(Not on my body, of course…)
But in my food! Yes! That’s where I want it. I adore avocados, go wild over walnuts, applaud almonds, am so pleased with pecans, go crazy for coconuts, over the top for olive oil, mad for macadamias, so silly for sesame seeds, would swim the deep blue sea for salmon, yell hurrah for herring, smile at the smell of sardines, feel fueled by flax, and it’s not cheating eating chia either.
Why, you may ask? Many, many reasons, but for this post I will talk primarily about maintaining healthy weight, and diabetes / cardiovascular disease prevention.
To begin with, for years I have told my patients that they need to eat fat to burn fat. What?! What about that whole low-fat thing that started in the 70’s? Well we now see clearly what THAT lead to: OBESITY, DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE! How so? Because fat tastes so good, and when it was removed from foods, in order to compensate for the loss of flavor, the fake food giants added sugar! Too much sugar leads to insulin resistance, which in turn leads to diabetes, and then to heart disease. Plus, when one is insulin resistant, glucose cannot be utilized properly for energy, and then it gets stored as fat: a.k.a. obesity! You can read more about this in my Healthy Weight Loss Blog.
So how does eating fat contribute to weight loss? Here are a few mechanisms:
1) We have receptors on our intestinal lining that bind with omega-3 fatty acids (that come from fats). These turn on the gene that enhances insulin sensitivity, thereby allowing the glucose (which all foods break down into, and is not to be confused with sugar that we eat) to be used for energy, rather than being stored as fat. This process also lowers inflammation in the body.
2) Fat is the preferred fuel for the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell), and thus increases mitochondrial function. The main function of the mitochondria is to turn food into energy; i.e. burn more calories, thereby increasing weight loss! BAD fats, such as trans fats, do the opposite. They inhibit energy production from the mitochondria, and cause weight gain.
3) Another benefit to eating fats in terms of weight loss is that fat increases satiety. We feel more satisfied and full when we eat good fats, and therefore do not feel compelled to eat more or overeat. It’s the opposite of what happens with sugar. Sugar and refined carbohydrates are addictive. They actually turn on a part of your brain called the nucleus accumbens, which drives addiction. And remember, it’s the overconsumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates that leads to insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes.
Fat Sources are Important
To elucidate: Cows that are grass-fed do not manufacture the same kind of fat that cows injected with antibiotics and bovine growth hormone do. Grass-fed cows take the unsaturated fat from the grass they eat and convert it to a healthy omega-3 saturated fat, while cows treated with bovine growth hormone (BGH) and antibiotics are not able to manufacture that healthy omega-3 saturated fat. The fat in beef from that cow is inflammatory, as are butter and dairy products from such animals! You will not only fail to lose weight by eating BGH/antibiotic meat, you will also be likely to disrupt your endocrine system; i.e. hormones, insulin, estrogen, testosterone, etc. But that’s a whole other can of worms, best saved for a future blog post. Suffice to say, just don’t eat it!
Another matter to consider is food treated with pesticides. Pesticides kill bugs. We have trillions of health-modulating bugs in our intestines. Pesticides wreak havoc with them and, consequently, our intestines and our immune system. Remember, the omega-3’s bond with receptor sites on the intestinal lining to fuel the mitochondria to burn fat. Well that’s not going to function so well with the pesticides killing off our good bugs. So actually, plants that have been sprayed with pesticides not only have the potential to prevent us from losing weight, they may actually contribute to weight gain!
Here’s my advice, and this has been said by many renowned physicians before me: a healthy diet should be approximately 70% plant-based, mostly organic, and 30% lean organic or wild protein, along with healthy fats. You don’t have to go seeking the fats so much either. For the most part these are incorporated in protein-rich foods: wild fish, nuts, grass-fed animal products. And when you cook, cook with olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, or butter from grass-fed cows. You don’t need to count calories, you just need to look at your plate and make sure 70% of it is a colorful array of vegetables, mostly greens!
All this to say, if you only fall in love once, let it be a true infatuation with healthy fat!
I Feel A Change Comin' On 