Changing Attitudes on Fat in Our Diet

[Sea Ray]

I read an article last week in Time Magazine about saturated fat and I found it very interesting. Unfortunately Time doesn't give it away for free on the net but here's some of it:

http://time.com/2863227/ending-the-war-on-fat/

Here's a video of it:

http://time.com/2861540/fat-and-carbs-diet-guidelines/

Remember when we were all eating weight watcher margarine and eating fat free chips, cookies and skim milk? Well the now they're saying that such eating was actually bad for you. Instead of eating fat we were eating carbs and artificial additives and it's led to a rise in diabetes and obesity. How 'bout foods like red meat? Well the thinking now is that these foods do not kill you because they contain both some good and bad fats thus they're a wash. For example they contain both LDL and HDL cholesterol.

How 'bout margarine vs butter? That's not even a wash anymore butter wins in a landslide

Back in 2000, the journalist Nina Teicholz got a gig reviewing restaurants in New York City for a small paper. It didn’t pay much, but it did come with free meals out, which is how Teicholz found herself eating the kind of rich, fatty food—choice cuts of beef, creamy soups, foie gras—that she’d avoided all of her life. She was breaking every nutritional dictate in the book and yet Teicholz lost 10 lbs. Her cholesterol, which should have been spiking since she was all but mainlining saturated fat, remained at healthy levels.

http://time.com/96626/6-facts-about-...l-astound-you/

I take a couple things out of this:

1) It's good news for everyone 'cause who likes the taste of fat free things anyway?

2) How did science get it so wrong?

There's a moral here too as to what's "settled science". This was "settled" 20-30 yrs ago and now trans fat is being banned in certain places. These articles don't even touch on what some doctors are saying such as Dr Perlmutter says in this book:
http://www.drperlmutter.com/about/gr...id-perlmutter/

He claims that no one should be taking statins because your brain needs cholesterol in order to function. This goes against what we were told 5 yrs ago.

It's all quite a change from what we were told a generation ago

[Kingspoint]

I wouldn't go with the no statins suggestion by that Doctor. When one takes statins they aren't reducing the cholesterol levels to a point that diminishes their brain's ability to function properly. They are reducing the build-up of cholesterol that puts a person at risk of arterial diseases. One has nothing to do with the other.

On "fats", 'Yes.' It's not all about fats. There are many more important things, as my Pharmacist spouse tells me all the time. We both believe you can and should be eating your way to proper health by taking in foods that have curative properties, such as kelp, blueberries, etc. Nothing is eliminated from our diets, and hers is much better than mine, but in general, fruits, vegetables, exercise and sleep all play a part. We're meat-eaters. The focus lately is on sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to a lot of illnesses. It's my biggest issue.

She avoids bread, but reluctantly has her share of carbs.

[Dom Heffner]

Eating a diet low in fat is still recommended.

Eating "fat free" cookies, cakes, donuts...

Not the way to go, which is what people did.

Watch the word "organic," it will happen there, too, as tbere is organic sugar, which is just as rotten for you.

[Sea Ray]

I wouldn't go with the no statins suggestion by that Doctor. When one takes statins they aren't reducing the cholesterol levels to a point that diminishes their brain's ability to function properly. They are reducing the build-up of cholesterol that puts a person at risk of arterial diseases. One has nothing to do with the other.

On "fats", 'Yes.' It's not all about fats. There are many more important things, as my Pharmacist spouse tells me all the time. We both believe you can and should be eating your way to proper health by taking in foods that have curative properties, such as kelp, blueberries, etc. Nothing is eliminated from our diets, and hers is much better than mine, but in general, fruits, vegetables, exercise and sleep all play a part. We're meat-eaters. The focus lately is on sleep. Sleep deprivation leads to a lot of illnesses. It's my biggest issue.

She avoids bread, but reluctantly has her share of carbs.

Dr Perlmutter disagrees with you:

Perlmutter says fat is the “brain’s best friend” while its enemies are wheat, sugar and carbohydrates. He says the statins that are being taken by tens of millions of Americans are robbing their brains of much-needed cholesterol while failing to cut down on heart disease.
He quotes numerous studies showing no cause-and-effect between lower cholesterol and lower rates of heart disease. Women who are on statins are 48% more likely to develop diabetes, he says.

[Sea Ray]

Eating a diet low in fat is still recommended.

Eating "fat free" cookies, cakes, donuts...

Not the way to go, which is what people did.

Watch the word "organic," it will happen there, too, as tbere is organic sugar, which is just as rotten for you.

Low fat is not recommended by some. In fact this neurologist suggests a diet consisting of 70% fat:

Simply put: it’s not unreasonable to increase the intake if you lead an active lifestyle. Pushing your daily allowance to 90 or 100 grams of carbs/day is certainly acceptable. However, these 90 grams should be part of a balanced diet that takes in 60-70% of its calories from fat, with the remaining 20-30% coming from protein, and 10-20% from carbs. If you’re trying to figure out how many grams of protein that comes out to, you’re looking at 0.8 – 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight.

http://www.drperlmutter.com/grain-brain-math/

Now I don't know who's right and who's wrong but if the past 30 yrs has taught us anything it should be that we ought to open our minds to out of the box ideas where nutrition is involved. I do notice a few things such as there's always this fine print under any statin ad which states something to the effect of "this product has not been shown to reduce heart attacks". I also have seen a lot of elderly folks who grew up on eggs, sausage, gravy and animal lard that never had heart issues. I think controlling your weight and blood sugar is much more important. A few years ago I was reading that statins are the wonder drug of the 21st century and that it ought to be added to the water...Now I see all kinds of side effects for it and I wouldn't recommend many people take it

[Dom Heffner]

I know a person who smoked for 50 years and didn't get lung cancer. Anecdote is tough to argue by.

[Dom Heffner]

Diets high in meat are also high in protein- for men aged 30 plus, there is a link to cancer when a certain percentage comes from animals and not plants.

I dunno- this stuff makes my head spin.

I cut wayyyyy back on sugar and dropped 20 pounds.

[Dom Heffner]

Low fat is not recommended by some. In fact this neurologist suggests a diet consisting of 70% fat:


http://www.drperlmutter.com/grain-brain-math/

Now I don't know who's right and who's wrong but if the past 30 yrs has taught us anything it should be that we ought to open our minds to out of the box ideas where nutrition is involved. I do notice a few things such as there's always this fine print under any statin ad which states something to the effect of "this product has not been shown to reduce heart attacks". I also have seen a lot of elderly folks who grew up on eggs, sausage, gravy and animal lard that never had heart issues. I think controlling your weight and blood sugar is much more important. A few years ago I was reading that statins are the wonder drug of the 21st century and that it ought to be added to the water...Now I see all kinds of side effects for it and I wouldn't recommend many people take it

There was a study that came out last week that showed fish oil had zero health benefit.

My doctor was trying to get me to take that to lower triglycerides. Zero benefit.

And our protein powders- look at how awful those things are. Metals, crap, no protein in some servings.

[Sea Ray]

I know a person who smoked for 50 years and didn't get lung cancer. Anecdote is tough to argue by.

The Time article included research that showed that low fat dieters did not have reduced heart attacks. I wasn't trying to say that my anecdotal observations were anything more than that

[Kingspoint]

Dr Perlmutter disagrees with you:

Sugars are bad. Very bad. The understanding of how bad they are is just being discovered, though always been suspected.

Carbs are sugar not long after they enter your body, so we're talking about sugars here again. He's right there. He mentions wheat only because it's the #1 form of our carb intake.

When I have sugars/carbs I try to take a walk within 20 minutes after I'm done to combat the negative side effects and to try to burn some (or all) of it off before it can do most of it's damage. I walk 2-5 miles every day outside. My spouse uses a step-counter with a goal of 10,000 per day. My spouse and I love to hike. Everywhere we go, there's always a plan involved that includes a hike/walk of some kind. Our 9-year old said this weekend that she can walk faster than us now (she can't, but we love the desire). We bought an elliptical last night for the spouse. I use a treadmill at work.

As far as the studies that lower cholesterol doesn't reduce heart attacks, that's just hogwash. Lowering your "bad" cholesterol reduces your chances for heart diseases. Too many studies already have proved this. Increasing your "good" cholesterol is what we concentrate on by eating olives, avocados, nuts, olive oil, fish (she can't do much fish because of her susceptibility to mercury, while I pretty much stick to about twice a week on fish.....I also know where all my fish comes from and avoid places high in mercury such as anything that comes from the Bay Area, for example, along with sticking with fish that spend most of their lives in the ocean).

Always been a believer in the Mediterranean Diet long before it became a "diet", along with exercise. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, nuts, olives, and fish just make too much sense to me. I've yet to see a positive study that doesn't support this diet. (And, I'm not talking about that silly "Paleo" Diet...that's just stupid and a twist on the Mediterranean Diet just so somebody can market new things to people.)

When it comes to meats, I try to get the No Nitrates/No Nitrites (I don't want the nitrates or the nitrites...harder to find the ones that don't have the nitrates) versions. It can cost three times as much money or more, but I find a lot of deals on this at Grocery Outlet. Hey, I love eating sausage from the Mt. Angel Sausage Company and it's not good for you at all, and I'll have it five or six times a year with sauerkraut and hot mustard. But, I do these other things so I can get away with doing things like this.

Again, though, our focus right now is on sleep deprivation and it's direct effect on health. I don't know too many adults that get the sleep they need. It's very difficult for me.

Our scale in the bathroom tells us our weight and our fat percentage.

Both of us do some weights, and both of us do not do as many weights as we would like to.

[Kingspoint]

There was a study that came out last week that showed fish oil had zero health benefit.

That study couldn't have much merit as there's too much solid proof around about the benefits of Omega-3's.

[Dom Heffner]

That study couldn't have much merit as there's too much solid proof around about the benefits of Omega-3's.

I should have been more careful with my words. My apologies.

Two studies in March say no heart health benefit. And to Sea Ray's point, changing attitudes on some fats.

http://consumer.healthday.com/vitami...es-685879.html

[Dom Heffner]

The Time article included research that showed that low fat dieters did not have reduced heart attacks. I wasn't trying to say that my anecdotal observations were anything more than that

This is indeed interesting, though. I'm sure it's in there, I haven't had time to read it, but how are we defining "low fat"?

Because sugar gets converted pretty easily, even though there is no fat in sugar.

I try to eat mostly organic chicken with some red meat sprinkled in throughout the month, along with a little fish.

I honestly feel defeated most days- no matter what I eat seems to have a drawback.

[Kingspoint]

I should have been more careful with my words. My apologies.

Two studies in March say no heart health benefit. And to Sea Ray's point, changing attitudes on some fats.

http://consumer.healthday.com/vitami...es-685879.html

Yes. We intake the Omega-3's basically for their cancer-reducing/prevention benefits.

[OldRightHander]

I switched from margarine to butter years ago, just because I didn't like the idea of all the preservatives in margarine. Butter tastes better anyway.