotta weight. He just needs the will-power because comming from the way he eats right now, he's gonna feel like SHIT for a while...guys body probably hasn't seen a ketone in years...

The only problem I have is that he's scared of saturated fat/chloresterol, and honestly I am too. I know, the fat in shit like McDonalds and trans/partionally hydrogenated oils are worse, but I don't want to be responsible for giving him a heart attack.

So what do you guys think of keeping him on LEAN meats like chicken, fish, lean cuts of beef here n there, ect...and then filling in the the rest of his "fat" ratio with avacados/nuts? (Is there alot of saturated fat in avacados?)

I figure this will keep his saturated fat intake relativly low while giving him the benifits of low carbs and whole foods...

I gata make the message clear that this WOE is not based on crap like "100 calorie Oreo Packs" and deprevation. In fact they'll be little deprevation for him, I think if he simply eats only what I tell him to eat he'll naturally eat less.

I also gata show him how delicious these meals can be. I'm often tempted to take pictures of my meals!

I think if my mom "gets it" (she keeps buying Fiber One Cereals fortified with antioxidants...) we'll be good. I might buy the primal cookbook for her...would the recipies in that book be bad for him?

Any tips for helping a guy like my dad stay on track? I already told him that if he cheats while on my challenge he's putting himself at an even bigger risk for a heart attack than the way he is now...

Also please address my Sat. Fat. concerns, and if anyone knows of any other fats like nuts/avacados...

[Imrotu]

I would push for cooking with saturated fats since it's easy to just throw a glob into the pan. Meats and veggies will be coated without it being mentally and visually agonizing when they eat. I'm in the same boat with my parents and it is hard, but I was able to convince them to use lard and coconut oil instead of vegetable oil. If they're not adverse to butter, then get them to try that. Every little bit of fat counts.

Coconut oil in tea/coffee.
Appeal to your mom's vanity and say coconut oil will improve her skin? Tried it on mine and that worked a bit.

Without the fat to satiate them, your 'rents will feel the hunger more.

[milkycereal]

No its not that I can't get him to eat Saturated fat, i just don't want him too...like what IF we (us primal people) are wrong about eating all that sat. fat?

You gata understand, I don't want to give my dad a heart attack...

[Hedonist]

No its not that I can't get him to eat Saturated fat, i just don't want him too...like what IF we (us primal people) are wrong about eating all that sat. fat?

You gata understand, I don't want to give my dad a heart attack...

Sure. Very understandable. i believe people do need some saturated fat. The question is how much. There is disagreement among paleo folks.

Mark agrees that even vegans can be primal. I.e., no saturated fat but coconut oil and some nuts. It's just hard to do and not optimal. If you are more comfortable with coconut oil, that is a possibility.

[tfarny]

If you think that oreos are less likely to give your dad a heart attack than a nice steak cooked in butter, you need to do a lot more reading yourself before you go trying to convince others. Low-fat Paleo is not gonna be fun for anybody and where's the evidence that THAT is healthy?

[lexsi340]

Read the first chapter of Taubes.. and Griff's cholesterol primer.
There is no real scientific evidence to support saturated fat causing heart disease. I would go into it - but Griff & Taubes state it much more eloquently

[Imrotu]

Oh. Uh....The nutritionist I met with suggested olive oil as a replacement, but when I made the comparison between that and coconut oil...coconut oil wins hands down. I would try to move pass the idea of saturated fat as being unhealthy and at least use it as a cooking oil. Saturated fats are stable and don't break down like veg oils do....