We are a society that is afraid of fat, yet there are many signs that we are fat-deficient.  The supermarket shelves are packed with products that tout the terms low-fat or fat-free as if it is a good thing, but it is not. Essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins have been on our radar for the last 30 years, yet we can’t seem to get off this low-fat kick.

Eating good fat and oils does not make you fat.  Fat is a necessary component for brain development, nerve conduction, cell membrane stability, sterol and hormone production, inflammatory signaling chemicals, organ protection, and energy. Although a dietician sees that each gram of fat is 9 calories, this is based on a test tube reaction, not what actually happens in your body. Because your body uses fat for so many different essential functions, it does not translate to 9 calories of energy from each gram.

Fat makes things taste better and digest slower.  This is very important to emphasize because most people assume they can’t seem to fill up or be satisfied when they eat a lot of vegetables.  But this problem is usually due to a lack of dietary fats, or a high amount of associated carbohydrates.  For example, the idea that Chinese food (the junk served here in America, not what the Chinese actually eat) will leave you hungry within an hour of eating it is due to the high sugar content which causes your insulin to raise and your blood sugar to crash shortly after eating.  And, most people who eat salads choose the high fructose corn syrup infused dressings or ones that are just outright sugary, instead of sticking with a simple oil and vinegar or lemon.

The brain is 60% fat. I recently read a blog promoting a low-fat diet for pregnant women and babies and I cringed because babies’ brains grow so much in the first few years. This author claimed that because a mouse study found that birth defects were associated with a high fat diet (lard for herbivorous mice) that a low-fat diet would therefore decrease birth defects in humans. The brain doesn’t slow its growth until about 2 years of age, and babies who are breastfed during this critical time receive the necessary DHA and Arachidonic Acid from breast milk. The World Health Organization recommends that women breast feed for 2 years, but 2003 statistics (the most recent) show that less than 6% breast feed up to 18 months.

Without oils in the diet, you cannot properly absorb fat-soluble nutrients.  Vitamin A, D, E, K and carotenoids are fat-soluble, and Omega-3 fatty acids are essential and deficient in the Standard American Diet. Now think about the big supplement recommendations over the last 30 years: First there was Vitamin E, then Fish Oils, now D, which is leading up to K and A. We must now supplement nutrients because our diet no longer contains sufficient amounts, in addition to higher requirements due to medications, environmental toxins and our increasing knowledge of genetic polymorphisms.

Dietary ingestion of saturated fats and cholesterol is a mere fraction of what the body will make with excess insulin.  We already know that diabetics are more likely to die from cardiovascular disease because insulin creates cholesterol, blood triglycerides and stored fat, as well as the fact that excess blood glucose is oxidative and inflammatory.  We also know that people with heart disease who are put on a low fat diet are more likely to end up with diabetes.  Yet standard medical protocols insist on decreasing fats in the diet, then controlling the increase in cholesterol from the diet with statin drugs that block HMG Co-reductase, the enzyme that creates cholesterol and CoQ10. CoQ10 is a molecule that the body needs to convert sugar into usable energy on a cellular level.  In short, conventional medicine not only ignores the root cause of the #1 killer in America, cardiovascular disease, but its treatment also perpetuates the problem.

Here’s a diagram I made about the above:

Good fats to include in your diet should be a combination of the following; all of which would preferably organic and in glass containers:

• Polyunsaturated: wild oily fish such as Alaskan salmon, sardines, anchovies. Raw or dry roasted nuts and seeds, cold/expeller pressed oils from nuts and seeds - sesame, sunflower, safflower, walnut, almond, flax etc.  All must be refrigerated to prevent the Omega-3 fatty acids from becoming rancid
• Monounsaturated: extra virgin olive oil
• Saturated: avocado, coconut, organic butter or lard

Avoid the following fats:

• Corn, soy, canola and cottonseed - unless stated otherwise, the first three are usually genetically modified and all are sprayed with fat-soluble pesticides or herbicides
• Partially hydrogenated, Hydrogenated, Trans Fat, Margarine, and Vegetable Shortening are all the same thing and it is all bad for your body.
• Clear, flavorless, shelf-stable “vegetable oil” that usually comes in a plastic container.
• Farm raised fish, large fish such as tuna, fish oils that are not filtered or tested for PCBs and mercury, fish oils that do not contain Vitamin E or other such antioxidants to prevent rancidity.
• Conventionally raised animals and animal by-products. They are higher in fat-soluble toxins and have almost no essential fats.

In general, the recommended calories from fat should be about 30% of your daily caloric intake. However, if someone still has their gall bladder and is making adequate bile, there is no reason to count calories to limit good fats.  Your body will tell you when you have had enough by satiating your appetite and if you ignore your body you will have nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.  So, stop eating when you are full and eat more good fat!