Why is it that people seem to lose weight both by eating high fat and low fat? I've seen the studies and the data. It seems like both ways work. So how the heck is THAT possible? It only sounds like "a thing" because "fat" is called "fat" and we assume that it has something to do with the fat that is stored on our body.
While it is pretty much the same stuff, the eating of fat, whether that fat comes from animal sources or plant sources, has nothing to do with how much of it gets stored on your body. The thing that controls that is INSULIN.
Insulin is the hormone that decides when you store fat or when you use it for energy. Fat is actually energy, and that is what we should be calling it. The things you eat that determine whether or not you will get fat are foods that raise your insulin levels. When insulin levels are high, your body is ordered to store fat. It's that simple. It will not allow your body to use that stored fat until insulin levels come back down. I think of it as a giant tank of liquid insulin, with an exit hatch at the bottom, If you are floating on the insulin you go to the top and cannot reach that exit hatch, when it drops low enough, you can open that hatch and get out of there.
What are you eating that raises insulin? That would be processed sugars and grains, starches and legumes. So basically desserts, bread, pasta, crackers, cereal, rice, potatoes, beans -- sorry if I just named all the stuff that makes you WANT to live to 120, but those are in fact the things that will stop you from doing so if you eat them too much. Problem there is, it's REALLY EASY to eat too much of those things. And we do it all the time.
Now we all know a few people who eat whatever they want and never gain and ounce, these folks are lucky outliers who must have a pancreas from the planet Krypton because they have some super ability to shuttle the sugar out of their blood, or metabolize it quicker than the majority of us. You know who you are....you are the ones who become supermodels, quarterbacks and Navy Seals. You guys suck! Just kiddin'.
The downside to being one of those outliers is that they are so busy being handsome or painfully gorgeous and having all the fun, that they may be sick and not know it. There are no outward signs of disease since their bodies are so good at adapting. The biggest indicator of early death (besides being a heavy smoker) is not your cholesterol levels, but rather your INSULIN LEVELS. If you spent your life with chronically high insulin levels in your body, from pulverizing your body with high-carb meals and snacks multiple times a day, you have damaged pretty much all of your organs from the brain to the tips of your toes. And just because you might be thin, you may not be escaping this. If you ate oatmeal and pancakes with a glass of orange juice for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, spaghetti for dinner, for decades -- with many similar snacks in between, you could be a good candidate for diabetes, heart disease, maybe even Alzheimer's, when you hit your 40s and 50s. It's happening so much more these days. And it doesn't have to be that way.
So whether you choose to eat a lot of fat, a little fat, or no fat, keeping those sugars and grains etc. out of your body, and hence keeping your insulin levels as low as possible for as long as possible, will be the best way to keep yourself alive much longer. The reason people like me prefer the high-fat way is that saturated fats are super satisfying and allow you to go much longer without being hungry, and that does a better job keeping us away from snacking and cravings for those quick sugar hits that the brain craves, and that keeps your blood sugar stable and even for much longer periods. Good thing there is when you stop eating sugar and start using fat as your primary energy source, your brain stops craving the sugars so much and it becomes much easier to avoid it.
Now, oddly, the older you get, the longer people tend to live IF THEIR CHOLESTEROL LEVELS ARE HIGHER. Yeah, you read that right. Weird isn't it? Well, no it's not. Cholesterol is not the enemy, your body makes about 75% of the cholesterol that is in your body, and that's good because it is an essential thing to have in our bodies. Without it we are dead but quick. The supposed bad cholesterol LDL is increased to help repair damage to your arterial lining and that is why it seems to be elevated when looked at after some event like an infarction. It is like blaming the firemen for the fire. What turns your LDL "bad" is when it gets glycated as a result of there being a lot of sugar in your diet. Fat's got nothing to do with it. In fact the only way to raise your HDL "good" cholesterol is to eat more dietary fat. They tried a medication that raised HDL but it had a bad side effect called "death." So that was scrapped. I'm sure they are still trying on that front.
Now.... all of that being said, there are some harmful fats you want to avoid. These are the man-made Omega 6 Fatty Acids found in laboratory-created oils like Vegetable Oil, Soybean Oil, Corn Oil, Canola Oil, Margarine, Crisco, these will cause damage to your cells and will cause your body to need to repair the damage. Don't eat them! Omega 6 is necessary to the human body and naturally occurs in many natural foods, that's where you need to get it. As far as oils, stick to using Olive Avocado, Coconut (I'd ignore that last big admonishment against Coconut Oil, it was ridiculous), Tallow, Lard, Butter (unless you have a dairy issue) and you will do yourself a huge favor. The combination of these bad oils which were foisted upon the public back in the 50's or so, in conjunction with our increased intake of carbohydrates is probably responsible for the enormous obesity epidemic we now find ourselves in.
Thanks for reading!
- Dave - The Pirate Nutritionist
While it is pretty much the same stuff, the eating of fat, whether that fat comes from animal sources or plant sources, has nothing to do with how much of it gets stored on your body. The thing that controls that is INSULIN.
Insulin is the hormone that decides when you store fat or when you use it for energy. Fat is actually energy, and that is what we should be calling it. The things you eat that determine whether or not you will get fat are foods that raise your insulin levels. When insulin levels are high, your body is ordered to store fat. It's that simple. It will not allow your body to use that stored fat until insulin levels come back down. I think of it as a giant tank of liquid insulin, with an exit hatch at the bottom, If you are floating on the insulin you go to the top and cannot reach that exit hatch, when it drops low enough, you can open that hatch and get out of there.
What are you eating that raises insulin? That would be processed sugars and grains, starches and legumes. So basically desserts, bread, pasta, crackers, cereal, rice, potatoes, beans -- sorry if I just named all the stuff that makes you WANT to live to 120, but those are in fact the things that will stop you from doing so if you eat them too much. Problem there is, it's REALLY EASY to eat too much of those things. And we do it all the time.
Now we all know a few people who eat whatever they want and never gain and ounce, these folks are lucky outliers who must have a pancreas from the planet Krypton because they have some super ability to shuttle the sugar out of their blood, or metabolize it quicker than the majority of us. You know who you are....you are the ones who become supermodels, quarterbacks and Navy Seals. You guys suck! Just kiddin'.
The downside to being one of those outliers is that they are so busy being handsome or painfully gorgeous and having all the fun, that they may be sick and not know it. There are no outward signs of disease since their bodies are so good at adapting. The biggest indicator of early death (besides being a heavy smoker) is not your cholesterol levels, but rather your INSULIN LEVELS. If you spent your life with chronically high insulin levels in your body, from pulverizing your body with high-carb meals and snacks multiple times a day, you have damaged pretty much all of your organs from the brain to the tips of your toes. And just because you might be thin, you may not be escaping this. If you ate oatmeal and pancakes with a glass of orange juice for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, spaghetti for dinner, for decades -- with many similar snacks in between, you could be a good candidate for diabetes, heart disease, maybe even Alzheimer's, when you hit your 40s and 50s. It's happening so much more these days. And it doesn't have to be that way.
So whether you choose to eat a lot of fat, a little fat, or no fat, keeping those sugars and grains etc. out of your body, and hence keeping your insulin levels as low as possible for as long as possible, will be the best way to keep yourself alive much longer. The reason people like me prefer the high-fat way is that saturated fats are super satisfying and allow you to go much longer without being hungry, and that does a better job keeping us away from snacking and cravings for those quick sugar hits that the brain craves, and that keeps your blood sugar stable and even for much longer periods. Good thing there is when you stop eating sugar and start using fat as your primary energy source, your brain stops craving the sugars so much and it becomes much easier to avoid it.
Now, oddly, the older you get, the longer people tend to live IF THEIR CHOLESTEROL LEVELS ARE HIGHER. Yeah, you read that right. Weird isn't it? Well, no it's not. Cholesterol is not the enemy, your body makes about 75% of the cholesterol that is in your body, and that's good because it is an essential thing to have in our bodies. Without it we are dead but quick. The supposed bad cholesterol LDL is increased to help repair damage to your arterial lining and that is why it seems to be elevated when looked at after some event like an infarction. It is like blaming the firemen for the fire. What turns your LDL "bad" is when it gets glycated as a result of there being a lot of sugar in your diet. Fat's got nothing to do with it. In fact the only way to raise your HDL "good" cholesterol is to eat more dietary fat. They tried a medication that raised HDL but it had a bad side effect called "death." So that was scrapped. I'm sure they are still trying on that front.
Now.... all of that being said, there are some harmful fats you want to avoid. These are the man-made Omega 6 Fatty Acids found in laboratory-created oils like Vegetable Oil, Soybean Oil, Corn Oil, Canola Oil, Margarine, Crisco, these will cause damage to your cells and will cause your body to need to repair the damage. Don't eat them! Omega 6 is necessary to the human body and naturally occurs in many natural foods, that's where you need to get it. As far as oils, stick to using Olive Avocado, Coconut (I'd ignore that last big admonishment against Coconut Oil, it was ridiculous), Tallow, Lard, Butter (unless you have a dairy issue) and you will do yourself a huge favor. The combination of these bad oils which were foisted upon the public back in the 50's or so, in conjunction with our increased intake of carbohydrates is probably responsible for the enormous obesity epidemic we now find ourselves in.
Thanks for reading!
- Dave - The Pirate Nutritionist
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