Healthy Fats & Unhealthy Fats

Why are Americans fatter and sicker than ever before, even when the media focus is on losing weight and eating a "healthier" diet? The simple answer is that the mainstream media's idea of "healthy" is vastly different from what healthy really is,

If eating "fat-free" or "low-fat" foods actually helps you to lose weight, why isn't it working?

The U.S. Dietary Guidelines, the American Heart Association and many doctors maintain that vegetable and seed oils are the best fats for your heart, when there is so much scientific evidence to the contrary. It unfortunately takes too long for scientific knowledge to become mainstream.

Getting to the Bottom of Real & Fake Fat:

Adipose tissue, AKA as fat, is a crucial part of your body. Fat contains the blood vessels and nerve cells that are necessary for storing energy and releasing hormones. Fat also insulates your body.

Linoleic acid is abundant in the seed oils and in the vegetable oils that are used today in processed foods, such as soybean, corn, cottonseed and canola oil, which by the way are all genetically modified. These polyunsaturated fats accumulate in fat tissue. A recent report indicated that the linoleic acid concentration of the fat tissue of American adults has increased about 136% over the past decade. This trend has been occurring for decades. Comparing Americans' linoleic acid content of fat tissue to Europeans, theirs is lower than that of most Americans and is approximately where ours was in 1970.

What is So Bad About Vegetable Oils?

These vegetable oils are often referred to as "heart healthy," but science doesn't support that. This concept may be based more on shelf life and economics than science.

Vegetable oils remain fluid at room temperature, which adds to its convenience and shelf life, which is good for manufacturers and the retailers. The hydrogenation process is another problem that has emerged with the processing of seed oils to create the more solid oil at room temperature for margarine and shortening. Hydrogenation creates an even unhealthier fat that isn't natural by any means.

Dating back to even the late 1800s, America started turning to polyunsaturated oils and away from saturated animal fats, such as butter, which our ancestors ate. When this happened, the America's waistline started to expand.

From 1910 to 1970,the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83% to 62% and butter consumption dropped from 18 pounds per person per year to four. During the same period, the allegedly "healthier" margarine, shortenings and refined oils rose in popularity by about 400%. At the same time, both sugar and processed food consumption increased by about 60%.

Refined vegetable oils, which require intense processing. A hexane solvent bath may be used, as well as caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) or soda ash (sodium carbonate), as well as bleaching and deodorizing chemicals. These chemicals can contribute to widespread inflammation, elevated triglycerides and an impaired insulin function.

Omega-3s & Omega-6s:

Over decades, Americans have been consuming less omega-3 fats (EPA and DHA) and the much more omega-6 fats. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed a pretty equal mix of omega-3 and omega-6 fats and they were pretty much free of the "modern diseases", such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Starting way back during the industrial revolution in the mid-1800s, a shift began away from omega-3 fats and towards omega-6 fats. That trend has continued until today. Today, studies show that the consumption ratio is as high as 25:1 in favor of omega-6 fats.

If You Want To Be Healthy, Eat More Good Fats:

1. Increase your intake of omega-3 fats from sources such as sardines, anchovies, wild-caught Alaskan salmon and high-quality krill oil.

2. Use first-pressed virgin olive oil and butter. For cooking, coconut oil is great because it doesn't burn easily and has multiple health advantages over vegetable oils.

3. Read your labels carefully. Stay away from products that list "hydrogenated oils" and "trans fats".

4. Avoid processed foods, including processed vegetable oils.

5. Eat real food, not processed or fast food. "Real" foods include organically grown vegetables, fruits in moderation, sprouts, pastured meats and eggs herbs, and wild-caught Alaskan salmon.

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