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What portion of your diet is pork?

Here in Bulgaria the pork is much cheaper that beef so I eat a lot of pork. My cholesterol numbers are not very good and it occured to me it may have something to do with the big amounts of pork and chicken that I eat.

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 In what sense are your numbers "not very good"? Specifics might be helpful. Also, what else do you typically eat? – Ambimorph Nov 22 2011 at 16:12
High LDL (they don't make the test for particle size sadly). I don't eat eggs because I have some type of allergy - i can eat very rarely. Other than that 80% paleo - I try to eat a lot of fat, meat, veggies. – maniuni Nov 23 2011 at 14:45

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I had some co-workers from Crotia who told me that the people from the seacoast who lived on lamb and fish were much healthier than the people from the interior who ate mainly pork and chicken. It's a pattern repeated in several countries and may have to do with pork's high content of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids. But there there are places where people eat pork and fish (Okinwa) and their health is good, so perhaps it's the ratio of omega-3 that to omega-6 you should be watching.

I have been visiting some relatives down in the Southern US where pork and chicken rule and while I've managed to be mostly paleo, my skin is broken out. Normally at home I eat pork or chicken once or twice a week, and mainly from a source that's 60% grass-fed.

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 I think the quality of the pork can definitely make a difference. You will get a much better omega3/6 ratio with pastured pork. However, grass-fed beef and wild-caught fish are still going to be better choices. – Kewpie Nov 22 2011 at 14:36
Yeah, I have no idea where the pork I'm eating here is from and I'm afraid to bring it up with my relatives because they are old and set in their ways. I've been trying to stick with more seafood since I'm on the coast though. I notice my relatives who eat more seafood are much healthier. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Nov 22 2011 at 15:08
awesome, i feel best on lamb and fish but i cant afford that...oh but if i could i would be a world class eater lol – Mallory Nov 22 2011 at 15:25
If all you're worried about is n6:n3 ration, just add some wild caught fish or shellfish. I'd be more worried about what the piggies eat that's toxic to us and makes it past digestion. – raydawg Nov 22 2011 at 15:57
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Pork and chicken are cheap, and beef and lamb expensive here in the UK. I'm afraid we end up eating a lot of bacon and sausages for that reason. Butter and fresh cream (albeit lightly pasteurised) on the other hand are freely available and we eat plenty of these. I'm not sure if it's a good compromise but we feel a lot better on it than we did on bread and pasta!

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 same in the US....as far as chicken/pork – Mallory Nov 22 2011 at 15:25
You eat bacon over beef for cost? 500g bacon from sainsburys is ~ 4 quid and 500g beef is ~ 2.20. Even less if you get the cheap mince (about £1). Also Tesco have cheap mince at the moment; 3 packs of 830g for £10. Pretty darn good. :-) – JRAC Nov 23 2011 at 0:36
Although pork mince is very cheap. – JRAC Nov 23 2011 at 0:36
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 Point taken. But bacon is very quick to cook and cheap beef is very tough and needs cooking for hours! The equivalent beef cut for tenderness would be getting on for 10 quid per lb. You have got me thinking though. I might some stewing beef and mince it myself (I'm not keen on pre-minced mince). – panteleimon Nov 23 2011 at 12:13
I was about to say pre minced takes the same amount of time as bacon but how come you're not keen on pre minced? :-) As for mincing meat yourself, I've been thinking about it too, I thought it'd be cheaper to buy lamb breast and mince it myself, I checked the numbers and it's not really lol – JRAC Nov 24 2011 at 0:53
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Probably a pound per week, about the same as beef. Very rarely bacon though, most often something fairly lean.

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A pound of beef a week? I could easily devour a 16oz steak in one sitting! – Wil Nov 22 2011 at 21:40
Lol, that was my thought too Wil! A pound a day is more like it! – FED at LiveCaveman.com Nov 22 2011 at 22:08
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 Don't get me wrong, I can devour a steak like nobody's business, but why would I need to? I eat a variety of proteins so I need smaller amounts of each. Beef, pork, chicken, salmon, seafood, eggs; a pound of each every week, that's not deficient. Plus, I'm not a big dude, again, I have no need for such massive protein levels. – Matt Nov 23 2011 at 15:57
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I love pork but don't eat it as much as lamb, chicken and fish.

But this evening is roast belly of pork with lots of crackling! Free range, organic Sussex porker - delicious! And enough for lunch tomorrow and the next day.

To offset it, tomorrow for breakfast, a large wild Alaskan salmon steak. If I could move to the coast, I'd eat fresh fish almost every day.

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I eat some bacon, usually 2 strips fried first to provide liquid fat for beef and veggies.

Otherwise, I haven't eaten any pork in a long time and haven't missed it. When I don't have bacon, I use beef tallow or butter except for roasting--then it absolutely has to be coconut oil as it makes such a wonderful crispy on poultry and nice browned surface on rabbit or beef.

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 Does it make the chicken taste coconut -y? I LOVE crispy chicken skin but use butter with only moderate success. Was thinking of using pork fat... – andrew Nov 22 2011 at 17:30
I've used it on duck, chicken and turkey and neither my grandson nor I taste coconut. I do taste a little coconut if used with eggs or veggies. – Nance Nov 22 2011 at 17:43
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We have free range pork at least once a week (sometimes twice) - our absolute favourite being the spare ribs which I marinate in a little paleo t-sauce (like in Sissons recipe book). It is sooo good to eat and certainly filling so we don't need a gigantic serve. Otherwise its some chops or a roast (which I first seel in lard following some fantastic traditional French recipes for roasting meets).

In addition we make our way through pasture fed beef (have to have steak at least once a week), chilli from pasture fed beef, duck at least every fortnight, some free range chicken and occasionally fish (i've never been able to stomach much fish particularly if it is very "fishy"). We love saltbush lamb which is available here in Australia but lamb is damn expensive in this country (which is till can't understand as there are literally millions of them). Also we never go out of our way to avoid fatty meat.

As for bacon we only eat this occassionally and I try to find nitrate free (which is damn expensive but good).

What sort of pork are you eating and what frequency? Are you also eating dairy?

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 Upvote for use of "duck at least every fortnight" :) – FED at LiveCaveman.com Nov 22 2011 at 22:10
Mmmmmm crispy skin duck - another use for an old traditional French master recipe.... oh and duck eggs from our neighbours to make coconut icecream! – MayaBee Nov 22 2011 at 22:25
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 MayaBee, where do you get your nitrate free bacon? I am in Australia too (Brisbane) and can't find it anywhere! – Leoni Nov 23 2011 at 13:16
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 I also had to hunt very hard to find it! In the end I found that you can buy nitrate free/free range bacon from Barossa Valley Fine Foods - problem however is that I am in Melbourne. However as their deli prodcts are so popular I managed to find a whole list of suppliers around Melbourne - it is very good if you can find it in Brisbane - I just had a look at their website and there is a small list of stockists in QLD hopefully somewhere near you?! – MayaBee Nov 23 2011 at 21:43
Okay this is a something at least, THANK YOU MayaBee!!! No these places aren't near me really, but I will have a car soon which will make a couple of the places accessible...sort of, LOL!! Thanks again, this really helps :) – Leoni Nov 25 2011 at 13:44
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Once a fortnight perhaps, lamb and beef just taste so much better. :-)

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NONE, gave it up and feel 100% different. no acne, no puffy eyes....i have no idea wtf was with pork, it was hormone free/organic, which is a step above the conventional beef i buy but wvr...

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 Sounds like you may have been allergic to the pork (puffy eyes or bags under eyes are a common sign of allergies). – Heidi Nov 22 2011 at 15:43
Or allergic to something your pork ate... – Kimmie Nov 23 2011 at 0:54
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about 1-2lbs/week

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I'm down to spare ribs and pork hocks, each about once a week. Pork steak or chops (past favorites) no longer taste good to me. Can't compete with beef for appetite-quenching satisfaction. Spare ribs are like candy treat. Hocks I do like soup bones overnight, gnaw the bones for breakfast, mostly leave the rest for menudo with lots of beef tripe in it. The tripe gives beefy satisfaction but really has no flavor of it's own, so it's a good pairing. Pig's feet are the standard menudo pork, but way too many tiny bones.

Nothing I eat is smoked or processed. (oh, some bacon once in a while, but that's when im cheating.)

Are you sure you're not suffering from sugar in processed smoked pork?

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All the time, yum!

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Almost none...I've eaten pork in the past but we don't really keep it in the house

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