Okay so apparently becoming a doctor takes a lot of work, and a lot of time. Hence why this post is 1 month later than the last. My apologies. I am in the process of studying for my boards in 2 weeks and have little time. This will not be the trend. Anyway, emerge science nerd.
The next groundwork topic is fat. I stressed a great deal that many fat-free food items are loaded with carbs to make up for taste, but there HAS to be a benefit from lowering fat right? Yes, there is. But the misconception is that ALL fat is bad. No worries, it isn't your fault. I will explain.
When you go to the doctor for a check-up, they measure your 'cholesterol'. This consists of LDL, HDL, Triglycerides, and Total Cholesterol. Your LDL is the 'bad cholesterol'. Basically, it takes the cholesterol you eat/make and delivers it to your organs and tissues. We want this number under 100 (in a perfect world). HDL is your 'good cholesterol'. It does the opposite, takes cholesterol out of your tissues/organs and metabolizes them. In order to be HEART PROTECTIVE, this number should be above 60. Triglycerides are the fats in your blood. Less than 150 and you're doing pretty good. And you want your total cholesterol to be less than 200. So ideally you would like low LDL, high HDL, low triglycerides. This is considered a low risk for heart problems. It also bodes well for a slimmer/healthier body, but this is not always true. High LDL and low HDL is associated with a pretty large increase in cardiovascular issues like heart attack and stroke. So how do these numbers get changed?
There are many types of fats in our food. Look at the label and you will see this. However, a lot of foods have only a few types listed. Lets start with the worst.
TRANS FATS: These are nasty. They sometimes occur naturally, but mostly are due to our own hydrogenation of oils. These bad boys RAISE your LDL, which means bad things for your heart. Not only that, they LOWER your HDL. Also bad news. This is why so many foods are posting on the front of their bags "Contains zero Trans Fats." How nice of them.
SATURATED FATS: You know these. They are everywhere. Red meat and dairy namely. These guys RAISE your LDL also, but do not lower HDL. No good. These fats are the ones that most doctors today will blame on many peoples heart issues. And rightfully so. Studies have proven the correlation. Stay away
MONOUNSATURATED FATS: Now here we arrive at the 'good' guys. These fats are found best in olive oil and canola oil. Monounsaturated fats, when substituted in place of saturated fats, have been shown to LOWER LDL, LOWER Triglycerides, and keep HDL the SAME. This is fabulous. In fact, consumption of these has been shown to decrease heart disease.
POLYUNSATURATED FATS: There are 2 types of these, we call them Omega 3 and Omega 6. These fats I will say are in general good. The Omega 6 fats are found in safflower, sunflower, and corn oil. They LOWER LDL, LOWER Triglycerides, and LOWER HDL. Mostly good. The Omega 3 fats have little effect on your cholesterol, but do decrease the amount of clotting your blood does, which can help decrease the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes. These are found in fish oils.
So in a nutshell, saying that a low fat diet is good for you isn't necessarily true. I would argue that it doesn't matter as much the quantity of fat that is in your food, but the quality. This is why I say that low-fat dressing is sometimes better than no-fat dressing. It doesn't have the added carbs, and it has less of the bad fats. A nice BALANCE. Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats should be the main sources of fat that you eat. Its been proven by many medical studies. If something has 5g of fat, with zero Saturated Fat, chances are the 5g are from these 2. This might make you look at food a little differently.
So as far as diet, this means limiting red meat, drinking non-fat milk, replacing your cooking oils with olive or canola oil which taste fabulous), eating more fish, and eliminating butter from your diet. And no, margarine is not that much better (we'll talk about this later).
Another Pearl: A low fat diet actually results in less weight loss at 6 months than a low sugar/carb diet. At 12 months the weight loss is the same, but this usually is because the people on the low carb diet relapse. So if you stick with it, I would argue that low sugar, medium fat diet is best. This will maximize weight loss and with the right fats lower your cholesterol and triglycerides, which will overall improve your health. Most dietitians will say that fat should be less than 30% of your total calories. And of that 30%, try to do as little saturated fat as possible. Your heart and body will thank you. Oh and EXERCISE!
Ok so that is mainly it for groundwork. The next post (which will come quick) will be about something that seems to have been the newest trend in "health" lately, yet isn't so healthy.
P.S. Here is an alternative to butter my wife and I use DAILY. It tastes awesome but has zero everything. And we use it for everything besides baking.
Olivio Spray Butter
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