Eat Fat, Gain Fat?

We live is the age of low-fat, no-fat, reduced-fat, and fake-fat craze. A phobia of animal fats is everywhere. Healthy, life-giving lard, butter and coconut oil, which nourished the lean and sturdy generations of our ancestors for millennia, are now almost completely wiped off our plates. Every day, on TV and in doctors’ offices, we hear the same refrain - animal fats are bad for you, they are responsible for obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease… Indeed, is it true?

Let us consider Deanna’s story. Deanna, 45, had heard clear messages that, if she ate animal fat she would gain weight and raise her risk for developing heart disease and diabetes. She started religiously following “politically correct” recommendations to eat more wheat, liquid vegetable oils, and fibre, having no idea that such products are generally antagonistic to the human metabolism. She started her day with processed cereals and skim milk instead of bacon and eggs. She cut down on dairy products and red meats and switched to grains and soy. Deanna drastically restricted her animal fat intake, assuming that less fat would contribute to leanness and health. What were the long-term consequences of this dietary experiment - the same experiment that nowadays is imposed on all Americans who want to lose weight and gain health?

Over a period of six months Deanna gained more than ten pounds of weight, the majority of which was pure fat, which was confirmed by the fat measuring test. Her tolerance for physical activity was reduced, she started experiencing fatigue and aches in her joints. Most of the time Deanna felt bloated, her stomach was filled with gas due to the enormous amounts of carbohydrates she consumed to compensate for the lack of fat in her diet. At the same time, her body began suffering from the deficiency of essential vitamins and minerals. In the end, Deanna had to quit experimenting with her health and returned to a traditional, balanced diet emphasising nutrient-dense meats, eggs, full-fat dairy products, and butter.

In fact, weight reduction is much more complex than just eliminating dietary fat or adding on exercise. Our bodies absolutely need animal fats for production of healthy hormones, nerves tissues and cell membranes and for assimilation of important fat-soluble Vitamins A, D, and E. Dietary fats are needed for the conversion of carotene to Vitamin A, for mineral absorption and for a host of other metabolic processes. In other words, if you eat a carrot without butter or cream, the vitamins contained in the vegetable are wasted - they simply cannot be absorbed. Animal fats do not go directly into our buttocks or tummies, as we might think listening to the simplified and twisted explanations of producers of low-fat, ersatz foods. Instead, healthy saturated fats serve numerous body-building and supportive functions - they protect liver from alcohol and toxins in prescription drugs, enhance the immune system, support the work of the heart and even have important antimicrobial properties. If you follow a low-fat diet for a long period of time, you seriously jeopardise your health and put yourself in risk of catching infections and developing degenerative diseases. And you do not lose any weight because the key reason of gaining fat lies in overconsumption of carbohydrates! While an average person needs about 100 grams of carbs daily to completely satisfy the body’s need in fuel - glucose - your run-of-the-mill American daily consumes four - five times the required amount, in the form of breads, buns, doughnuts, pasta, sugary drinks, juices, and even fruit. So, why are we still surprised that the rate of obesity in the US is skyrocketing, as the dietary and medical establishment keeps recommending to consume from 8 to 14 potions of carbohydrate-rich products daily?

The body has a complex and highly sophisticated system for regulating its fat stores, therefore the “one diet fits all” approach to losing weight is not appropriate. Long-term dieting, which denies foods rich on saturated fats, commonly leads to health problems, binge eating, and regaining weight. As the debate continues about the best way to lose weight, the most successful strategies point towards restriction of the amount of carbohydrates in the diet. And, if you still want to keep health and energy - don’t forget to eat your fat!

Lada Brown