News flash: fat actually fuels your body and sustains your energy, helping you to go longer in between meals, and it's actually what helps me to be so successful in intermittent fasting when I'm practicing it. Let's talk about it:
` There was a big shift in the 70s/80s for a "fat free" culture in order to help with the heart disease that was plaguing the nation...but during this fat free food boom when people started eating more refined grains and sugar, we only got fatter and sicker. Fat was labeled the villain. Low fat, high carb was translated to fat is bad; carbs are good.
The food industry saw the low-fat, high-carb mantra as an opportunity to create a whole new range of products to market: fat-free frozen yogurt, muffins, cookies - basically the formula was: take out the fat, add lots of sugar (or chemicals). They began replacing fat with sugar in processed foods, leading to foods that had just as many calories as the former high-fat versions.
The mindset that fat is bad has led to decades of fat phobia, without truly understanding the beneficial role it has in the diet. Confusion happens when people make generalizations about fat in the diet. Judging all fats together is an inaccurate oversimplification.
Fat is major source of energy. It helps you absorb certain vitamins and minerals. It is needed to build cell membranes & the sheaths surrounding nerves. It is essential for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation. There are unsaturated fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts, & fish), & there are saturated fats (fatty meat, cheese, butter). Both are fine to consume when balanced well. (Like - don't just eat bacon and cheese and expect to be healthy). I'm not a proponent of a one sized fits all nutrition plan, but rather a whole food diet where you can pronounce every ingredient on the label. I believe choosing and incorporating a variety of healthy foods including fruit, vegetables, nuts, grass fed meat, dairy, seeds, and treats on occasion creates a healthy balance and relationship with food.
More importantly, WHERE you're sourcing your food is of utmost importance. And for goodness sake, let's ditch the fat free era. ✌🏻
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