We’ve been hearing it for years: fat will make you fat, clog your arteries, ruin your health, create disease, and lead to an early death.  No wonder so many of us slurp down skimmed milk and stuff ourselves stupid with low fat food products.  But should we be so afraid of fat? No, according to a growing body of thought amongst experts. They say that animal and other natural saturated fats from whole foods are GOOD for us

In fact they’re going as far as to say that by eliminating fat from our diet, we’re eliminating a major macronutrient that we depend upon for good health

Here’s NMTBP’s take on fats

Some real Fat Facts:

1) Fat doesn’t make you fat

The reasons for obesity are many and complex, but the impression we’re given by ‘the experts’ is that excess fat in the diet is the main causative factor of weight gain.  Not so.  Fat can only be stored on our bodies in the presence of insulin, the “fat-storing hormone”

Fats don’t stimulate insulin secretion on their own.  The truth is, any food can be stored as fat in the presence of excess insulin-secreting factors, such as overeating, a high-carbohydrate diet, stress, lack of sleep, excess caffeine, and prescription and recreational drug use.  In other words, fat has become unfairly demonized as a single “culprit” when it’s no more to blame – and a whole lot more innocent – than many other factors.  Worst of all, in throwing fat out, we’re throwing away a real dietary ally

2) Good fats are highly nutritious

Traditional cultures the world over have depended on fats for health and life. Traditional societies consumed (depending on their place of origin) such high-fat foods as lard,butter, fresh thick cream, fish roe, eggs, organ meats, insects, olives, avocados and coconuts. There is no credible evidence that these ancient people were obese, or that they suffered from the high rates of degenerative disease we see in western societies today

In the 1930s, pioneering researcher Weston A Pricestudied many of these cultures and noted that they thrived on these foods.  This is because good-quality fats (particularly animal fats) are full of concentrated nutrition, such as the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and K.  All of these are vital for the adequate absorption of minerals and ensure ensure proper growth, a healthy brain, appropriate sexual development and good rates of fertility

3) Saturated fats are essential for our bodies…

If fat in general has been demonized, saturated fat is seen as the biggest devil of them all.  We’re told that saturated fat will clog us up and strike us down.  Rubbish says the new theory!  Saturated fat is a natural part of our metabolism, because we’re warm-blooded creatures and our cells depend on a stable, heat-resistant form of fat for their integrity.  In fact, our cells are composed of 50% saturated fat, which is necessary for hormone production and proper cell membrane function

If we don’t get enough saturated fat in the diet, our body will make it from simple carbohydrates – which helps to explain the carb cravings many people experience on a low-fat diet.  Medium-chain fatty acids (a type of saturated fat like that found in coconut oil) actually help to increase our metabolic rate and can therefore assist us in losing weight if we need to

4) …And so are the foods that contain them

The problem we face in removing foods that are high in saturated fats is that these foods – such as egg yolks, oily fish, and grass-fed red meat – are also high in other important important nutritional factors, such as high-quality protein, and the polyunsaturated fatty acids Omega 3.  The latter plays an important role in heart health when balanced with Omega 6, another polyunsaturated fatty acid which is often consumed in excess in the modern diet

Removing saturated fat alone from the diet isn’t possible, even if we wanted to – if it goes, other good things go with it.  In addition, we’re generally advised to replace saturated fats in the diet with so-called ‘healthy’ fats and oils such as vegetable oils and margarine.  Yet in reality, these processed factory-produced fats are anything but good for us

Here’s an interesting overview of the difference between good, natural fats (including saturates) and the dangerous fake fats we should really be avoiding:

How to eat more fat (the Right kind!)

If you’re convinced that you need more good fat in your life, you may be wondering just where to begin.   I’ll be going into the qualities of good fats in a later post, but here’s a quick three-step primer to get you started.  Follow these steps as a good way to eat more fat and introduce more nutrition into your life and kitchen.

Replace Margarine & Low-Fat Spreads With Real Butter : Margarine and low-fat spreads are artificial, factory-produced fake foods.  A 1991 study published in Nutrition Week noted that margarine eaters have higher rates of heart disease than butter eaters.  In the 20th century, as butter consumption dropped, and margarine consumption increased, heart disease rates soared.  Butter is natural food made from fresh cream from the farm.  Choose a good quality organic butter made from the milk of grass-fed cows, and enjoy it. It’s full of good things

Ditch The Processed Vegetable Oils & Commercial Salad Dressings : Vegetable oils such as canola and rapeseed are in just about everything these days.  Sadly, they’re highly processed, with the oils usually being extracted under high heat and using chemical solvents.  These fats are consequently damaged and toxic to our bodies.  Commercial salad dressings re full of these nasties, and should be strictly avoided. Cold-pressed oils such as olive and coconut are safe and clean and great for home-made salad dressings; and stable saturated animal fats such as tallow and lard are best for cooking

Avoid Commercial Low-Fat Products : These are to be avoided for two reasons. If they’ve had fat removed (like fat-free yogurts made from skimmed milk) then much of the nutrition will have been removed too.  Also, they tend to be high in sugar or artificial sweeteners to mask the fact that some of the flavour has disappeared with the fat.  Naturally low-fat real foods like white fish, vegetables and fruits are fine – but low-fat food from a factory is a no-no!

For an in-depth understanding of good fats and what they can do for you, check out this article by Dr. Mary Enig, a world-renowned expert in the field of nutritional fats.  In it, she debunks several myths (including the “Lipid Hypothesis” – the now-discredited idea that saturated dietary fat causes heart disease).  It’s well worth a look, but it’s quite heavy-going in places. Be warned!