FATS & OILS. The truth
Fats & oils are essential to optimal health. They are important building blocks for the cells of our body, they play a big role in balancing our hormones.
Just as with all foods, you must consume high quality fats & oils for your body to effectively use them.
FATS TO AVOID
Many processed foods, even those touted as healthy, are laden with trans-fatty acids (TFA’s) structurally trans-fatty acids are closer to plastic than fat.
TFA consumption has been linked to heart disease & elevating LDL cholesterol levels (the bad cholesterol). This is generally considered to be unhealthy.
Upon discovering elevated total cholesterol & elevated LDL levels , Doctors will often tell people to restrict animal fats, butter, cheese, eggs, to eat a low -fat diet high in grains & vegetables and to to replace butter with margarine.
Unfortunately, this often makes the problem worse. Margarine is a vegetable oil-based product designed to compete with butter in the market place. It’s notorious for high levels of TFAs. Americans eat between 11 & 28 grams of TFAs a day – or 1/5 their total intake of fat. Marjarine is molecule away from plastic under microscope.
ESSENTIAL FAT
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are fats that our bodies are unable to manufacture. We must therefore, acquire them from dietary sources. These fats fall into two groups, omega-3 & omega-6 EFAs.
Omega-6 is readily available in grain products, meats & many commonly used cooking oils such as corn, safflower & sunflower. Omega-3 fatty EFAs are found in leafy green veggies & oily fish & comparatively small quantities are found in walnuts, eggs & animal meats. Again the ideal ratio of omega-3 :omega-6 fatty acids is 1:4.
Omega 3 is vital to the development of a child’s brain & nervous system & for maintenance for an adult brain & nervous system. Imbalance between omega-3 & omega-6 has been heavily linked to things like stroke, cancer, obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, lupus, depression & postpartum depression, ADHD, Alzheimer, chronic inflammatory disorders, the list goes on.
THE SATURATED FAT MYTH
Politically Correct Nutrition, meaning what the government would have you eat, or what the typical college-educated dietician would have you eat, is based on the assumption that we should reduce our intake of fats, particularly saturated fats from animal sources.
Fats from animal sources also contain cholesterol, presented as the twin villain of the civilized diet. Although hydrogenation of fats began in 1912, coronary heart disease was rare in America before 1920.
Today, heart disease causes close to 40% of all deaths.If, as we have been told, heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, one would expect to find a corresponding increase in animal fat in the American Diet.
Actually the converse is true. During the 60 year period from 1910 to 1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in standard diets declined by 62-83% & butter consumption plummeted also. During the same period the % of dietary vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening & refined oils increased about 400%, while the consumption of sugar & processed foods increased about 60%.
In short if the Myths were true none of us would be around today because saturated fat was the primary energy source for most of our ancestors. Studies of North American Indians, Eskimos & many other tribes suggest that as much as 80% of their diet was from fat, most of which was saturated animal fat.
POINTS FOR HEALTHY FAT CONSUMPTION
Good sources of fat include: Coconut oil palm oil, butter (raw is best)
Organic grass fed animal fats, avocado & nuts.Olive oil is ok but must not be heated high, must be organic & cold pressed otherwise the heat from the extraction process sends the fats rancid which leads to free radical damage.
Fats to avoid: TFAs, hydrogenated oils, vegetable oils (again the high temperatures used to produce these oils will destroy the nutrients).
Fats from conventionally raised animals & fish.
As far as fish supplements go unless you are buying from a very good source/Naturopath, the carrier oils in the capsules are poor quality & cheaper, the oils will often be rancid before they even make the shelves, bite a capsule open, u will soon smell if it is rancid.
Avoid eating roasted nuts because the roasting causes the fats to go rancid also, increasing free radical damage. In other words they make u age faster.
Avoid non Organic dairy sources. In many cases milk is loaded with the same sort of fat-soluble vitamins you find in meats. Organic & Raw milk (health food stores) being the only option for me as anything pasturized is just white sugar water & wont offer you much nutrition.
Avoid any deep fried foods & always use heat stable fats & oils for cooking. (See below)
Mothers must go out of their way to assure their children get adequate omega-3 EFAs.
Whatever it takes feed your kids Organic food at least until they finish growing. We are made out of what we eat.
COOKING WITH OILS – ALWAYS USE UNREFINED ORGANIC OILS.
No Heat
Flaxseed
Borage
Hemp
Cod liver
Low Heat
Safflower
Sunflower
Pumpkin
Olive
High Heat – Frying & browning
Coconut
Butter / Ghee (clarified butter)
Palm
Lard
When frying always put the oil into a cold pan & bring the temp up slowly
In summary; there is a lot of controversial information here for you to do what you will with, i challenge you to look a little further into it as i have. To find the skinny on FATS.
My advice for you is if you do avoid Fat’s to lose weight & it does not seem to be working jump on the other side of the fence for 4 weeks avoiding sugar & eat good quality Fats in a well balanced meal consistanly & see & feel the change for yourself.
Feeling good & looking how you want to really isnt difficult. it is as easy as avoiding anything man has processed.
Whole fresh food just like mother nature intended is the only way to go. Mother nature cant be beaten…!!
Check out the links below to get you started
I ALSO HAVE A “FREE GUIDE TO FAT LOSS” THAT CAN BE DOWNLOADED ON THE HOME PAGE
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KEEP MOVING & HAVING FUN!
Goggle; the cholesterol myth for more info & check out these great links below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awA2fsa94MI&feature=related
http://wwwyoutube.com/watch?v=WVLTLrtbNsM
http://www.thincs.org/links.htm