Hopefully everyone is still on the wagon after last week. For most of you eliminating wheat will be by far the toughest challenge. This week we'll tackle something much easier. Fat. This is my favorite macronutrient. Contrary to what you've probably been told most of your life, fat isn't the enemy to improved body composition. In fact, fats are absolutely essential to good health. 60% - 70% of your brain is made up of fat. Fat is part of the membrane of every cell in your body. It provides a steady source of fuel which your mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, can use to generate energy. It also enables your body to absorb the fat soluble vitamins in your vegetables (particularly vitamins A and K). If you're choking down plain steamed veggies without fat you're not getting all the nutrients you should. Best of all, fat makes things taste good.
So this week we're going to pay particular attention to fat consumption. Not to keep track of how much we eat, but rather the quality of the fat we're consuming. First, lets talk about the good fats.
Butter -- My personal favorite. Get the best butter you can find. Good butter is from cows fed grass/hay and nothing else. Locally, a good source is Kerri Gold Irish butter. I know Trader Joe's in Palmdale carries it. I've also seen it in Von's, Albertson's, and I think Ralph's. Butter is mostly saturated fat. This is key because saturated fat doesn't oxidize easily so you can cook at fairly high temperatures without damaging the fats. Damaged/oxidized fats are really bad. More on that later. Ghee or clarified butter is actually better than butter, but it's usually pretty expensive and not as easy to find. Plus, it's easy to make yourself from good quality butter. Just melt a couple sticks in and the butter will separate into three layers. The top is the butter oil/fat (skim and scummy looking solids off the top). This is what you want to keep so pour it into a class container and put it in the fridge. The rest is water and milk protein. Throw these out. One advantage of ghee is that with the milk proteins removed, many people who are sensitive to dairy can still consume it. It doesn't contain lactose, casein or whey. If you know you have an autoimmune condition, I would advise always clarifying your butter. This is also a good time to talk about cream. Full fat cream is basically unchurned butter with higher water content. If you want to use cream, unpasteurized raw cream is best, but pretty expensive.
Coconut Oil -- This fat is another all star. Coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), another saturated fat. MCT have the unique quality of not requiring lipase for digestion. If you have been dutifully following our government's recommendations to avoid fat then the MCTs in coconut oil will be the easiest for your body to convert to energy.
Animal fat -- Think lard and tallow. These are great fats as well. They are primarily saturated and therefore very stable. Source is key here. If you get grass fed, organic meat then don't worry about trimming off the fat or spending the extra money on extra lean ground beef. Grass fed meat is usually more expensive and if that puts it beyond your reach financially, that's ok. Purchase leaner cuts or trim the fat off of industrially raised meat and then add butter or coconut after cooking so it isn't too dry. The toxins from pesticides used in growing corn and soy to feed industrially produced meat along with antibiotics necessary to keep cows alive on a grain based diet get stored in these animal's fat. That's why it's a good idea to avoid fat from industrially produced meat.
Olive Oil -- This source of fat is best when used for salad dressings and making mayonnaise. Cold pressed olive oil stored in opaque containers and kept away from extreme heat is health promoting. Unfortunately, that's not how most of the olive oil available in stores in this country is produced. Olive Oil contains mono and polyunsaturated fat. These fats oxidize easily when exposed to light and/or heat. It's best not to cook with olive oil for this reason.
Onto the bad fats. The following are primarily polyunsaturated and are therefore easily oxidized. Oxidized fats damage artery walls and stress the bodies ability to produce anti-oxidants to deal with them. Furthermore, these oils require extensive chemical processing including the use of bleach, deoderizers and solvents (sounds yummy huh!). furthermore, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is far too high. In general its safe to think of omega-6 fats as inflamatory and omega-3 fats and anti-inflamatory. In reality, both types of fats are essential for humans, its the ratio that matters. Traditional hunter-gatherer societies consume omega-6 to omega-3 fats in a ratio of 1:1 to 4:1. The standard American diet ranges from 10 to 20:1. The list of fats to avoid follows:
Corn Oil
Canola Oil
Safflower Oil
Soybean Oil
Peanut Oil
Any fully or partially hydrogenated oils
So for this week focus on replacing bad fats with good fats. Include some butter or coconut oil with your veggies. Don't be afraid of the fat in your meat. Even consider substituting some extra fat in place of some carbohydrates. You'll stabilize blood sugar levels and stay satiated much longer.
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