We have grown up under the assumption that saturated fat is bad for you. It's a the top of FDA-approved food pyramid. It is suggested that only 7-10% of your diet should come from fats. However, fat is necessary for every single one of the cells in your body to function. Back in the day, a few flawed studies (Framingham Heart Study, the Kritchevsky Rabbits, and thus the Lipid Hypothesis Theory) were widely published, which cited a correlation between increased fat intake and increased coronary artery disease. A bad diet high in cholesterol leads to atherosclerosis, which leads to coronary artery disease, and finally death. Therefore, the FDA, American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and additional groups promoted low-fat diets. However, after years of low fat diets, (1954 to today) obesity and heart disease are still on the rise and are still the leading cause of death. However, it is not a disputed fact that your cells are made of cholesterol and it is necessary healthy function.
Why cholesterol is important*:
- It's part of your cell membranes, which keeps them healthy and functioning properly
- It is a repairing and healing substance
- It's the back bone of your hormones
- It is vital to brain function and to your nervous system
- It protects against depression because it makes and utilizes serotonin
- Cholesterol is the precursor of vitamin D
- It's an antioxidant, which protects against free radicals, and therefore against cancer
Most people that go to the doctor get a lipid panel drawn at some point. If you cholesterol is over 200, the doc will usually recommend you to be put on a cholesterol-lowering medication to decrease your risk of coronary artery disease. The danger with these medications is that they basically prevent your liver from producing cholesterol all together. I'm not a doctor or a medical researcher by any means, but stopping your body from producing something it needs to function sounds like not a great idea. Also, the liver has a million different functions as well. If you stop your body from producing cholesterol in the liver, then what else could it be doing in the process?
Basically, I came away from the lecture feeling informed and happy that my butter is good for me. I absolutely love butter, mayo, and sour cream. They did a little demo on making your own salad dressing, showed us some trusted brands to buy, and promoted butter (yay!). They were advocating the consumption of all natural foods and eating meat, butter, and eggs from grass-fed animals. Butter is natural and has been used for hundreds and hundreds of years and margarine has NOT. It is synthetic, made in a lab, and not that different from plastic. It contains free radials, bleach, artificial flavors, and sterols. Heart disease has not been around as long as butter.. so why would that be the cause? The first recorded heart attack was in 1912 but butter has been on the scene for thousands of years. Hhuummmm....
Take away points:
- Butter = good
- Margarine and other partially hydrogenated oils = bad
- Eat natural fats, don't be concerned with the cholesterol number
- Examples of good fat are butter, coconut oil, palm oil, EVOO, nuts, avocados, and flax oil
- Trans fat = bad
- Eat as close to natural as possible, then you get all the nutrients intended because when things are processed, you lose the nutrients
http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com
http://www.westonaprice.org
Eat Fat, Lose Fat: the Healthy Alternative to Trans Fat by Mary G. Enig and Sally Fallon
Know Your Fats: the Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol by Mary G. Enig
The next lecture by David and Deborah will be October 3rd at Personal Performance!
*Information came from: Myths & Truths about Cholesterol by the Weston A. Price Foundation, 2010.
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