If eating fat makes you fat, then why are we both so fit and trim? If eating fat causes heart disease, why are we the picture of health? We both eat plenty of fat, every day, with every meal. And we aren’t even eating the polyunsaturated canola and soy oils that heart docs everywhere are telling people to eat. We even enjoy saturated fats like coconut oil, and animal fats like egg yolks, butter and chicken skin. We are such health nuts, so why would we ever do this to ourselves?
We’re here to help tear down a vicious and damning myth. It’s a myth that started during the early stages of nutrition science before we had the insights of modern molecular biology and biochemistry. It is one that was heavily swayed by political and financial forces. It’s a myth that dramatically changed what the modern world ate over the last 100 years. It is the myth that eating fat makes you fat, and causes today’s worst degenerative diseases.
What is fat?
Fats are lipids. Well, what’s a lipid? Okay, in order to move forward we need to have a little discussion heavy on the organic chemistry, so pay attention. If you want to skip this part you can, but we’ll try to make it painless. Maybe even interesting…
First off, understand that this is a discussion about molecules, which are the basic building blocks that you are made of. Molecules are made of atoms, which are the elements of our universe. Some atoms are attracted to each other and organize into different shapes and compositions, which give them unique characteristics. Lipids are a class of molecules that include fats. So technically fat is a type of lipid. There are many kinds of lipids in your body, such as the sebum produced in the skin, the cholesterol that keeps your cells supple and turns into another important lipid, vitamin D. All 37 trillion cells that make up your body are enveloped in a cell membrane called the lipid bilayer. This ubiquitous cell membrane is considered the brain of the cell by scientists like Bruce Lipton because it literally perceives and responds to its environment. This means that on a very fundamental level you are made of lipids. And that is a good thing.
But the word “fat” has more than one meaning in the English language, so let’s clear up some confusion this may cause. Used as an adjective it describes what a person looks like, as in “they are a fat ass”. This description, of course, refers to an excess of body fat, and can be a very hurtful meaning. The word fat can also be used as a noun to describe dietary fat, the macronutrient that we eat. So let’s leave behind the adjective usage and focus solely on the object of fat. The same word, fat, is used to describe the stuff we eat and the stuff around our midsection. Are they the same? Well, yes and no. They are both lipids, but of different types and different functions. It’s important to understand their basic composition and function to break free from the malicious idea that eating fat means increased fat storage on your body.
What is stored body fat?
Adipose tissue, the fancy word for body fat, is not just extra dietary fat that got stuck in your body. Your body created it on purpose because it has many important functions. The obvious one is long term energy storage so that you have something to “eat” if you run out of food. We take for granted its many other functions such as insulation, generate heat, organ protection and cushioning. Scientists used to think that too much body fat caused disease because it was a physical strain on the organs. Then they discovered that our body fat is actually a major endocrine organ, producing hormones that affect other organ systems of the body and regulate metabolism. One of the reasons too much body fat may lead to disease is because of the damaging hormonal signals that it releases. Studies show that the number of fat cells remains fairly constant throughout life, and that body fat percentage is a reflection of how full the white adipose cells are with fat.
What makes dietary fat essential?
We need dietary fats for:
Hormone production
Myelin sheaths on nerves/ brain function
Cell membranes, which affects cell communication in all body tissues
Skin, hair nails, eyes
Satiety – feeling satiated / appetite control
Energy – Fat Adapted or Optimized Fat Metabolism (OFM): when your metabolism is adapted to burn fat for energy, instead of relying predominately on sugar, a number of positive benefits occur including, but not limited to, fewer energy crashes, enhanced performance and muscle building, enhanced body fat utilization (ie a leaner physique), fewer appetite control issues, improved digestion, stabilized mood and reduced risk of cancer and other inflammatory disorders.
Check out this article that Traci wrote to learn more about some of the other factors that cause your body to increase belly fat, and how to heal them.
Also, feel free to watch this extremely informative video by the Youtube channel, What I’ve Learned. It explains how our metabolism has been hijacked by the mainstream diet, as well as the biochemical pathways that dictate this process.
Anthropology – What We Can Learn from Other Cultures
As a doctor of medical anthropology, Traci has studied how different populations thrive on a variety of diets.
Japanese, Eskimos and Swiss — what’s the deal? Why were these relatively healthier populations prior to more recent increased consumption of processed foods?
The Japanese eat relatively low fat, but they eat fatty seafood (just don’t use as much cooking oil) and until recently were relatively low carb – still lower carb than European descent countries — so it seems that eating medium (enough) fats and low carbs yields a healthy population
Eskimos ate low to no carb and extremely high fat (think fermented whale blubber- yum!)- so it seems that eating high fat (good ones) and protein with little to no carbs can yield a healthy population —Eskimos- Such as Inuit people- we’re not fat prior to colonization – this is a myth and stereotype. Stocky muscular and warm clothes made them look bulky in early photos but they only got fat once TV and junk food were introduced.
Swiss ate traditionally cultured whole grains and lots of fat from dairy and meats – at the time they were studied they weren’t eating much sugar at all so it seems that they were pretty healthy on a high-fat medium carb diet.
Conclusion: as a species we have adaptive wiggle room in terms of how much fat we can eat (as long as it’s enough and the right kind) and we can handle a moderate amount of carbs (the right kind and not too much) in balance with other nutrients, but we do not thrive on high carbohydrate diets and we do not thrive on low-fat diets.
International Travel Experiences Bring Clarity to Traci and Skya
Sometimes, getting out of our native culture is the best way to gain perspective on some of life’s toughest conundrums. Both of us have received potent lessons pertaining to the folly of our U.S. foodways from our time spent out of the country. The best way to really learn something is through life experience.
Traci’s Goes to Spain
When Traci was a stressed out doctoral student in the United States eating a highly processed, low nutrient diet, she really struggled with weight gain. As a dedicated dieter, Traci was actually limiting many nourishing foods because many of them are high in calories and fat. Stress increases insulin levels, putting her metabolism into a carb addicted mode. So even though she was eating low fat, low calorie foods, Traci was craving sugar and carbs as most stressed out students do. In order to have the mental and physical energy needed when pursuing a Phd, Traci turned to caffeine, a stimulant that also increases insulin levels, that often comes in highly sweetened beverages. Since insulin is the fat storage hormone, and she was definitely eating more carbohydrates that turn into sugar than her body could burn, she was storing the excess sugar as fat. Yes, you heard me correctly, her body was turning sugar into fat, and storing it around her midsection. Nutrient depletion further exacerbated her sugar cravings, making her battle with her diet and body image even more frustrating. All of this is very taxing on the adrenals and pro-inflammatory making exercise an exhausting and painful venture that was generally regarded as an allergy by Traci at the time.
Fortunately, Traci got to spend a semester in Spain, where she ate a lot less processed, manufactured foods. She ate a lot more nourishing foods and traditional fats, like olive oil, cheese and meats. What most diet gurus don’t tell you is that eating fat and protein actually activates the satiety receptors that tell you to stop eating. This does not happen on a low fat, high carb diet. Even though she was eating higher calorie foods, she was more than likely not eating mindlessly from a stressed out, carb addicted space. When you eat fat and protein, you automatically eat fewer carbs because you get full before you can eat too much. Traci may not have been on a low carb diet, but she was more than likely eating way fewer carbs.
While not stress-free, the pace of life in Spain is much more laid back. Spaniards, like many Europeans, consider it important to enjoy the process of eating and sharing meals with friends. They don’t consider food an inconvenience that you must fit into your busy schedule, or a quick thrill that you stuff down your throat in a moment of uncontrolled desire. In addition to eating a more balanced diet, Traci also walked a lot more than she ever did in the U.S. We tend to drive everywhere in the States, to the point we never walk farther than the closest parking spot we can find. All of these things led to a lowering of her insulin levels, taking her body out of fat storage mode. She became more fat adapted, meaning her body got better at burning stored fat as fuel. Inflammation decreased so she had less aches and pains in her joints. As her metabolism became healthier, so did her hormones, and she all of a sudden had more energy to move and exercise. She got into yoga, which she fondly refers to as the “gateway drug to exercise”. This continued to reinforce healthier eating and lifestyle habits for years to come.
Skya Trimmed Down in Costa Rica
In high school, Skya was a competitive swimmer with a raging appetite for sugar and processed food crap. One year he had the privilege of spending his Spring break in Costa Rica as part of his magnet school science curriculum. He was used to eating anything he wanted because his training was so rigorous he thought he just burned it all off. This was what he was taught, and it’s what most athletes and coaches assume to be true.
As a swimmer, he spent his whole life prancing around in a speedo; so, he was keenly aware of what his body looked like. Even though he was “in shape” compared to most other Texans, it always used to bother him that he had “love handles” and a little extra padding around the middle. When he went to Costa Rica, the reality of a third world diet hit him in a very real way. It felt like he was in a drug detox program. He felt like an addict without his fix. At the time, Costa Ricans just didn’t have access to the variety and quantity of refined sugar and packaged junk foods that Skya was used to consuming on a daily basis. It was the first time he didn’t have access to the free flowing soda fountains of the Houston suburbs. Instead, he ate 3 meals a day of beans and rice, with some meat, egg, plantains, fruit and vegetables mixed in. Although, not a low, or even slow, carb meal, this was only real food in its whole form. No excess or refined sugars. No chemical preservatives or refined vegetable oils. Skya remembers noticing dramatic changes in his body by the end of the trip. He trimmed down around his waist, and he felt less stiff and painful in his low back and hips. This experience of eating real food and getting off of refined sugar happened before he was ready to make that shift in his conscious awareness. When he got back and continued eating like a Texas varsity athlete, his body quickly returned to it’s high insulin state, love handles and all. He never forgot that experience though, and it later served to guide him out of his addiction, and onto his current path of self-nurture through nourishing foods. Now he purposefully eats the way they do in the third world, because there is great wisdom in eating simple real foods that don’t require an industry to produce them.
In our wellness education business we get a lot of questions about this topic. Feel free to scan them below to get answers to any of your own inquiries about dietary fat.
Frequently asked questions:
Isn’t it alway bad to heat oils?
Let’s review our organic chemistry, see if we were paying attention earlier. Fatty acids are long, delicate molecules that are prone to damage. Heat, light, oxygen and chemicals can all damage fatty acid molecules. But some are more heat stable than others. Basically, more saturated molecules have fewer double bonds, and therefore fewer carbon atoms exposed to chemical reaction. Unsaturated fatty acids have more double bonds that are more chemically reactive and prone to damage caused by oxidation. Monounsaturated (like olive oil) fatty acids have one reactive carbon carbon double bond, whereas polyunsaturated oils (like canola, soybean and flax oil) have multiple carbon carbon double bonds that can react chemically. Basically, it is not always bad to heat a saturated fat because they are chemically stable at the molecular level.
What oils should I not cook with?
You definitely want to avoid cooking with the higher polyunsaturated oils like flax, chia, hemp, soy, canola, sesame, corn, cottonseed, peanut and sunflower.
You can cook with monounsaturated oils, like olive, avocado and safflower, although the latter two are refined, but only at low temperatures. The best oils for cooking are the saturated fats like coconut, butter fat (ghee), palm oil, rendered animal fats like lard and suet.
Isn’t frying always bad?
The problems with deep-frying are the refined vegetable oils used, and the extremely high temperatures over a long period of time. Pan frying at home using a traditional saturated fat is a less problematic scenario.
The smoke point is the temperature at which the oil will begin breaking down, at which point it emits a toxic smoke. This heat-induced rancidity involves oxidative damage to the fat molecules. Since polyunsaturated fatty acids are more prone to this damage, they generally have a lower smoke point, although the refining process falsely raises the smoke point because it removes free fatty acids that make the oil more reactive.
Most restaurants use refined vegetable oils that contain toxic anti-foaming agents and preservatives. They also use the oil for such a long time that it further damages the oil and increase the toxicity. If you want fried food, fry it yourself at home with extra virgin coconut oil.
Is it safe to eat out if it’s a healthy restaurant that doesn’t serve fried food?
Unfortunately, almost all restaurants use refined vegetable oils. Even the fancy expensive ones. Even Whole Foods hot bar. Ask your waiter or a manager to be sure! The more awareness we can raise that we demand real fats, the quicker the food system will change to meet our demands.
What can happen if we don’t eat enough good fats?
Hormone imbalance – thyroid problems, adrenal fatigue, imbalanced reproductive hormones and every hormone, so we feel low energy, cranky and just plain bad.
Neurological degeneration (memory problems, brain fog, mental illness, MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, etc)
Poor tissue integrity – dry wrinkly skin, brittle hair and nails, organ damage
Poor muscle tone
Appetite control issues (feeling hungry and tired after a meal, overeating carbs to fill the gap)
What happens if I eat too much of a good thing?
It makes you hot, speeds up your metabolism and can make you queasy (which doesn’t mean you’re going to die of a heart attack– it just means you don’t need that much– just eat less dietary fat)
What happens if I eat a little of a bad thing? A bag of organic chips now and again?
Probably won’t kill you if it’s just occasionally, and you eat other good fats to balance. Its important to address addiction to sugars and processed food though, and most people need to abstain completely to heal any addiction.
What happens if I eat a lot of a bad thing? Regular margarine, crisco, canola oil, salad dressings, packaged foods, restaurant food, fast food, etc.
= recipe for metabolic syndrome, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, liver disease, such as fatty liver and cirrhosis and vision issues, including retina damage
Rancid oils are oxidized = free radical damage
Refined oils are often coupled with processed carbs, a metabolic double whammy
Accelerated aging, thyroid disease, adrenal fatigue (look old faster, feel old faster, low energy)
Refined oils are not good building blocks for anything, including hormones
So I can just pig out on fats because they’re good for me? McDonald’s French fries here I come!
1) A lot of so-called fatty foods are also high in carbohydrates. Think donuts, french fries, packaged cookies and chips, etc. So, when we eat this and gain weight, we think we’re gaining body fat from them because of the dietary fat, when in fact we are gaining weight because of the high levels of carbohydrates, particularly refined carbs (link to carb article).
2) Be careful… Not all fats are created equal
Good fats are healing nourishing and muscle building. Bad fats are inflammatory, toxic and angers organs.
It’s like building your house with stone, brick or hardwood versus asbestos and cardboard.
Can I overeat good fats?
Even if you’ve graduated to unrefined, healthy fats, it’s hard to eat too much because we have a built in system that makes us nauseous when we overdo it. The reason too much of any kind of fat can make you queasy is the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) that is secreted by the walls of the small intestine. When fats and proteins enter the small intestine CCK is secreted relative to the amount. Too much CCK will make you nauseous. So pay attention to how you feel after you eat.
| Kinds of dietary fat | Sources | ||
| The good….. | |||
| Whole food from Grass fed/ pastured/ Extracted/ Unrefined/ extra virgin | Meat, seafood, eggs, dairy (butter & ghee), avocados, olives, acai, algae, coconut, red palm fruit, peanut, cacao, nuts & seeds | Seeds: chia, flax, hemp, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower
Nuts: walnuts, almonds, macadamia, coconut, pecan, pine, hazelnut, Brazil |
Unrefined oils: extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil, red palm oil, cacao butter, hemp oil, flax oil, sesame oil & peanut oil, ghee, schmaltz, suet, lard, tallow |
| The bad…. | |||
| Refined (heat, chemical solvents, deodorized) = Rancid. | Rancid oil roasted nuts, refined oils, salad dressing, mayonnaise, | Refined oils: soybean, canola, cottonseed, corn, grape seed, safflower, | |
| The ugly….. | |||
| Hydrogenated &
Partially Hydrogenated |
Margarine, Crisco, vegetable shortening, commercial peanut butter, commercial baked goods | Soybean, cotton seed, and canola are the most commonly hydrogenated. | Partially hydrogenated oils are technically trans fats and have become illegal in some states. Fully hydrogenated is just as harmful. |