MYTH BUSTER: Fat makes you fat, clogs arteries and gives you heart attacks!
Nature put fat in foods like avocadoes, eggs, nuts and seeds etc. for a reason – never underestimate its intelligence. Natural whole fats are an important nutrient required for vibrant health. We simply wouldn’t be healthy or survive without them. We need healthy sources of saturated (think coconut oil and grass-fed meat), monounsaturated (think of your beloved olive oil) and polyunsaturated (think flax + other seed oils) to create a feeling of satiety after we eat, to nourish the brain and our vital organs, to help synthesize hormones, and for healthy cell membranes.
Importantly, we need to ensure we are getting a balanced ratio of anti-inflammatory Omega-3s (wild salmon, cod liver oil, fish oil etc.), when the typical modern Western diet is commonly too high in pro-inflammatory Omega-6s (from processed and fast foods). Taking the fat out of food can confuse your body and it’s hunger / satiety signals, causing you to overeat or have cravings for sugar and calories in the wrong types of foods (such as processed, refined and packaged foods).
If you don’t have the naturally occurring fat in a nutrient dense whole food such as eggs, you won’t be able to absorb the beneficial fat soluble Vitamins A, D, E and K that come with it (so keep those healthy yolks in your omelet or scrambled eggs). Going “low fat” or “fat free” can lead to severe nutritional deficiencies in the body, and a state of malnourishment. So celebrate healthy fats found in wild salmon, olives, coconut, and pure dark chocolate (min 80% raw cacao).
It’s actually excess sugar in any form (especially refined sources) and transfats (found in processed foods) that can make you unhealthy, fat, clog arteries, and cause heart attacks. So keep it simple and stick to eating a wide variety of nutrient rich + natural “SOUL Foods”: Seasonal, Organic, Unprocessed and Local. As Michael Pollen so wisely says, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Photo by Christy (SF based photographer: christyqphoto.com)