Saturated Fat, Friend or Foe?

There is a lot of negativity in the news today regarding saturatednfat. There are other reasons not to eat dairy, ice cream and butte
such as pasteurization and the fact that dairy is meant for cows, notnhumans, but what about the saturated fat in animal protein or coconutnoil, is it bad? Well for frying or sautéing a saturated fat isndefinitely more heat stable than a polyunsaturated oil such as canola,npeanut or soybean where heating leads to the possibility of freenradical production. Also heating and consuming trans fats of any kindnlead to free radical production and other chemical stress in the body.
I am not saying to consume large amounts of meat, eggs, dairy orncoconut oil. What I am saying is that using 1 tablespoon of coconutnoil or 1 tablespoon of butter in cooking or on whole grains is notnterrible and probably in the long run preferable to usingnpolyunsaturated fats and definitely trans (anything partially hydrogenatednwhich is an unnatural process) for the same purpose.

Studies of the Masai, a nomadic tribe in Kenya and Tanzania, show thatnthese tribes who live on a diet of 60% saturated fat have some of thenlowest incidences of heart disease in the world. Granted, they arennomadic, so they move around (which most of us don't) and they don'tnlive here in America where they would supplement this high fat dietnwith cheetos (please read the ingredients of cheetos before you eatnthem, this is not food!). I cannot believe that the saturated fatnalone is to blame. The Masai moved to Nairobi and then to London andnall of a sudden as their diet changed and they began to eat morenprocessed/prepared food with polyunsaturated fats, sugar and omega 6 heavyntrans fats they developed more heart disease - go figure.

I promote everything in moderation in my practice with my clients,nhowever, if you are going to have a balanced diets of carbohydrates,nfats and proteins - make sure those foods (and they are foods thatncontain these molecules) are as natural, whole and unprocessed asnpossible. The process of making skim milk is an unnatural process andnactually causes the cholesterol in the milk to be oxidized which makesnit more absorbable by the body than the natural dietary cholesterol innone egg or 1 cup of full fat yogurt. So have one egg for breakfastnwith one slice of bacon and a cup of berries and gasp some salad ornsautéed greens. Even add a cup or one half cup of quinoa with some n(unpasteurized if you can get it) whole milk (about 1/4 cup), cinnamonnand perhaps some raw honey (1/8 of a cup, just a little, maybe 1ntablespoon) and maybe 4-8 raisins if you really need some extransweetness. Just make sure those raisins are minimally processed andndon't contain sulfur dioxide. They should be Hunza raisins if you cannget them.

Starting your day off with a breakfast like this will start your daynin a good direction where you'll be less hungry for lunch and dinne
and you'll have a great deal of energy. You won't even need a cup ofncoffee!