The common thinking for so long has been that saturated fats are unhealthy.
It began with a 1953 study that stated that fat intake caused death from heart disease.
Even though that study has since been discredited for errors in its methodology for as far back as 1957, there is still the misconception that saturated fat is harmful to our health.
We are now close to certain that there is no significant evidence that saturated fat has any association with greater risk of stroke or coronary artery heart disease.
It is now quite an about-face that most people are recommended to get from 50% to 70% of their total calories from healthy fat.
These fats, both from animal and vegetable sources provide these important health benefits: bones (for calcium assimilation), cell membranes, hormonal balance and liver health, as well as others.
The fact that we have been taught for so many years that saturated fats are inherently bad for us has without a doubt has caused more health issues that they have solved.
The problems become not for just what saturated fats provide for our bodies, but without them what gets substituted.
In many cases that is with carbohydrate intake, particularly refined carbs.
These are well-known to increase insulin resistance and promote weight increase, each of which is well-established precursors of heart disease and stroke.
Some of the forces working against what should be an obvious trend toward nutritional health are old established ones.
Grains are grown inexpensively and keep many low-income people from starving, and as a result have received government subsidies for decades.
Obviously this has become big business, which leads us to believe that the 1992 Food Pyramid that we know so well have grains positioned as a foundation of our diet.
It also has fats at the top of the pyramid, which we now know should be flip-flopped with grains.
This excess of carbohydrates in our diet, with most of them refined in the form of bread, cereal and pasta is one of the main causes of general overweight and insulin resistance taking over our societies today.
But as we have wrongfully taken fat from our food it loses its taste.
To make it more palatable to the western diet (i.
e.
more marketable) we have to add more sugar and other harmful additives to our processed foods.
So to put this on a more positive note, just what should we be doing? Here are a few things: 1.
Adopt the Mediterranean diet.
This diet is based on whole food (and the elimination of processed foods), with less refined sugar and more healthy fats.
These come in the form of olive oil, raw dairy products, avocados and high-quality omega-3s.
2.
Increase your intake of animal-based omega-3 fatty acids.
This is one of the best sources of fat you can consume.
3.
Increase your intake of saturated and mono-saturated fats to 50-70% of your daily caloric consumption.
4.
Avoid grains, fructose, sugar, and especially processed foods.
It is unlikely you will find any processed foods that will give you any healthy fat, and the Trans-fat in many are poisonous to the human system.
5.
Replace grain carbs with large amounts of vegetables.
It began with a 1953 study that stated that fat intake caused death from heart disease.
Even though that study has since been discredited for errors in its methodology for as far back as 1957, there is still the misconception that saturated fat is harmful to our health.
We are now close to certain that there is no significant evidence that saturated fat has any association with greater risk of stroke or coronary artery heart disease.
It is now quite an about-face that most people are recommended to get from 50% to 70% of their total calories from healthy fat.
These fats, both from animal and vegetable sources provide these important health benefits: bones (for calcium assimilation), cell membranes, hormonal balance and liver health, as well as others.
The fact that we have been taught for so many years that saturated fats are inherently bad for us has without a doubt has caused more health issues that they have solved.
The problems become not for just what saturated fats provide for our bodies, but without them what gets substituted.
In many cases that is with carbohydrate intake, particularly refined carbs.
These are well-known to increase insulin resistance and promote weight increase, each of which is well-established precursors of heart disease and stroke.
Some of the forces working against what should be an obvious trend toward nutritional health are old established ones.
Grains are grown inexpensively and keep many low-income people from starving, and as a result have received government subsidies for decades.
Obviously this has become big business, which leads us to believe that the 1992 Food Pyramid that we know so well have grains positioned as a foundation of our diet.
It also has fats at the top of the pyramid, which we now know should be flip-flopped with grains.
This excess of carbohydrates in our diet, with most of them refined in the form of bread, cereal and pasta is one of the main causes of general overweight and insulin resistance taking over our societies today.
But as we have wrongfully taken fat from our food it loses its taste.
To make it more palatable to the western diet (i.
e.
more marketable) we have to add more sugar and other harmful additives to our processed foods.
So to put this on a more positive note, just what should we be doing? Here are a few things: 1.
Adopt the Mediterranean diet.
This diet is based on whole food (and the elimination of processed foods), with less refined sugar and more healthy fats.
These come in the form of olive oil, raw dairy products, avocados and high-quality omega-3s.
2.
Increase your intake of animal-based omega-3 fatty acids.
This is one of the best sources of fat you can consume.
3.
Increase your intake of saturated and mono-saturated fats to 50-70% of your daily caloric consumption.
4.
Avoid grains, fructose, sugar, and especially processed foods.
It is unlikely you will find any processed foods that will give you any healthy fat, and the Trans-fat in many are poisonous to the human system.
5.
Replace grain carbs with large amounts of vegetables.