WHAT’S FAT GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Ever since the mid-1970’s when well-meaning politician, George McGovern, spearheaded the move to create the first set of US Dietary Guidelines the battlecry against eating fat began.

Authors, like Gary Taubes (“Why We Get Fat”) and Denise Minger (“Death By Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health”) have done an excellent job of writing about this if you're interested – but I digress. 

It has only taken about 35 years to finally correct the bad rap that fat was branded with! In late June 2015 a press release announced that the US Dietary will no longer focus on fat restriction and instead will focus on food quality. HALLELUJAH!

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We often think of fat in association with our appearance. However for this blog I am referring primarily to the kind of fats also known as lipids that we eat.

I work with clients all the time that are in terror of adding fat to their diets. Here are some reasons for you to learn to understand and appreciate fat if you have found yourself on team “fat phobia” here are some compelling facts for you to consider.

1. Fat is an essential nutrient. That means that we have to consume it for normal functioning of the body because either we can’t manufacture it ourselves, or we can’t make enough of it for good health. The one fat we can make on our own is cholesterol which is made in the liver whether or not you eat any fat. It is a saturated fat. What we don’t make are essential fatty acids.
2. Fats provide our bodies with a slow-releasing source of energy.
3. Fats are required to make cell walls, that’s right, our cell walls are made up of something called a phospholipid and when you consider that we probably have something in the vicinity of 100,000 billion cells – well, we are going to be needing some fat!
4. Fats are required to build our brains. It is one of our fattest organs, about 60% fat and it’s needed for the myelin sheath (a fatty covering) that surrounds each of our nerve fibers, allowing messaging in the brain to go faster.
5. Fats are absorb and carry critical vitamins into the body, like vitamin A, D, E and K. So you need a little oil on that salad full of greens to escort those fats into the body for absorption.
6. Fats are required to make hormones, particularly sex hormones.
7. Fat contributes to beautiful moist, plump skin. When skin is really dry and flaky, it can be due to a fatty acid deficiency.
8. Fat tastes good. It is a very complex molecule and the mother-ship of carrying flavor.

There are different categories of natural fat: Saturated, poly-unsaturated (PUFA’s), mono-unsaturated (MUFA’s). We get our essential fatty acid’s (EFA’s) from PUFA’s, MUFA’S (plant, nut and seed based), as well as DHA and EPA from fish. Trans fats are now confirmed very damaging to our arteries and hearts and are being phased out of the food supply.

The bottom-line is that if you have feared natural fat you can relax and start to include reasonable amounts into your meals.

The right fats contribute to positive health improvements like:

• Lowering the risk of breast and colon cancer
• Improve learning and attention span in school-children
• Improve cognitive function in the elderly
• Elevate mood, resulting in less depression
• Lower the risk of cardiovascular disease
• Promote healthy skin
• Improve vision, especially night vision

​Now go find your inner Julia Child and enjoy!

Photo by Roberta Sorge on Unsplash