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Healthy Eating - The Low Fat Myth (Part I)

By Charlotte Watts Dip.ION BANT – Nutritional Therapist – www.totalbeing.com and www.healthyconvenience.com

Opinion has been changing slowly over the past few years to catch up with extensive research about the necessity for fat in our diets. Fat has been blamed for weight gain, heart disease, high cholesterol to name a few and yet still the French Paradox exists.

The Low Fat diet was devised on the premise that “all fats are bad”, an idea that was popular several decades ago, but has since been much disproved.

Many recommend fat contents as low as 10% or even less of total calorie intake and the very word “fat” is associated with a state of being that most want to avoid. It is very difficult then, to convince most people that the “all fats are bad” mantra is far too simplistic. Of course the ingestion of fatty foods plays some part in weight gain, but we have to look at the subject objectively, assess which fats are good and which fats are bad and be sure not to remove a major food group from our diets that is essential to our health.

The low-fat industry has been a sure-fire commercial success with the public easily making the connection between fat in the diet and on their thighs. It is surely strange then, that during the same period the incidence of obesity has risen enormously. This has been attributed to the obsessive eating of carbohydrates and empty calories (carbohydrates contain fewer calories - 4.1 kCal per gram as opposed to 9.4 for fat). It is assumed that swapping fats for carbohydrates will lead to weight loss, but the body is not that simplistic and the metabolism relies on many complicated processes to run efficiently and in a state where it can naturally maintain a healthy balance of weight.

We are designed to burn fat in cold climates as it is a compact, dense form of energy (hence the higher calories) and save carbohydrates for lean times, when we need to store fat to burn later. For our ancestors fats would have been a kind of wonder food and highly sought after; they have therefore been part of our evolution, unlike sugar which is a much more alien substance for our bodies. It is important to distinguish between good and bad fats, the rule is generally that those from animal sources are not as healthy as from plant sources, but we must also consider the changing sources of meat that is eaten. Our ancestors would have lean sources of wild animals and therefore the fat content would have been naturally lower, but they would have still eaten saturated fats. Their highly active lives meant that they would use these as fuels and also eat plenty of antioxidants, the nutrients that protect against damage from fats that are found in fruits, vegetables, pulses and nuts.

Generally a diet low in animal fats, with good amounts of vegetable and seed oils is a good balance for health; it is well documented that vegetarians live longer. There are however some schools of thought that believe that the fatty acids found in meat such as Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) have health benefits too. CLA helps us to burn stored fat as fuel and improves lean body mass. CLA is found in the grass that cattle and sheep would naturally graze on, but grain feeding has lessened the amount that they eat and therefore the amount we receive. Dr Paul Clayton states, “saturated fats are not entirely unhealthy. There are essential saturated fats too, such as myristic acid and perhaps 20 others” ¹.

Meat is a very personal issue, politically and nutritionally. We will explore the blood group diet at a future date, but this highlights how meat is more suited to some types than others. Some people find that eating some organic meat regularly helps them to balance their blood sugar levels, these are the people who may have found that the Atkins diet works for them, but caution should still be taken to moderate and protect the body.

The French Paradox describes an issue which has baffled scientists for decades; the French eat three times as much saturated fat as Americans and yet only a third die of heart attacks. Many hypotheses are discussed – the protective qualities of wine, garlic and olive oil, higher vegetable and therefore antioxidant intake, but the truth is that looking for the silver bullet is as irrelevant as ever here. All these factors count; the French have traditional strict rules about portion size, only eating dessert after filling up on meat and vegetables and little snacking. Of course this is changing and as the food available becomes more American-influenced, so do their disease states and weight issues. But the French have an inherently better relationship with food – more about enjoyment and less about guilt². According to the Science Daily research website³, "The French paradox is only a paradox if one assumes that dietary fat is the major cause of obesity and cardiovascular disease," said Paul Rozin, professor of psychology at Penn and lead author of a paper in the September issue of the journal Psychological Science. "However, recent studies suggest that the importance of fat intake as a risk factor has been greatly exaggerated. While the French eat more fat than Americans, they probably eat slightly fewer calories, which when compounded over years can amount to substantial differences in weight."

It is important to remember that fats are crucial for many functions in the body; skin integrity (too little causes dry skin), hormone production, production of “good” (HDL) cholesterol and they are found in the eyes, kidney, liver and heart. They also transport vital fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamins A, D and E and beta carotene of which we can become deficient without correct fat intake.

Fats make up more than 60% of our brains in the form of the fatty acids DHA and EPA found primarily in oily fish, indeed many believe that eating fish such as mackerel, salmon, trout, sardines and herring have been part of the evolutionary process that lead to us having large developed, sentient brains⁴. For people with depression, mood and mental health problems, the ratio in which fats are eaten becomes absolutely crucial. These people may have problems regulating the fats in their body and those they eat. Whilst needing more of the unsaturated fats (see below), the use of these in the body may be greatly impaired by eating saturated fats⁵.

The type of fats we eat can be broken down into the following categories:

Saturated fats are solid at room temperature and generally from animal sources like butter and lard and the fats in meat. In high amounts they can increase heart disease risk and offset the good that beneficial fats do, particularly they are inflammatory and interfere with the regulation of the immune system, cholesterol, skin health, brain function and hormone balance. When eaten with sugars, they can cause the most weight to be stored, hence the particular danger of foods like pastries and biscuits. The greater the saturation of an oil, the more stable it is and the more ideal for cooking, as it will be less prone to harmful oxidation, so saturated fats have some place in cooking if used sparingly.

Monounsaturated oils are vegetable in origin and those traditionally eaten in Mediterranean countries. They contain a fatty acid called oleic acid or omega 9 and remain liquid at room temperature, but congeal when refrigerated. These have been found to have a neutral effect on blood cholesterol, although an excess can raise blood triglycerides (fats). The exception is olive oil which reduces blood triglycerides; this is believed to be due to its unique active components rather than the monounsaturated fat content. They are found in olives, avocadoes, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts and also the oils from these foods. These are the best oils for cooking, as they are more stable than polyunsaturated oils. It is the eating of these foods in large amounts that helps to explain part of the French Paradox.

Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are unsaturated oils and are unique in that they contain the omega 3 and 6 oils. The essential part means that it important to eat these daily as they cannot be made in the body and are needed for blood sugar balance, cholesterol regulation, skin and heart health. They should be kept cold as can be easily damaged by heat and saturated fats can stop them being used in the body – the exception is those found in oily fish. They remain liquid at all times and are important for regulating blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Both omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids are precursors to prostaglandins, short-lived, localised hormones that regulate cellular activity including reducing inflammation, regulating cholesterol, immune function, skin health and blood sugar control. Essential fats need to be stored in dark glass to protect them from oxidisation from heat, light and oxygen and these oils should never be used for cooking.

Omega 3 oils are found in oily, coldwater fish such as mackerel, herring, salmon, trout, sardines and anchovies. However, these can contain high levels of mercury so it is best to limit your intake to about three times a week, the smaller the fish, the less mercury it will have accumulated. The best vegetarian sources are flax (or linseed), hemp and pumpkin seeds and their cold-pressed oils.

Omega 6 oils such as hemp seed, evening primrose oil, borage, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds and their oils. Nuts, except peanuts, are also good sources.

Some roles EFAs play in the body:

• Vital energy source: providing more than twice as much energy than one gram of carbohydrate or protein, the energy produced is stable and sustained unlike energy from sugar or other stimulants.
• Increase metabolic rate: good for weight loss because it means more calories are burnt.
• Decrease cravings: obtaining the right nutrients stops us from craving ‘wrong’ foods.
• Brain health: 50% of the brain’s weight is made up of EFAs. They have been shown to elevate mood, mental ability and memory. They are crucial during pregnancy for healthy development of the child and after birth whilst growing.
• Heart health: help lower blood triglycerides, cholesterol and blood pressure. They may also make blood platelets less sticky rendering them less likely to form clots – this therefore protects us from heart attacks and strokes.
• Immune health: EFAs protect us from free radical damage. They also reduce inflammation and promote healing.
• Skin health: keep skin, hair and nails healthy and flexible by providing a waterproof sheath. EFAs can also provide relief from eczema, psoriasis and other skin complaints.
• Detoxification: some toxins are oil-soluble and so need EFAs to be detoxified.
• Digestion: can help prevent leaky gut and food allergies. May help to reduce cravings and addictions.

Total Being Opinion

We are all individual and fat is a personal issue. If you have avoided fat because of previous dieting advice or popular opinion, this may be time to rethink and increase your intake. This does not mean loading up on butter and lard, but looking at foods like nuts, avocadoes and fish, which may have previously had the “high in fat” tag forced upon them. These foods which many people (especially women) often avoid are superfoods; they contain an incredible array of nutrients as well as extremely beneficial fats and the fats are also there to carry all the fat-soluble nutrients into the body.

Much processing of foods has removed the crude parts of the oils in our diets which contained vital ingredients such as sterols (plant substances which regulate cholesterol) and this makes it even more important that you receive fats from unprocessed sources in their natural forms. The important part is to protect your body from the damaging effects of metabolising fats; these foods also contain the antioxidant nutrients that provide this protection and eating them with a diet rich in vegetables and fruit heightens this.

If you suffer from any complaint, consider the ratio of fats you are eating. If you tend to only eat fats from animal sources, then move towards a good balance with plant sources and also ensure that the meat you eat has had the chance to wander around, eat some decent food itself and not been injected with hormones and antibiotics that you would not like to receive yourself. Think Mediterranean – olive oil is an incredible and delicious ingredient that many cultures revere for good reason.

Nutritionists often get frustrated having to extol the virtues of beneficial fats. When our brain, skin, eyes, heart, liver, kidneys, steroid and sexual hormones, HDL cholesterol and all body tissues are made of a high proportion of fats, it would seem like madness to not acknowledge that these would need constant renewal from a dietary source. We see very good results through changing these attitudes and food also becomes more enjoyable.

See www.totalbeing.com for a Nutritional Assessment to choose the right diet and supplements to help you get in control of your health!

See www.healthyconvenience.com for help remembering how to get healthy – for posters, shopping guides and recipes.

References
1. Clayton, P. Health Defence, Accelerated Learning Systems, 2001.
2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/08/030825073029.htm
3. Fischler and Rozin, Appetite, October 1999 (Claude Fischler is nutritional sociologist at INSERM, the French equivalent of America's National Institutes of Health).
4. Horrobin D. The Madness of Adam and Eve. Bantam Press. 2001.
5. Schmidt MA. Smart Fats. Frog Ltd. 1997.