Fat Thoughts (Part II)

Fat?  What?  Healthy?  Yes.  Seriously, yes.  Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk.  Fat is an important part of your diet that many people spend countless hours micro-managing with the goal to avoid getting or staying fat.  To some degree, I can appreciate their struggle (I personally loathe trans fats.), but I think it’s high time that we start to re-evaluate our relationship with the big “F”.  While it can be pretty tasty (ok, downright delicious), up a meal’s ability to make you feel full, and some can even help cool the fires of inflammation burning in the body, there still seems to be a handsome swath of people who are hell-bent on eating as little fat as possible to avoid consequences like the dreaded “C” (aka. cholesterol).  Using myself as an example, it’s my goal to shed some light on why what our generally accepted truths on fat might be missing the mark.

I admit it openly – Fat is a decent part of my diet.  You can read my full disclosure below so that there are no mistakes about what types of fat that I personally consume and how they subsequently affect me via scientific bloodwork.  I’m sharing this because I believe part of what causes many in this nation to develop cholesterol issues isn’t the good fat that we eat.  It’s a combination of poor (or bad) fats in your diet and an overabundance of fructose (Do you eat a lot of fruit?) that create metabolic (aka. hormonal) issues bogging down your body’s ability to function properly.

You’ve got to understand- nutrition as a science is relatively new… say about 50+ years old.  There’s a huge amount of wiggle room and contradiction in the mix of things especially since we let industry decide for us what is good and bad to eat.  (You can check out Michael Pollan books for more info on that topic.)  Because of this, we follow diets, philosophies, eating rules, trends, charts, graphs, and range limits as if they are the end-all be-all of life.  The unique make-up of each person on this planet seems to be disregarded when it comes to all of this info-stuff.  It’s entirely plausible that one could be outside the normal ranges of things and still be, well, normal for him or herself.  That’s why we’ve always got to question what’s conventionally accepted whether we’re talking about fat or something entirely different.

My concern comes from the many people who still buy into the idea that fat makes you fat. However, there is a growing trend of professionals who are bucking the trend providing information that is startlingly relevant to our current obesity dilemma.  My nutritionist, Samantha F Grant, says that “Our cell membranes are made up of 50% saturated fats, like the fats found in oils from butter, eggs and coconut milk.  They give our cells necessary stiffness and integrity. When we’ve evaluated the fat in artery clogs, it’s been revealed that only about 26% is saturated fat.  The rest is unsaturated, of which more than half is polyunsaturated.” (Felton, C V, et al, Lancet, 1994, 344:1195)

Even my mentor, Andrea Beaman, lectures about the benefits of healthy fats for a healthy body and takes Samantha’s thoughts a step further.  “Every cell in your body relies on cholesterol/fat for communication. All of our cells are coated in cholesterol/fat and that is what holds the integrity of our cells. Even your entire brain is coated in cholesterol. When cholesterol is too low… [you can experience] memory loss, bone loss, muscle loss, and depression.”  We can all concur that the picture Andrea paints doesn’t look good!

Clearly fat is important in ways that extend beyond the anti-inflammation craze with fish oil.  We need fat for our body to properly lubricate itself all the way down to the cellular level and to send signals around to various areas.  Though it’s quite easy to take for granted all that goes into even the process of my fingers typing this article to you, fat is a key piece of the puzzle facilitating the actions.  That’s pretty major, yes?

Okay, so back to my most recent bloodwork results- I always like to use myself as a guinea pig.  I figure that it’s my own personal right to try things out on me before sharing ideas with others.  Plus, I use my own life as an example for personal change.  My last bloodwork before this recent one was completed over three years ago, prior to drastically changing my diet and removing gluten, dairy and eggs.  Over the course of time, I also began to eat more full fat food options as well.  So, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my lipid panel (which illustrates your fat levels in the blood) came back better than they were in the prior test.  Even my Dad (the doctor) commented how good they were!

Now before I share my results with you, I want to disclose that I do not generally eat products that have the fat reduced or removed (ie. Skim milk, low-fat cheese, fat-free products that clearly contain oils).  I put full-fat coconut milk in my smoothies.  I use olive oil and other types of oils that haven’t been refined.  I love ghee (which is clarified butter) and, if I did consume butter, I’d opt for the full fat type.  I eat chicken that still has fat and skin on it and marrow from bones in stocks.  If I could eat eggs, I’d eat the whole egg (as I used to before developing a sensitivity).  I eat avocados and plenty of nuts and seeds.   And I eat chocolate (which is quite high in fat too, FYI!).  Anyway, you get the picture.

So here are the results from my lipid panel dated 4/1/11:

Cholesterol, Total                     150                          Normal Limits: 125 – 200 mg/dL

HDL Cholesterol                        70                          Normal Limits: > OR = 46 mg/dL

Triglycerides                              43                          Normal Limits: < 150 mg/dL

LDL-Cholesterol                         71                          Normal Limits: <130 mg/dL (calc)

Not bad, considering that you now know what I eat.  Food for thought.

Great follow up reading includes:

Is Sugar Toxic? – Gary Taubes, NY Times

Ominous New Warnings issued about Toxic Fat – Dr. Barry Sears

Toxic Fat – TV interview of Dr. Barry Sears

The Big Fat Cholesterol Myth – Andrea Beaman

Rethinking Saturated Fats – Dr. Andrew Weil

Looking to go Gluten Free? Register for my upcoming **FREE** tele-class “FIVE ways that Gluten *STILL* Sneaks into your Diet” on 9/14 at 7 PM ET. If you haven’t registered for the class yet, you can do so here.

What philosophy of fat do you follow?   Are you a low-fat person?   What’s your experience been?

Tagged as: andrea beaman, avocado, bone stocks, bones, butter, chocolate, cholesterol, coconut milk, eggs, fat, fructose, ghee, lipids, michael pollan, Samantha Grant, sugar