EATING FAT TO GET HEALTHY

Between the 1950s and 1960s, a low fat, high carb diet was recommended by scientists and doctors, we were told not to eat fat, that it clogs the arteries and especially if you want to lose weight.

Eating fat caused more fat sounded logical and the science seemed to support it seeing as there is nine calories per gram of fat as opposed to four calories per gram in carbohydrates and protein.

In recent times,however, this has been reversed. For the first time since the dietary guidelines came out in 1980, the US government on advice from the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee changed their stance on fat. Cholesterol was exonerated and recommendation to limit dietary fat and cholesterol was removed except for saturated fat. So now we are once again being told its okay to eat the whole egg and not discard the yolk! This is all very confusing as eating less fat has been the advice for a very long time. So what changed? What sort of foods from the fats group can we now consume?

In 1992, the Food Guide Pyramid was published. At the base of the
pyramid were carbohydrates, we were told to eat 6-11 servings of
bread, rice, cereal and pasta a day. At the top of the pyramid were fats and oils which we were advised to use only sparingly. This has been the norm for the past two decades and still is to some institutions as the new study on fat is yet to catch up. This,however, is changing. Over the last five years the scientific evidence has been piling up, proving that high-fat diets outperform low-fat diets for weight loss and for reversing every single indicator of heart disease risk including abnormal cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, inflammation and many more.

David Ludwig, a Harvard professor, conducted a very controlled study where he put people in two groups. The first group he placed on a diet that consisted of 60percent carbs, 20percent fats and 20percent protein. The second group had the opposite – 60percent fats, 20percent carbs and 20percent protein.

At the end it was found that the group with the high fat diet
lost 300 more calories by doing nothing at all! This is because Fat is
a brain food. It helps you not to crave all the time. It actually stops the addiction center in the brain from turning on. Fat also speeds up your metabolism as it liberates the fats from the fat cells.

Food is the cure for most chronic diseases this is because food is
actually not just for energy but it is information. It communicates
with your body, every bite you eat turns off and on genes, it creates
health or disease, it makes you gain or lose weight. A high fat diet
has been shown to reduce diabetes in a patient. So much so that she
got off her injections and most pills. This occurred just by slashing
her carbohydrate and increasing her fat intake by over 50percent.

It is, however, important to note that there’s different kinds of fat.
There’s saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans fat. Not all fats are to be vilified and eating liberal amounts of the right ones will not make you fat but they are a key to weight loss and good health.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman in the Book – Eat Fat, Get Thin, he
summarized all his findings to the following conclusions:
• Dietary fat speeds up your metabolism, reduces hunger and stimulates fat burning.
• Dietary fat helps you reduce overall calorie intake not increase it.
• Dietary fat and saturated fat specifically does not cause heart disease.
• Diets higher in fat promote more weight loss than diets high in carbs, and they are easier to stick to.
• Dietary fat reduces inflammation, risk for clotting and all heart disease risk factors.
• Dietary fat improves brain function and mood and helps prevent dementia.

These are just a few conclusions from the book from all the studies he researched and summarized on.

Earlier we mentioned the different types of fats, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, etc. Since all fat is not the same, here are some examples of the good kind.

1. Avocados

It is primarily monounsaturated fat. It raises the level of good cholesterol while lowering the bad. It is filled with Vitamin E which boosts immunity and acts as an anti-aging nutrient for your skin. Avocados have more healthy protein than any other fruit.

2. Coconut oil

It is rich in medium-chain fatty acids, which are easy for your body to digest and not readily stored by the body as fat.

3. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

This is full of monounsaturated fats but use with care as one tablespoon is 14 grams of fat.

4. Omega-3 s

This helps to boost heart health and is one of the best ways to get essential fat. Foods packed with it are Fish ( Tuna, Salmon –However limit intake to avoid overexposure to things like mercury that can be found in small amounts in seafood ), Walnuts, White Fish, Sardines, Chia seeds, Egg yolks, etc.

5. Dark Chocolate

This may come as a surprise but one ounce (about three fingers worth) counts as one serving and contains about nine grams of fat as well as other things that are good for you.

6. Eggs

It contains Vitamin B that helps regulate the brain, nervous system and cardiovascular system. As for the cholesterol in the yolk that we were previously advised to discard, latest nutrition research has shown that eating it does not raise blood cholesterol as previously believed. Moderate egg consumption can lead to improved heart health.

Following the new knowledge available now, it is wise for us to start reintroducing fats into our diets so as not to be left out in its many
benefits.