Soy Deli makes a marvelous, very firm tofu. Their factory is in San
Francisco, so it is mostly available here in the West. I don't think you
can obtain it back East, the UK or any Asian Countries.
Their block tofu is 1.5gms fat per 3oz serving, which is admittedly not
much of a portion. Most likely, you will eat about half of the block, or
2.25gms of fat in your recipe. That would be 120 calories for that 2.25
gms of fat or 20.25gms of fat. I believe that would make it about 17%
fat, which is probably too high for this group. HOWEVER, if you use this
as your major source of protein for the day, 2.25 gms of fat is not very
high. I've tried not to go off subject, but when one discusses low fat
diets, some health issues must creep in by default.
Dr. Ornish has recommended no more than 10% of your total calories
coming from fat in any one day. Preferably less than 8% for those with
heart disease. If you eat 2,000 calories/day and exercise very regularly
and aggressively--almost every day, you would be allowed 160 calories
coming from fat. That would mean no more than 17.78gms of fat in one
day, which is probably much too high for those with heart disease. But
that is not very high if you run, swim or walk almost every day, at
least 2.5 miles, and do weight training 3 days/week. But considering
this, you must also remember that even low "fat" foods still have fat in
them, and there is an additive effect. I don't think Dr. McDougal would
consider TOFU for the MWLD, since the fat content for even low fat tofu
is by percentage, high. TOFU has no cholesterol.
TOFU has some excellent food benefits. It is off subject for this
newsletter, but you can read about them looking up SOY on the internet.
Much of the research data is funded by the SOY business, but they seem
to be doing honest research. I could go into their research, but that is
not for this newsletter. My point is that giving up soy to reduce fat
may not be your best choice. It might make more sense to try to avoid
full fat tofu, since there is low fat available. You might also reduce
your portions of high fat tofu in restaurants. No restaurants serve low
fat tofu. If you have active heart disease, blocked coronary arteries or
angina, you should discuss fat content with your cardiologist.
Michael M. Rosenblatt, DPM
ROSEY1@xxxxxxxxxxx
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