Did you hear that Norway ran out of butter?
The news media made fun of the “diet craze” that caused the shortage. It seems someone has convinced Norwegians to go on a “high-fat diet” and take in fewer carbs and more protein and fat.
If that’s how they eat, I think Norway just moved up the list of places I want to visit.
 |
The sad part is that the mainstream considers it a “diet” when people eat what, in evolutionary terms, is a healthy amount of fat.
Because the truth is, we don’t eat a high-fat diet. We eat less fat than our ancestors did. And yet we’re the ones with obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, clogged arteries and high blood pressure.
If you want to live better and disease-free, you should forget about the modern recommendations to eat like a rabbit.
Instead, eat the fat-rich foods you were born to eat. You have a natural desire for them. Dropping weight will come easier and faster, and you will wake up charged with energy that w ill last the whole day.
I’ve helped hundreds of people use this approach. I’ve watched them make a remarkable transition. They are becoming leaner, healthier and disease-free.
Unfortunately the modern medical establishment has been nagging you for 30 years to drop foods with fat from the list of what you eat. They claim that fat – one of three main nutrients the human body needs to survive and thrive – is bad for you.
Big Fat Benefits
But modern medicine didn’t think it through. Because if they did, they would have realized that taking one of your three macronutrients and telling you not to eat it anymore is a universally bad idea.
A minority of doctors including myself have been advising the contrary. Because you need this nutrient to give you six essential benefits:
- More energy: It supplies more than twice the calories per gram of carbohydrate, and produces zero insulin response, meaning you don’t turn it into body fat.
- A healthy body temperature.
- Injury protection: It shields your vital organs from many different kinds of trauma.
- More nutrients: It helps you absorb and transport vitamins A, D, E and K, plus other nutrients and minerals.
- Tastier and more satisfying food: It makes food feel better in your mouth, taste better, and gives you that “full” feeling that controls how much food we eat at one time.
- Faster brain, stronger heart: Your body must have two types of it to survive, but you can’t make them yourself. They contribute to a stronger heart, sharper brain and even clear hearing.
Despite all the benefits to your brain and body, many people took the advice given to them by “experts,” their doctors, and the ads on TV. They cut out the dietary fat.
We stopped eating foods like steak and eggs, and started eating more grains and other carbohydrates. Many of which had unnatural, man-made trans fat.
And as a population, we became exceptionally diseased. Our bodies have responded to the fact that we eat 25% less fat than we used to. And that adaptive response has been a disaster.
The rate of diabetes is 10 times higher than it was just a few years ago. Heart-related diseases that were rare in the early 20th century now kill more people than anything else.
Thirty years ago there wasn’t one state that had an obesity rate over 20 percent. Last year, there was only one state that had an obesity rate UNDER 20 percent. This is not a genetic problem.
|
Saturated Fats vs. Trans Fats
|
||
| Saturated Fats | Trans Fats | |
|
Cell Membranes |
Essential for healthy function | Interfere with healthy function |
| Hormones | Enhance hormone production | Interfere with hormone production |
| Inflammation | Suppress | Encourage |
| Heart Disease |
Lower Lp(a) – |
Raise Lp(a) -Lower "good" cholesterol |
| Omega-3 Fatty Acids | Put in tissues and conserve | Reduce levels in tissues |
| Diabetes | Do not inhibit insulin receptors | Inhibit insulin receptors |
| Immune System | Enhance | Depress |
| Prostalandins | Encourage production and balance | Depress production; cause imbalance |
The good news is that fixing this “fat-free” mess is not as hard as you might have imagined. Follow my two simple rules for selecting your food, and you will be able to eat better-tasting meals, reduce your risk of disease, feel more satisfied and stay lean.
Rule 1) Make Quality Protein the Centerpiece to Every Meal. Humans are not meant to eat grains or processed foods. Our bodies don’t recognize things like corn and bread as sources of food. They have incomplete proteins and too many unhealthy fats in the wrong ratio.
So skip the grains and potatoes. Eat a large variety of protein instead. Plan your meals around which kind of protein you’ll be eating. Eat everything you can try, from grass-fed buffalo to elk to beef.
Why grass-fed? The unnatural living condition of animals in the modern food industry produces diseased animal fat. All of the herbicides, pesticides, toxins and hormones that the animal has been exposed to collect in the fat.
And modern farming techniques prevent the animals from getting normal exercise and feed a diet of grains instead of grasses. This makes for an obese animal with the wrong kind of fat. It has an unnatural and unhealthy concentration of omega-6 fatty acids that cause heart disease.
Grass-fed, pasture-raised animals have nutrient-rich, naturally produced fat. Also, the meat has a higher concentration of the healthy and essential polyunsaturated fat omega 3, and less omega-6, just like nature intended. Trim the fat how you like, but don’t trim it all off. You need it.
Your protein list should also include wild-caught fish. Stay away from farm-raised fish as it will have high levels of a destructive fat called arachidonic acid.
And don’t forget eggs, nuts and beans. They have healthy fats, too.
Rule 2) Avoid Processed Meats. Processed meats like bacon, sausage, hot dogs and lunch meat contain chemicals, preservatives, and additives. Or they’re smoked or cured, which gives them twice as many nitrates. Nitrates cause plaque to build up in your arteries.1
Smoked or cured meat like sausage and bologna also contains high levels of benzo (A) pyrene. This is a cancer-causing chemical in cigarette smoke.2
Instead, eat meat from animals that have been raised in their natural environment and are free from processing. Like pasture-raised meat. In grass-fed beef alone there’s:
- More Omega-3s. Grass-fed beef has 2 to 10 times more omega-3s than grain-fed.3
- Healthier ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s.4
- More CLA. Two to five times more than the grain-fed variety.5,6
- More Vitamin E. Grass-fed beef has three to six times more vitamin E than grain-fed.7
- More Carotenoids: Up to four times more beta-carotene than grain-fed beef.8
- More B Vitamins, CoQ10, and Zinc: These vitamins collect in the healthy fat around the organs. In grain-fed beef, the fat is full of toxins and hormones.
So, do what I do. Throw a big, juicy grass-fed steak or lamb chop on the grill and enjoy. But remember, for meat to be its healthiest, it should be cooked as little as possible. Quickly sear the meat on both sides, leaving the healthy fat intact and the inside rare.
_______________________________________________________
1. Paikabc, DC., Wendel, TD., Freeman, HP. “Cured meat consumption and hypertension: an analysis from NHANES III (1988-94).” 2005; 25(12):1049-1060.
2. Rhee, KS., Bratzler, LJ., “Benzo(A)Pyrene in Smoked Meat Products.”Journal of Food Science. 2006 Aug; 35(2):146-149.
3,4. The “Scientific Research” section of Eat Wild. www.eatwild.com. Retrieved Jan 24, 2012.
5. Dhiman, T.R., G.R. Anand, L.D. Satter, Pariza, M.W. “Conjugated Linolenic Acid Content of Milk from Cows Fed Different Diets.” J Dairy Sci 1999; 82, (10): 2146-56.
6. French P, Stanton C, Lawless F, O’Riordan E, Monahan F, Caffrey P, Moloney, A. “Fatty Acid Composition, Including Conjugated Linolenic Acid, of Intramuscular Fat from Steers Offered Grazed Grass, Grass Silage, or Concentrate-Based Diets.” J Anim Sci 2003;78, (11): 2849-55.
7. Smith, G. “Dietary Supplementation of Vitamin E to Cattle to Improve Shelf-Life and Case-Life for Domestic and International Markets.” Colorado State University.
8. Priolo A, et al. “Persistence of carotenoid pigments in the blood of concentrate-finished grazing sheep: its significance for the traceability of grass-feeding.” J Anim Sci 2003;81(2): 360-7.