The whole truth about low-fat diets—eating less saturated fat—has been the government's take-home message for the last 40 years.
While the world has dutifully reduced caloric intake from saturated fat for a long time, the obesity rate has doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country’s biggest killer.
It seems that eating less fat has made us fatter than ever. Whether you’re interested in improving health and longevity or just want to look good naked,.
It would behoove you to know why low-fat diets are not the answer—the whole truth about low-fat diets—nor have they ever been.
The Whole Truth about Low-fat Diets
1. Truth: We’ve gotten fatter eating low-fat and no-fat “food” products. It seems that removing fat from foods hasn’t necessarily made them non-fattening.
Carbohydrates (bread, pasta, cereal, pastries, etc.) also make us fat, and many low- and non-fat food products have very high levels of sugar to improve the taste.
2. Truth: The truth is that we are fat! Fat is a large part of what our bodies are made of. Our brains and our nerves are mainly fat, which is the building block of our cell membranes and hormones.
3. Truth: We need to eat certain fats to lose fat. Whether it be to help regulate hormones, stabilize blood sugar, stimulate metabolism, maintain satiety and mood, or optimize cognitive function, dietary fat consumption is essential.
Know More about Low-fat Diets
Numerous studies have consistently found little relation between the percentage of calories from fat and the risks of breast cancer, colon cancer, or coronary heart disease.
What researchers have found is that focusing on reducing specific types of dietary “bad” fats may be more important than simply avoiding fat altogether.
What are “Bad” Fats?
Any highly processed fat could be considered unworthy of consumption. These fats include:
- Refined and hydrogenated nut and seed oils (soy, sunflower, safflower, canola, cottonseed, vegetable, corn, peanut)
- Animal meats are fed processed grains, including wheat, corn, and soy
- Dairy products that have been pasteurized and homogenized (heated to kill nutrients and processed to break down the fat molecules)
- Nuts and seeds that have been roasted in any of the above oils
Why are that called bad fats?
The highly processed oils, otherwise known as “trans fats," are significant contributors to the higher than normal levels of inflammatory fats (Omega-6’s) in our Westernized diet.
Whereas we once had a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of Omega 6's to Omega 3’s, it’s now more like 25:1. That’s not good.
When the ratios of Omega-6’s to Omega-3’s are increased, they can be major contributors to cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, fertility, and other things where inflammation plays a role, which is everything!
What are “Good” Fats?
It’s important to distinguish the quality of the food being consumed. You should go out of your way to find:
- Grass-fed, free-range, hormone-free, wild-caught, cage-free, humanely raised, and organic animal products.
- Fresh, raw, and organic raw nuts, seeds and avocado
- Olive oil, butter, ghee, coconut oil, and palm oil
Why are that called good fats?
These healthy fats will contribute to increasing the levels of Omega-3 fatty acids (essential fats) in the body, thereby decreasing all of the inflammatory processes from which disease becomes prevalent.
Animals fed commercially processed grains become sick and store more toxins in their body fat. These unhealthy animal meats are one of the many factors responsible for disease and should be avoided.
In addition to eating good fats, it’s imperative to understand that when you restrict fats, you inevitably eat more carbohydrates.
For most of us, that can be a recipe for disaster, concerning our ability to stabilize the hormones that keep us healthy and lean.
Eat Fat Menu vs. Low-fat Menu
The whole truth about low-fat diets: check out the two sample menus to understand why low-fat doesn’t always mean healthy.
1. Sample Eat Fat Menu
Breakfast:
- Omelette ‒ 3 cage-free, Omega ‒ 3 enriched eggs
- Spinach/mushrooms/tomato/onion ‒ 2 cups cooked
- Sauteed in 1 tbsp. butter
Lunch:
- Wild-caught salmon (grilled) ‒ 6oz
- Grilled zucchini, onion, and peppers ‒ 2 cups cooked
- Olive oil ‒ 2 tbs
Snack:
- Celery sticks ‒ 2 cups
- Almond butter ‒ 2 tbs
Dinner:
- Organic rotisserie chicken or Dark meat ‒ 6oz
- Asparagus ‒ 12 spears
- Butter ‒ 1 tbs
- Dark chocolate ‒ 1 midium or Covered almonds ‒ 15
- Calories: ‒ 1500 kcal
- Fat: ‒ 86g
- Carbohydrate: ‒ 76g
- Protein: ‒ 111g
2. Sample Low-fat Menu
Breakfast:
- Cheerios ‒ 1.5 cups
- Skim milk ‒ 1 cup
- Apple ‒ 1 medium with peel
Lunch:
- Whole wheat bread ‒ 2 slices
- Turkey breast (white meat) ‒ 2oz
- Reduced-fat mayonnaise ‒ 1 tbs
- Orange ‒ 1 medium
Snack:
- Banana ‒ 1 medium
Dinner:
- Halibut (broiled) ‒ 5 oz
- Brown rice (steamed) ‒ 1.5 cups
- Broccoli ‒ 1 stalk
- Side Salad (garden with tomato) ‒ small
- Thousand island dressing (reduced-calorie) ‒ 2 tbs
- Frozen yogurt (fat-free) ‒ 1 cup
- Calories: ‒ 1500
- Fat: ‒ 18g
- Carbohydrate: ‒ 251g
- Protein: ‒ 78g
As you can see from the menu comparison, a calorie is not just a calorie.
Sticking to a low-fat diet is an easy way to completely derail your attempts at fat loss via excessive carbohydrate consumption.
Conclusion
Eating a higher-fat “real-food” diet is a better way to get in more protein and healthy fats, as well as get more nutritional value from your food.
Additionally, you can eat a lot more food without the high-calorie consequences. Just remember the whole truth about low-fat diets: it’s not the fat that makes us fat and sick, but the processed carbohydrates.
You learn to stick to eating foods that our ancestors ate and avoid processed grains and sugars. Then you’ll be well on your way to a healthier heart, a leaner body, and a better quality of life.
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