Authors: Mary Enig
In 2002, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that there is
no
safe level of trans fat in the diet. In 2004, an FDA advisory panel concluded that trans fat is “even more harmful than saturated fat.” (Actually, as we saw, saturated fats are not harmful.) Dr. Willett commented, “When partially hydrogenated vegetable oil was first used in foods many decades ago, it was considered safe. Now that studies have demonstrated that partially hydrogenated oil is a major cause of heart disease, it should be phased out of the food supply as rapidly as possible and replaced with more healthful oils.”
In Chapter 3, we’ll provide more details of how trans fats are detrimental to every system in your body.
Does This Product Contain Trans Fats?
You might assume that it’s easy to avoid trans fats by reading nutritional labels on the food products you buy—but you’d be wrong. Until 2003, manufacturers were not required to list the trans fat content of foods on the label. That year, the FDA finalized a requirement that all food labels list trans fat content by January 1, 2006.
This regulation has led many food manufacturers to reduce or eliminate the amount of trans fats in their products. Frito-Lay, for example, no longer uses partially hydrogenated oils in most of its products. Kraft Foods has said it will reduce trans fat levels. Some smaller companies are moving in the same direction. Unfortunately, these manufacturers still are not using healthy, stable saturated fats, such as coconut oil, palm oil, lard, butterfat, or tallow (beef or sheep fat), and when they do use palm or coconut oil, it is usually also partially hydrogenated for a longer shelf life. Instead, they are primarily using liquid vegetable oils, which can also cause health problems, especially when consumed in large amounts or heated to high temperatures, as in frying.
The labeling requirement won’t help you identify trans fats in restaurant meals, and most fast-food chains continue to use partially hydrogenated oils to fry foods. But not to worry: once you’ve begun eating wholesome, traditional foods, the idea of fast food won’t tempt you in the slightest.
The Scientific Turnaround on Fat
Today, more physicians are beginning to admit that the anti-fat campaign hasn’t won the health-and-weight-loss war. Dr. Frank Hu, also of the Harvard School of Public Health, cautioned that “the
exclusive focus on dietary fat has been a distraction
in efforts to control obesity…” (our italics). Speaking to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), which is preparing the revised USDA Food Pyramid for 2005, Dr. Hu pointed out, “Conventional wisdom holds that the more fat you eat, the more likely you are to become obese. However
, the evidence does not support the conventional wisdom
…” He cited 16 long-term studies (6 to 18 months in duration) that showed “no evidence that a low-fat diet is more beneficial.”
What’s more, recent studies confirm that healthy fat consumption
promotes
sustainable weight loss (something we’ve been saying for years!). “Studies conducted in the past three years have found a moderately high-fat diet…to be more beneficial (than low-fat diets) in terms of adherence, weight loss, and weight maintenance, while also reducing cardiovascular risk factors,” Dr. Hu affirmed.
With this new evidence, government and medical authorities will begin to readjust their dietary guidelines to include more fat. Yet they still subscribe to the false notion that saturated fats are bad, so the most prominent fats in the new food guidelines will be liquid vegetable oils, including soy, canola, and safflower, in spite of considerable evidence that a diet including only liquid fats can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease and cancer.
In
Eat Fat, Lose Fat
, we give you the straight story of what science says about the kinds of fats you should mostly be eating.
Healthy fats include omega-3 fatty acids (found in cod-liver oil, egg yolks, and flax oil), medium-chain fats (found in coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and butter), and long-chain saturated fats (found mostly in meat and dairy products). They’ll help you lose weight, increase your energy, boost your immunity to illness, and optimize your digestion.
So the real, scientific way to lose fat is to eat fat—especially the fats you’ll learn more about in this book.
Eat Fat, Lose Fat
will take you beyond your fears about fat, to the facts about fat. The diet programs and menu plans in Chapters 6, 7, and 8 are based on Dr. Enig’s pioneering work, in which she has courageously moved beyond prevailing assumptions and prejudices about fats to penetrate to the truth about how different fats affect us—a truth that the medical establishment is only beginning to understand. We’ll lay out several strands of evidence to clear up prevailing misunderstandings about fats and their role in human health:
A Closer Look at How Overweight Happens
Eating excess calories is only one reason for overweight. Listed below are the factors most commonly responsible for fat buildup, and how the Eat Fat, Lose Fat program addresses each one:
High-calorie, nutrient-empty foods:
When you get all the healthy fats (and allied nutrients) that your body needs, you’ll eliminate cravings that lead you to foods like soda, cookies, and breads.
Low thyroid function:
When your thyroid is sluggish, you can’t lose weight no matter how little you eat. On our program, you’ll enhance thyroid function and upgrade your metabolism by consuming energy-boosting, thyroid-supporting coconut oil.
Excess sugar and carb consumption and insulin sensitivity
(a condition in which your cells cannot process blood sugar properly): Emphasizing nutrient-rich protein, dairy, and vegetables, you’ll bypass excess consumption of weight-inducing and insulin-activating sugars and grains.
Consumption of renegade fats
such as trans fats: You’ll cut out all trans fats, which interfere with numerous biochemical processes in the body and can contribute to weight gain.
•
Historical:
World populations on four continents, subsisting on the coconut and other natural, wholesome foods (without heart disease, weight gain, or other chronic illnesses), provide the world’s longest epidemiological record of the safety of saturated fat.
•
Scientific:
Analysis of studies used to indict coconut oil and other saturated fats will reveal the faulty reasoning underlying the “lipid hypothesis,” the theory that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. Other studies clearly demonstrate that saturated fats do not “cause” cardiovascular illness, and that coconut oil’s medium-chain fatty acids actually make it an all-systems healer. (See Chapters 2 and 3.)
•
Anecdotal:
We’ll provide case stories from a wide range of people who’ve used coconut oil and coconut products to lose weight and heal serious illnesses, including digestive disorders, diabetes, and hypothyroidism.
•
Nutritional:
We’ll explain why the important nutrients contained in coconut and traditional fats like cod-liver oil and butter are vital to your health.
•
Culinary:
We’ll show you how to use coconut in all its forms in recipes that satisfy your taste buds and put an end to food cravings and hunger. (See menu plans in Chapters 6, 7, and 8, and recipes in Chapters 9 and 10.)
Once and for all,
Eat Fat, Lose Fat
will clear away the misperception that fats are bad, and arm you with a concrete program and culinary tools that support this dietary change. Whether your goal is losing weight or gaining health, you’ll get great results through eating coconut products and other sources of healthy dietary fats as part of an eating program based on wholesome, traditional foods.
Fats and Health Problems
Here is a brief overview of the ailments you can begin turning around by reintroducing healthy fats into your diet:
•
Chronic fatigue:
The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil provide energy and also fight pathogens in the digestive tract that contribute to fatigue.
•
Low energy:
The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil give quick energy, prevent low blood sugar, and support the thyroid gland; plus, cod-liver oil provides nutrients vital for vitamin and mineral absorption.
•
Anxiety:
The combination of fatty acids and nutrients in coconut oil and cod-liver oil helps prevent low blood sugar and helps the body make the adrenal hormones it needs to deal with stress. Trans fats (eliminated in our program) inhibit the production of these hormones, so removing these from the diet is another big step toward relieving anxiety.
•
Depression:
The nutrients in cod-liver oil have a proven record of helping relieve depression, and the saturated fats in coconut oil work synergistically with cod-liver oil.
•
Mood swings:
Plentiful fats in our diet help stabilize blood sugar swings that make your mood go up and down.
•
Thyroid imbalance:
Coconut oil alone improves thyroid function, but when used in conjunction with cod-liver oil, which supplies vitamin A (needed in high levels by the thyroid gland), the thyroid has the fats it needs to function properly.
•
Hypoglycemia:
Plenty of healthy fats at each meal help prevent drops in blood sugar.
•
Insulin resistance:
Trans fats interfere with insulin receptors in the cells. Replacing trans fats with coconut oil and other healthy fat is the number one step in preventing and reversing the insulin resistance so characteristic of type II diabetes.
•
Food cravings:
You experience cravings when your body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs from food. Coconut oil is immensely satisfying, while cod-liver oil supplies vitamins A and D, needed to assimilate minerals and other vitamins.
•
Gallbladder ailments:
Coconut oil is the ideal fat for anyone suffering from gallbladder ailments because many of the fatty acids in coconut oil do not require bile for digestion.
•
Bacterial infections:
The antimicrobial medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil, combined with vitamin A in cod-liver oil, provide the ideal combination for fighting bacterial infections.
•
Fungal issues, like candida:
Coconut oil has strong antifungal properties, both in the gut and when applied topically (on the skin). Eliminating refined carbohydrates while eating whole grains only when they are properly prepared can also help candida problems.
•
Viral infections:
The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil help kill the pathogenic lipid-coated viruses in the digestive tract.
•
Digestive problems, including irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease:
The combination of medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil and vitamin A in cod-liver oil enhances the immune system.
•
Gas and bloating:
The antimicrobial properties of coconut oil can help fight gas-producing bacteria.
•
Skin problems such as eczema, dry skin, scaly patches:
The synergistic combination of saturated fatty acids in coconut oil and very long-chain super unsaturated fatty acids in cod-liver oil helps maintain the right fatty acids in the cell membranes, thereby contributing to beautiful skin. Vitamins A and D in cod-liver oil are also very important factors in nourishing the skin.
•
Sagging, wrinkled skin:
Plentiful saturated fats in the diet are absolutely essential for avoiding wrinkles. Excess polyunsaturated oils make the cell walls “floppy,” thereby contributing to wrinkles. Furthermore, these oils are invariably rancid and contain free radicals (reactive atoms or molecule fragments) that damage cells and contribute to aging.
•
Dandruff, lifeless hair:
The thyroid-supporting combination of coconut oil and cod-liver oil will result in shiny, healthy hair.
•
Liver support:
The combination of saturated fat in coconut oil, vitamin A in cod-liver oil, and bone broths (recipes provided in Chapter 10) that give you special amino acids the liver uses to detoxify provides excellent support for liver function.
See Chapter 7 for more about how and why our coconut and fat-enriched diet can help you address a wide range of health issues.
Our Three-Part Program
As you follow the Eat Fat, Lose Fat program, you’ll reincorporate healthy fats (along with other wholesome foods) into your diet. Whether your goal is losing weight, or simply gaining energy, you’ll find clear guidelines, complete menu plans, and delicious recipes, which hundreds of people have followed successfully.
You can select one of the following three diet plans:
•
Quick and Easy Weight Loss:
This streamlined program for weight loss, based upon weight-loss studies carried out during the last 15 years, features a moderate-calorie diet that contains about 50 percent or more of fats as medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) from coconut oil to jump-start your metabolism. Many people easily shed pounds with this satisfying diet plan, but for those wishing accelerated weight loss, we also provide a two-week calorie-restricted plan. Recipes and menu plans are designed to assure ease of preparation.
•
Health Recovery:
This program is for those with special health needs, such as chronic fatigue, allergies, and digestive disorders. It features high levels of all the healing fats to provide the optimal balance, along with vital nutrients from easy-to-digest foods that facilitate healing and assimilation. It’s also ideal for those recovering from surgery or severe illnesses.
•
Everyday Gourmet:
A hearty maintenance program for life, one that the whole family can enjoy, featuring international cuisine. This plan provides a range of healing fats, as well as other traditionally prepared foods, and introduces traditional culinary secrets to optimize the nutritional value of your food.