The most vilified, loathed and despised element of any diet and food is, has always been and will always continue to be...
FAT...
We humans have had a long and complicated relationship with fat through the years. Our ancient ancestors would gorge on all the fat they could get hold of in order to bulk up to survive the long, bleak season of slim pickings and poor hunting, A.K.A Winter!
Even as recently as the middle of the last century, people, most of whom were from difficult economic backgrounds, working long hours in labour intensive jobs ate a lot of fat. The harshness of everyday life required excess fat for fuel and made up for a lot of the poor dietary intake of low quality foods, although diseases such as Tuberculosis, rickets and malnutrition were sadly all too frequent.
Fast forward to the latter decades of the last century and the rise of convenience foods, a rise in highly processed foods, fast food and even the advent of takeout delivery and things began to change rapidly.
Fat became public enemy number ONE!
Ever since it seems as though every nutritionist, GP and TV Doctor has warned about the perils of fat and the effect it has on health and blamed it for the worldwide obesity epidemic.
But is that tag warranted?
I guess the only simple answer is yes and no... But that's not really a simple answer now is it?
Nowadays most of us are a lot more sophisticated in our knowledge of health and well-being and the dietary effect on both. So it will likely come as no surprise when I tell you that there are good and bad fats. This, however is where a lot of confusion exists for many.
- Big FAT myth number one - FAT does not make you fat.
Fact - Many fats are absolutely essential for staying healthy. In fact you've heard of essential fats right, essential fatty acids? Well guess what, t turns out they are just that... Essential... Shock horror, who could've predicted that?
Many vitamins are fat soluble, without enough fat they do not function and vitamin levels plummet potentially resulting in all manner of nasty ailments, such as blindness, major hormone imbalances and in extreme cases DEATH!
Fat deficiency is not cool, right?
- Big FAT myth number two - Low fat, reduced fat and zero fat alternatives are not the best options.
Let's face it, foods that contain fat are just more satisfying, right? That's because fat IS satisfying, without it, other things need to be added to the recipe to make it enjoyable, salts sugars, chemicals like MSG.
- Big FAT myth number three - The calories contained in fats are most often irrelevant.
I know at-least one incredibly successful diet author who is also a heart surgeon who recommends around 12 to 15 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil per day.
THIS IS A TOTAL OF AROUND 1400-1500 CALORIES, EXTRA PER DAY.
The case studies and research back up his claims. This healthy fat can actually help the body to efficiently lose weight.
Now doesn't that fly in the face of all those men's vs women's calorific intake charts we are all familiar with?
BUT...
The whole point of my health posts is to not bombard you with massive posts but small bytes of information so that it can easily be followed along at an easy pace without investing too much time reading through reams of data each day. So I am gonna leave it there for today.
Next up because FAT is such a huge topic we are gonna discuss several different types of fat, such as trans fats, saturated fats, polyunsaturated and so on and so on... I am going to be sharing with you some of the most wonderful choices for healthy fats you could make in order to live a long happy life full of energy and vitality.
Well I guess it is time for the obligatory disclaimer about the fact I am not a Doctor and this is not medical advice and all that jazz. Like I said yesterday I have researched the topic of foods that harm and foods that heal for many, many years and often the cutting edge research and stats from the world of science health and nutrition fly in the face of official governmental research. That suits me fine, I have always had my own ideas on the traditional advice anyway.