Well, I've had three conversations today about fats; so what is my blog for if it's not to set the record straight on this ever so touchy subject!
2 + 2 = 5 where fats are concerned and this is a huge problem with our health today! Fat people do not get fat from eating fat. It's not that simple! There are so many factors that contribute to our fatness (or clinical term obesity) and high quality saturated fat is not one of them.
We have survived on saturated fats for years and years and years, so why now, in the last century are we running scared of them? I'm going to quote from "Eat, Move and Be Healthy" here as Paul Chek sums it up in a nutshell for you guys:
"Today, heart disease causes at least 40% of all deaths in the U.S. If, as we have been told, heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, one would expect to find a corresponding increase of fat in the American diet. Actually the converse is true. During the sixty year period from 1910 - 1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat ... declined from 83% to 62% and butter consumption plummeted from 18lbs per person per year to four. During the past eighty years, dietary cholesterol intake has increased only 1%. During the same period, the percentage of vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening and refined oils increased about 400%, while the consumption of sugar and processed foods increased about 60%". (How to Eat, Move and be Healthy by Paul Chek) [see the side bar to buy this product - it's essential if you are interested in real health.]
So you see, we decry fats and try to find alternatives and the longer we go on doing that, the more ill we become as a society - just have a look around you. Sure, stress plays a part in obesity, as does lack of exercise and poor sleep... but your diet is absolutley crucial to your survival.
So why do fats have a bad name? My feeling is that due to bad farming standards in particular where meat is concerned, the fats that we can get in our supermarkets from commercially farmed animal produce carry the toxins of unhealthy beasts. Saturated fat produced by organic grass fed cattle provides toxin free saturated fat so it is essential to find out where your meat comes from and support the small local farmer. He is vital to your health and well being!
Some pointers about fats that hopefully will make you realise that you need them in your diet:
My fat facts are as follows:
- Fats are needed for your 'rest and digest' hormones (DHEA) to be absorbed into the body. Without the necessary fats present, the inhibition of this hormone will allow cortisol to run riot in your body all day long. Cortisol is your 'fight or flight' hormone and has a stress like response on the body. If you are stressed try consuming more good quality fats.
- Digestion starts in the mouth: cortisol inhibits saliva production making the digestive process in the mouth difficult to begin with.
- If fats are not present in your food, lipase will not be released into the mouth, the body will not produce leptins and the food will not be adequately broken down. If nutrients in your food are not absorbed the body will invoke a hunger response requiring you to eat more!
- Essentially FATS ARE WHAT SATISFY YOU…
- High good fat intake avoiding bad fats: this will create an isotonic saline solution and will normalise the gut’s rate of emptying which is dependant upon certain chemical compositions in the chime (liquefied food in the gut). These chemicals come form saturated fats in your diet. Without the presence of saturated fats, your food will not easily pass through your system and your digestive system will be imapired. How much IBS is out there right now?
- Bile which is produced in the liver is excreted when you eat fats. Bile needs to flow or it becomes toxic when stagnant. FASTING, in particular FAT FASTING causes bile to be stored in the gall bladder. Pasty bile eventually becomes a gall stone over time.
- Fat is required for vitamins A,D,E and K to be absorbed into the body.
What happens when fat is not present? Well, the body still recognises it's requirement to complete the necessary functions and will do so to the best of it's capabilities even though it is stressful to carry it out. Stress in the body leads to sickness or illness, sickness in the body requies healing, the body's natural healing agent is cholesterol - so the body releases more cholesterol into your system to promote healing. Meanwhile you recognise symptoms of being unwell and ideally rest up and wait for it to pass... or not! What we actually do is ignore it, carry on with our normal diet and our 'oh so busy' lives! What happens then is that you get more and more ill until the signs are really obvious now, your cholesterol is through the roof and the Doctor gives you medication to lower your cholesterol. Now what's going to do the bidy's natural healing as we are now using drugs to reduce the natural healing agent in the body. Our body, clever thing it is, recognises the lack of cholesterol and simply produces more... Meanwhile we are so stressed that our blood starts to coagulate (remember stress in evolutionary terms is akin to being chased by a Sabre Toothed Tiger, so, our blood thickens when stressed in case we get bitten and then we might not bleed to death in the event we don't get eaten alive!), thickened blood lines our arteries and reduces blood flow to the heart. You know the rest of the story...
So eat more fat, get more good quality fats in your system, allow your bodily functions to operate as they are designed to, and reduce the risk of illness, excess weight, poor energy and underactive thyroid and diabetes and ... the list goes on!
We all need fats, and we all need protein. No indiginous cultures were ever found to be 100% vegetarian. None. Some people will need less fat than others and some will need more. For those of you who know me, about 60% - 65% of my diet is saturated fats and proteins. My bodyfat measures less than 10%, the rest is muscle. Do I look like i'm about to drop off and have a heart attack?? What's your fat intake and your body fat percentage? Hopefully this is starting to make sense.
If you are interested in finding out how much protein and fats and carbohydrate you require in your diet, then call me, email me and let's get started on my optimum and individualied nutrition programmes. I am also in the process of setting up some group courses which should be ready to go in the near future.
Pass this information on to your friends and relatives, pass the word around. the sooner we start consuming good quality fats, the sooner we can begin to normalise the state of our society... don't even get me started on hyeractive kids and Attention Deficit Disorder. Guess what they need more of in their diet?
I'll see you soon
Peace
Gary
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