Fat and why we need it

I’ll admit I’ve gotten 100 times better than where I was at the lowest point in my disorder, but the hardest part of my day is allowing myself to eat fat.  I do eat a fair amount, I know that its good for me, it’s just eating enough to meet what would be a healthy percentage, even though I know I’m getting it from healthy sources.

Unfortunately, dietary “fat” and the description of being “fat” are the same word.  One of the things I have developed as coping mechanism is to call Dietary fat a different word– like “wholesomeness”.  That way I can say, “I need to add some wholesomeness to this meal” and it will frame to myself as being healthy, which it is.

Here is some information about why we need fats in our diets.  Fats (or lipids) have a major role to play in the functioning of the human body. Fats:

• Waterproof the skin
• Insulate the body
• Provide an energy store
• Build cell membranes
• Are a major component of many hormones
• Maintain some of the major systems within the body

Added to this, the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K cannot be absorbed without the presence of fat in our system.

Cholesterol

Arguably the best known fat is cholesterol. Many people are concerned about cholesterol levels but know little about the role cholesterol plays in the body.

Cholesterol has many useful functions in the body. Cholesterol:

• is a steroid – the most abundant steroid in the body. From cholesterol a number of other steroid hormones are created, including progesterone, oestrogen and testosterone
• acts in the liver to produce bile acids, which are needed for the digestion of fat in the gut
• is essential for the creation of cell membranes
• is essential in the manufacture of vitamin D

I have also become a believer that its not saturated fats that are the cause for heart disease and obesity in our society (although too much of anything isn’t good.) Think about what our grandparents and great-grandparents ate growing up:  Breakfast was bacon and eggs, probably cooked in real butter, with oatmeal.  For the most part, this isn’t the generation suffering from the obesity epidemic.  Look at a typical breakfast now: Pop Tarts, trans-fat containing muffins, pastries, processed meats, margarines, etc.  Although margarine can be trans-fat free now, just compare the ingredients to that of butter: like a million things I can’t pronounce, vs. “Cream and milk.”

Here is some information on this:

eating more saturated fat lowers the risk for heart disease. That’s what a recent Harvard University study found: People who had the highest saturated fat intake also had the least plaque buildup on their artery walls. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition described the findings as an “American Paradox.”    

In the Stanford University study that made recent headlines, women on the “fatty” Atkins diet ended up with the healthiest cholesterol levels and the best blood pressure readings, compared to those on other diets, notably the famous Ornish low-fat diet.

Here are a few bullet-points summarizing the current research on saturated fats.

–We typically eat more than a dozen kinds of saturated fat. Some have zero effect on cholesterol. Some raise bad (LDL) cholesterol, but all of them raise good (HDL) cholesterol to a greater extent. That’s a net gain in heart health.

–The nation’s top health organizations have for decades called saturated fat one of the main culprits for diet-related diseases, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Problem is, this blame stems from research that is now seen as incomplete. For instance, a famous 1953 study took data from six countries, overlooking 16 countries whose numbers provide contradictory evidence. (Like France, for instance, or native cultures in Africa and Canada where high amounts of fat and saturated fat are eaten but heart disease is practically unknown.)

–Since the 1970s, American men have decreased their saturated fat intake by 14 percent and increased their carbohydrate intake by 23 percent–yet rates of obesity and heart disease are increasing. You might say that carbohydrates make people fat, which leads to heart disease. Or that more carbohydrates you eat, the greater your risk for a heart attack.

        

–But these simple numbers only suggest a cause. To prove something, you need a controlled experiment. There have been many such clinical trials, and not one has shown has shown that cutting back on saturated fat reduces heart disease risk.

–When you look at the effect of saturated fat on health, you must also look at the intake of carbohydrates. Many studies have shown that if you replace carbs with fat, your triglycerides levels go down and your good cholesterol goes up. And your bad (LDL) cholesterol particles get bigger, which means they’re less harmful.

–Here’s a paradox for you: A high saturated fat intake decreases blood levels of saturated fat. How can this be? Here’s how: The saturated fat in your blood comes from both the food you eat and from your liver, which produces saturated fat. The more carbs you eat, the higher your insulin levels climb, which signals your liver to produce saturated fat. If you go on a low-carb diet, your insulin levels drop, and so does production of saturated fat.

–A bonus: with low insulin levels, your body can burn more fat for energy, decreasing your sat-fat levels even more.

When it comes down to it, do I practice what I preach?  Yes and no.  I’d love to, but I’m scared because for so many years I have been told fat was bad.  But in reflecting on that, look where that wound me up at one point….at an in-patient eating disorder clinic.  So what harm could it do to increase good sources of fat and continue to avoid highly processed carbs?  (Remember though, healthy, complex carbs are great for you.)

This leads into my next post…

Be strong, be fearless, stay Feerless.

[Via http://feerlessfood.wordpress.com]