How dangerous is it to use recycled bacon grease for frying fish, meat, etc. on a strict low cholesterol diet?

Question

My aunt who came out here from the Philippines to live with us, does most of the cooking and is TOTALLY oblivious to how unhealthy using recycled grease is and what it does to your arteries, her coming from the countryside on a farm and all. I use olive oil whenever frying; mostly fish, but can't always supervise the kitchen. I shouldn't have to. My mom's boyfriend has a stubborn habit of saving the grease instead of tossing it. If I see it, I'll get rid of it. This stupidity is a combination of not wanting to waste anything and the desire for the flavor that the grease puts into whatever your're frying. That's gonna give someone a heart attack as he's already found out. I'd sure hate to lose anyone to heart disease on the count of someone's cluelessness/retentiveness. Suggestions please!?

Answer 1

You're right! Iit is best to eliminate as much animal fat from our diet as possible, not just bacon grease. But, as you look around you, much of the population ignores this recommendation. Some people get lucky with a favorable set of genes; consequently their cholesterol and triglycerides remain low in spite of diet. The rest of us aren't so fortunate.

As I see it, talk with your mom, try to educate her boyfriend and your aunt. If no luck, you may have to do all of your own cooking or move out. Good luck on a satisfactory resolution of a thorny problem.

Answer 2

Wow. OK, here goes. There is some thinking that heart attacks are not from the buildup of plaque in the arteries, but from how likely the plaque is to break away from the wall of the artery, creating a blood clot that then closes the artery, leading to the partial or complete death of the heart. That is, it creates either a heart attack or death. Some of the cholesterol count and likeliness of heart attacks is genetic, some is based on diet. Besides bacon grease being obviously bad, it could also be bad because of the nitrates in it.

So, considering all that, you should still not be the food police: people know what they put into their bodies, and it's their right to do what they want with themselves. I think that people can look around and see that the people who eat themselves sick end up having bad knees in their 50s, using a walker in their 60s and dying in their early 70s. They just don't care. They want the instant pleasure of food and taste. So, stop trying to police others, and just worry about yourself and your children, if you have any. If you do buy food, look for bacon without nitrates, or just don't buy it at all.

Answer 3

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