Good fat is out there and is essential for optimal health. That's why there is a group of fats called essential fatty acids. That means that the body can't manufacture them and therefore must get them through diet. Therefore they are good fats.
The United States as a nation has been told for the last 40 years to eat a low-fat diet for optimum health. And Americans complied with this dictum in earnest. So why has the rate of obesity skyrocketed to 66% of the population being overweight or obese?
One popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I think 40 years is long enough to prove that low-fat diets don’t work.
The plain truth of the matter is that fat as a whole is your friend. Some fats, namely all trans fats (otherwise known as partially hydrogenated fats), are extremely bad for you and should be avoided at all costs. Since they are found in all processed foods of any kind, in order to prolong shelf life, that means you should not eat commercially prepared snack or junk food ever.
Good Fats For You To Eat
One of the best good fats that you can use is coconut oil, which has a whole host of benefits for your body, both inside and outside. Here is some background information from Dr. Mercola's site.
“During World War II, the Japanese military occupied the Philippines and other South Pacific islands, where bloody battles were being fought. The once-plentiful supply of coconut oil was effectively cut off from the United States.
Although coconut oil had been popular both as a cooking oil and ingredient in numerous food products, the occupation continued to interrupt the supply for several long years as the war slowly dragged on. Enter good old American ingenuity (in this case, not so good for your health).
Manufacturers began to develop alternative sources of cooking oils, and the polyunsaturated oils phase was born. By the time the war was over, there was a lot of money at stake in the promotion of these polyunsaturated vegetable oils.
By the end of the 1950's, public opinion had turned totally against saturated fats like butter (and coconut oil). Saturated fats were blamed for raising cholesterol, and cholesterol was now viewed as the evil enemy, the culprit responsible for the steep rise in heart disease. Butter, eggs and coconut oil were out.
The new vegetable oils were in... and erroneously touted as "heart-healthy." Coconut oil continued to be demonized by the vegetable oil industry throughout the ensuing decades.
Adding insult to injury, the soybean industry began to condemn the use of tropical oils, particularly coconut oil. And I'm sure you realize the reason why -- competition... and millions and millions of dollars.
Unfortunately, the tropical oil industry, centered in poorer nations like the Philippines and Indonesia, could not afford to counter the negative propaganda spread by rich American industrial conglomerates. Science and good health took a back seat to profits, as they have on more than one occasion...”
Benefits of Coconut Oil
Most people put all saturated fats in the same category of bad fats as trans fats, but they are not the same at all. Our parents and grandparents ate butter, lard and coconut oil before WWII and there were very few incidences of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity at that time. These things were considered to be good fats, and they still are.
Using coconut oil as a shortening was advertised in the United States in popular cookbooks at the end of the 19th century. Homemakers recognized the benefits of its good fat 100 years ago.
Coconut oil is a medium chain triglyceride (MCT) and as such, the body does not handle it in the same way as long chain fats, such as vegetable oils. MCTs are smaller and therefore more easily digested and they are sent straight to the liver to be used for energy instead of being stored as fat. Now that's a good fat!
They also raise metabolism and stimulate the thyroid, which can help in weight loss. The good fat coconut oil is high in lauric acid, the same as mother’s milk, and this helps to stimulate the immune system.
This information is from Mary G. Enig, PhD, who is an internationally renowned expert on lipid biochemistry. I will try to summarize it for you, but please read it online at the Weston A. Price Foundation.
“A review of the diet/heart disease literature relevant to coconut oil clearly indicates that coconut oil is at worst neutral with respect to atherogenicity of fats and oils and, in fact, is likely to be a beneficial oil for prevention and treatment of some heart disease. Additionally, coconut oil provides a source of antimicrobial lipid for individuals with compromised immune systems and is a nonpromoting fat with respect to chemical carcinogenesis.”
“Kabara (1978) and others have reported that certain fatty acids (e.g., medium-chain saturates) and their derivatives (e.g., monoglycerides) can have adverse effects on various microorganisms: those microorganisms that are inactivated include bacteria, yeast, fungi, and enveloped viruses.”
“Some of the viruses inactivated by these lipids, in addition to HIV, are the measles virus, herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), visna virus, and cytomegalovirus (CMV).”
“Among the critical foods and nutrition "buzz words" for the 21st Century is the term "functional foods." Clearly coconut oil fits the designation of a very important functional food.”
As you can see from the above, coconut oil is a very valuable good fat addition to your diet and the recipes that I offer reflect this. Baked goods are made with coconut oil and coconut flour and are a delicious alternative to the processed junk that most Americans eat today.
The good fat of coconut oil is also the best thing to use in cooking meat, if you want optimal health. It can be used in a frying pan to braise meat and that meat should be cooked at a low temperature for a longer length of time, for best health as well as taste.
I know that one of the great American pastimes is grilling outdoors, but that is actually the worst way to prepare meat, as it creates A. G. E.s, (advance glycation end-products). As the name implies, A. G. E.s contribute to premature aging, among other things. See “Low and Slow” for further info.
The Ratio of Omega-3 Fats to Omega-6 Ones
Vegetable oils in and of themselves are not bad fats. However, they are high in omega-6 fats, which are pro-inflammatory in the body, as opposed to omega-3 fats, which are anti-inflammatory. Ideally, the ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s should be 1:1, which is what our ancestors typically consumed.
However the ratio today is closer to 20:1 or even 50:1 which is way out of balance, causing too much inflammation and leading to a host of ailments. Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, commonly referred to as EVOO, is the best good fat oil to use other than for cooking, as in salads, etc.
One other problem with vegetable oils that makes them not a good fat, is that almost all of the most common ones used in products are genetically modified Frankenfoods. They are soy, canola, cotton seed and corn oils. These oils are found in the majority of processed foods because, since they are subsidized, they are cheap.
Also, most processed foods are usually made with trans-fats, which are partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. These are used to prolong shelf life for the products and do nothing to prolong yours. These are definitely not good fats and you should avoid them as much as possible.
If any products says “No trans fats”, be sure to read the label carefully. The law states that if the amount per serving is less than .5, they can say “no trans fats”. So what many companies are doing is lowering the serving quantity, which is way lower than most people would eat normally.
Don’t buy anything that says hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated. These are decidedly not good fats and you should avoid them if you are trying to eat healthy foods.
This excerpt is from an article by Artemis P. Simopoulos which can be found at Dr. Mercola's site.
“Intake of omega-3 fats is much lower today because of the decrease in fish consumption and the industrial production of animal feeds rich in grains containing omega-3 fats, leading to production of meat rich in omega-6 and poor in omega-3 fats (24). The same is true for cultured fish (25) and eggs (26).
Even cultivated vegetables contain fewer omega-3 fats than do plants in the wild (27, 28). In summary, modern agriculture, with its emphasis on production, has decreased the omega-3 fat content in many foods: green leafy vegetables, animal meats, eggs, and even fish.”
Excessive consumption of omega-6 fats leads to higher rates of cardiovascular disease as well as diabetes. Therefore you need to lower the vegetable oils in your diet and raise the amount of omega-3 oils to approximately equal portions."
From this page at Dr. Mercola's site comes this bit on the subject.
“Conventionally raised cattle fed corn and soybeans instead of grass become living sources of omega-6 fats. Conversely, free-range chickens that eat grass and bugs lay eggs that contain 10 times the amount of omega-3 fats than do chickens fed only corn and grains.” Contrary to popular opinion, chickens are not vegetarians and they need to eat bugs. Plus that gives you great pest control in your gardens.
To continue with another quote from the article: “Aside from consuming too many omega-6 fats, the other key problem is that many people remain unaware of the problem. Conventional health mainstays like the USDA or the American Heart Association don't talk about the problem or, even worse, don't distinguish between both sets of fats.
Hard to believe such ignorance still exists, especially in light of a new study in today's eHealthy News You Can Use newsletter that found consuming omega-3 fats does a better job of protecting your body from sudden death than a defibrillator can.”
That’s a pretty strong argument for changing your eating habits to a much more healthy diet of good fats. I use that word "diet" in the context of its true definition: how you are going to eat for the rest of your life.
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