A new study from researchers at the University of South Florida just came out advising that we should eat more fat.1
It’s what I’ve been recommending to my readers and patients for decades.
But it’s not what I was taught in medical school. As a matter of fact, I was taught to do the exact opposite.
So when I read this news from my alma mater, I thought the message was finally getting through. Until I read a little more… As it turns out, this recommendation was given as a way to lower your cholesterol.
They got it half right. A no-carb, high-fat diet is the best way to be healthy. But NOT because of cholesterol.
The way modern medicine treats cholesterol is just as ridiculous as saying, “you have low mineral density in your bones. So we need to remove all the bones from your body.”
But Big Pharma and Big Medicine have convinced almost the entire world that cholesterol is a deadly enemy that must be eliminated…
Cholesterol is one of the most important substances in your body. Its many health benefits include:
✓ Memory storage and healthy brain function
✓ Breakdown and digestion of fat
✓ Building and protecting cell membranes
✓ Making sex hormones
✓ Producing vitamin D
✓ Protecting against infectious diseases
And of course, the higher your cholesterol, the lower your risk of dying from any cause.
So, we know what the USF researchers got wrong. Here’s what they got right…
- Skip the carbs. When we swapped the traditional meals we used to eat for starchy cereals and carbohydrate-packed “health foods,” we didn’t get healthier. We got sick with what I call Syndrome Zero… because your body wasn’t built to eat carbs, your pancreas reacts by massively overproducing insulin to push the sugars from these foods into your cells to make energy.
The more carbs you eat, the more insulin builds up in your blood. It overwhelms the insulin receptors in your cells. It makes them insulin-resistant. Insulin becomes less effective at pushing glucose into your cells. Diseases linked to insulin resistance and Syndrome Zero include diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease. - Eat fat. I’m glad that the low-fat myth has been debunked by good research. Humans evolved to eat fat. It’s what gave our ancestors their big brains. And today we know that eating fat reduces inflammation… lowers diabetes risk… improves your mood… boosts bone strength and reduces osteoporosis… lowers risk of certain kinds of cancer… strengthens immune system… protects skin and eyes… helps you lose weight — and reduces heart disease risk.
Feed Yourself “Fat”
- Get at least 50% of your fat from saturated fats. Replace corn and canola oils with lard. Bring back the butter and coconut. Always choose whole-fat dairy foods. Look for a particular kind of saturated fat called stearic acid. You’ll find it in pasture-raised beef and pork, olive oil, chicken skin and chocolate.
- Stay away from man-made fats or trans fats. Trans fat is the result of “hydrogenation.” When a hydrogen molecule is added to vegetable oils, it turns them to fatty solids. These fatty solids replace animal fats. Your body doesn’t recognize them as food, and when you eat this kind of fat you never feel full. A study in the journal Lancet analyzed fat found in clogged arteries in people. Almost 75% of the fat turned out to be so-called “heart healthy” fats found in margarine and canola oil.2
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
1. Diamond DM, et al. “Dietary recommendations for familial hypercholesterolaemia: An evidence-free zone.” BMJ. 2020;bmjebm-2020-111412.
2. Felton CV, et al. “Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and composition of human aortic plaques.” Lancet. 1994;344(8931):1195-1196.