The Ultimate Guide to [Healthy] Fats: PART 1
The Skinny on Fat
Eat Fat. Get Skinny.
Avocados are a great snack that’s high in healthy fat.
I’m on a crusade to re-brand fat. Of the three major macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) my good friend, dietary fat, has been the victim of a PR nightmare. Its image has tragically been dragged though the dirt, and I won’t stand for it any longer. Dietary fat is your friend, not foe. Give me a minute to explain why:
It’s 7:00AM; eyes half open, you sleepily shuffle to the commode. Shower water on, you disrobe. Shower complete, you find yourself smack in front of everyone’s favorite self-loathing device; the mirror. You see that deposition of fat around your midsection and think, “I’m fat!” Which isn’t true. You’re beautiful. Get over it! But yes, you do have some fatty acids stored as adipose tissue around your midsection; likely because you’ve fallen victim to the siren song of the food industry and their sweet promises of convenience and flavor, which they often deliver on. What they don’t deliver on is foods that cause you to look good in the mirror, and love your body.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Another Healthy “Go-To” Fat. One that should be heavily incorporated into more diets. Look for cold pressed; and buy small bottles; monounsaturated fats go rancid quickly on the shelf.
Now enter my good friend dietary fat. Dietary fat, and your belt-line, have fallen prey to a tragic word association. Fat on my steak = Fat around my stomach. Right? Wrong.
Fat isn’t the reason you don’t fit into your old jeans. Sugar is.
Dietary fat, and adipose tissue are two very separate entities. I’m on a mission to let people know that fat doesn’t make you fat, sugar does. In reality, eating too many calories and not burning enough off over the course of many days leads to noticeable weight gain, but sugar is the fast track to fatty acids being stored as adipose tissue, and subsequent weight gain. When you think of protein, think “building block”. It’s the foundational component of everything in the body from genetic material, to neurotransmitters, to skeletal muscle. When you think of carbohydrates and fat, think “energy”. Our bodies use either carbohydrates or dietary fat as a preferred source of fuel. One is the cocaine-esque source of fuel. The other is the yule log type of fuel. I’ll let you guess which is which.
The recently (re)popularized Keto Diet is a diet high in healthy fats, and very low in carbohydrates. I say re-popularized because The Atkins Diet leveraged the “keto” principle to help people burn stored body fat. The Atkins Diet is not The Keto Diet. And The Keto Diet isn’t necessarily right for everyone, but for some people it’s the path to dietary salvation. [more on these two diets in a future post]
Back to fat versus sugar… Sugar hijacks our brains, telling us to eat more. More!! Sugar isn’t your patient friend, that’s willing to wait and listen. Sugar is the IRS when they find out you shorted them money. They want it, and they want it now. Some research demonstrates that sugar is, in fact, more addictive than cocaine; it’s just doesn’t hit as hard and as fast. Sugar insidiously wraps its sweet, white tentacles into our brains, telling us we need more. Our blood sugar takes on the personality of The Tower of Terror ride at Disney. There are abrupt crashes, followed by: withdrawal; mental agitation; re-feeding; a hit of dopamine; the following sugar spike/high; and repeat.
Walnuts
Not only high in healthy fats, but high in healthy Omega-3 Fats, well known for fighting inflammation.
If sugar is The Tower of Terror, fat, on the other hand, is the elevator in The Borgata Casino. A smooth ride all the way to the top. The energy derived from dietary fat is a cleaner energy that the body actually prefers to use as fuel. When the body burns carbohydrates for fuel there is associated free-radical damage; which is one of the lynch pins associated with cellular degeneration and human aging. Free-radicals are the reason we put antioxidants on a pedestal; they help stabilize free-radicals so those nasty little radicals don’t tear apart one cell after the other in a Run Away Train sort of cascade (yes, more Disney ride analogies). Fat, again, is that nice slow burn. Instead of keeping you full for minutes, it keeps you full for hours, with no subsequent crash, or drug-like withdraw symptoms. Fat is your friend.
Fat has gotten a bad rap for so long because it’s the same three letter word as the spare tire that you loathe so much. Repeat after me: “Dietary fat is not body fat.” Granted, an excess of sugar or fat will cause weight gain if it's in excess of the calories burned on a daily basis. However, it's much easier for sugar to cause you to eat more sugar. Any extra sugar in the system is stored directly as body fat. Burn the sugar. No body fat. Don't burn the sugar. Body fat. The crux of the issue here is the addictive nature of sugar and the volatility with which it jacks up our blood sugar, drops us, and leaves us wanting more.
Dietary fat is kind; sugar is not. Fat holds your hand while you take a slow boat ride around the lake at sunset on a summer night. Sugar lights the fuse on an Acme Rocket strapped to your back, Wiley Coyote style. One is your friend. The other leaves you with no eyelashes, half buried in a sand dune; not to mention the direct punch to your pancreas that sugar delivers. Every bite of sugar is an additional body blow to your poor pancreas. It might not drop you in round one, but by Round 10 Diabetes just knocked you out. Our goal with human nutrition is stability and predictability; and that’s what fat gives us. Just eat more fat and less sugar. Please. I'm begging you.
So which fats are healthy fats?
First off, we need to define the different classes, or kinds of fats. When I say kinds, what I really mean is that they have different molecular structures at the atomic level.
Saturated Fats: every carbon atom is “saturated” with hydrogens. There aren’t any open spots. Very shelf stable. Eat up!
Coconut oil
Dark chocolate
High/Full fat dairy
Animal meats: beef, pork, etc
Mono-unsaturated Fats: one carbon atom has an empty seat at the table. The molecule is bent at that position. Less stable than saturated fats. A-OK. Eat away!
Olive oil
Avocado
Butter
Animal meats: beef, pork, etc
Poly-unsaturated Fats: two or more carbons aren’t saturated with hydrogen. The least stable of all three. More likely to go rancid. Some are Great. Some are So-so. BALANCE 3-to-6!
Omega-3’s
Fish oil (sardines, salmon)
Flax Seeds
Omega-6’s
Sunflower seeds
Corn Oil
Soybean Oil
Trans-unsaturated: a “trans” double bond holds these fats together in the middle of the molecule. WARNING. Don’t eat these. They rot you from the inside.
Processed foods
Margarine
Crackers
Chips
Cookies (store bought/processed)
The newest/best research gives saturated fat two thumbs up!
Saturated fat was incorrectly vilified for its role in heart disease. Saturated fats don’t cause heart disease. Inflammation and a sedentary lifestyle cause heart disease.
The Research:
A 2017 systematic review focusing on adequately controlled randomized controlled trials concluded that replacing saturated fats with mostly n-6 polyunsaturated fats is unlikely to reduce coronary heart disease (CHD) events, CHD mortality or total mortality. The 2017 review showed that inadequately controlled trials (e.g., failing to control for other lifestyle factors) that were included in earlier meta-analyses explain the prior results.
In other words: Saturated fat doesn't cause heart disease.
A 2015 systematic review also found no association between saturated fat consumption and risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or death.
In other words: Saturated fat doesn't cause heart disease.
That’s enough to get us started. Part 2 will continue with key differences between Omega 3’s vs Omega 6’s, and why it’s vitally important, concerning so many health conditions, to know the difference.
PART 2…
Omega 3’s vs Omega 6’s and why you can’t afford not to know the difference.
Coming next week. Stay tuned!
Well friends and family members. That’s all we have time for this time. Thanks for stopping by. Check back in for Part 2 to The Ultimate Guide To [Healthy] Fats.
In Health.
- Dr. Drew