Fats: Understanding The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Fats: Understanding The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Fats are one of the three building blocks of our food, next to proteins and carbohydrates. It can be very confusing to know what to eat to be our fittest and healthiest. There is so much conflicting information, and so many voices telling us about studies and how to eat. Are you confused about fats? I’ll help you understand the fat facts.
Saturated fats (SFAs) are the most maligned of the category of foods we call fats. For decades the American Heart Association and other researchers have advised people with high cholesterol to avoid (or limit) saturated fats to ultimately reduce risk of heart disease and stroke. However, the evidence for continuing to put forward this as fact has proven downright wrong. And that evidence has been there. For decades. It’s been carefully ignored.
This is something that humans do. We ignore or resist seeing evidence that contradicts our preconceived ideas. This is called “exclusion bias”. We remove (exclude) those facts that disagree with our preconceived ideas.
Researchers and scientists are not exempt from that exclusion bias, sometimes they simply leave out data that doesn’t fit with their hypothesis. Leaving out data from studies is common, and they may only want their own results accepted, even if that data is misleading or wrong.
Wait. But what if there was a mistake? It is true that cholesterol (the LDL-C “bad” type) levels are lowered by using medications like statins. Statins work great for lowering cholesterol. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that lowering cholesterol alone or reducing saturated fats in your diet will help you avoid a heart attack or stroke or the buildup of plaque in your arteries. But there is evidence that lowering other fats can.
So let’s clear the air about the good and bad fats.
Fats are healthy for you. You must eat fats to make some of your organs work well, and to make some vitamins to help your body processes. You cannot cut out fats like the media and food companies were telling us from the 1980’s and 1990’s. But bad data does not die easily. The general belief that was put forward was to SUBSTITUTE vegetable oils for the saturated fats.
Sure, there are fats found in vegetable oils that can be quite healthy for us. These better vegetable oils are avocado oil, olive oil, and oils naturally found in nuts. These are higher in monosaturated fats (MUFAs). Other vegetable oils like sunflower, corn, cottonseed and soybeans, for example, are used in many pre-packaged foods like salad dressings, snack foods, chips, and baked goods. These are primarily Omega-6 oils known as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). PUFAs are not as healthy as MUFAs and can contribute to inflammation, another heart risk factor.
Saturated fats (SFAs) primarily include palm oil, coconut oil, and the fats found in meats and dairy, like butter. We do well to eat some SFAs. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should go crazy eating lard, or large servings of coconut oil because that may not be good for you either. Strive for small amounts of SFAs, which act like lubricant for many bodily needs.
In people who are obese, have diabetes, or seizure disorder, a carefully followed ketogenic diet can help with weight loss, lowering cholesterol, and helping with blood sugar. A ketogenic diet focuses on removing high-sugar foods, lowering carbohydrates, and utilizing SFAs and MUFAs to get the body to burn fat for energy. More research is being done on this phenomenon of reducing inflammatory conditions.
The best eating plan by far has been proven to be the Mediterranean diet. It is important to know that SFAs really can make some people’s cholesterol levels go up, so if you have a genetic predisposition (family history) for heart disease and stroke, that can contribute arteries getting junked up with plaques. But know that this is only one factor among many risk factors.
Easy details to remember:
1. Eat more MUFAs than PUFAs. Your balance of should be at least 2:1. Use avocado oil or olive oil to make home-made salad dressing and to cook with, as both have safe, high smoke points (cooking temperatures).
2. Eat more whole food sources to reduce your intake of added oils. Instead of using the oil derived from walnuts, sprinkle a few walnuts on your salad, and use a small amount of olive oil.
3. Do speak to a well-informed integrative health professional or integrative nutritionist for help and guidance.
Want to know your heart risks? You can do it yourself here with this calculator from the American Heart Association: www.cvriskcalculator.com/
Want to know more about how the research went awry? Read the reviews of the book The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz here: https://thebigfatsurprise.com/reviews/
Are you looking for a practitioner who is knowledgeable about fats and diet, and willing to treat you as the unique individual you are? I’m a medical clinician and a health coach, and I talk to my patients and coaching clients about this topic and many others. I help you overcome confusion and health hurdles by tailoring your treatment to your pace.
Go to www.tammyjettparmer.com and click the Let’s Connect link.
