Traditional Fat is where it's at!

Admit it, there was probably a time in your life when someone offered you butter & your cringed... I'm right there with you! At one point in my life I feared fat.  But let's think about this for a minute... Our ancestors ate butter and lard and they were strong! They did real work like working in the fields and hard manual labor-- they didn't sit around on computers all day either.... hmm...

For a while I was told, along with many other Americans, that a fat-free or low-fat diet was the way to have a long, healthy life free of cardiac issues. I used to read nutrition labels and always knew how much fat was in whatever I was eating. After-all I wanted to live a long, healthy life. I came from a family that had history of obesity, strokes, diabetes, and congestive heart failure. This WOULD NOT happen to me. 

Once I moved out on my own, I started following a low-fat diet. That was also the year that I packed on 15 pounds, suffered from horrible headaches, had acne problems, chronic pain, and began to have more and more strain on my heart. I didn't need anymore heart strain- after all I was born with a heart defect that hadn't (and still hasn't) fully been diagnosed. I ended up in the hospital and after about a month was on all different kinds of medications for anxiety and depression. My depression and anxiety continued to grow worse. Doctors began to neglect my cardiac issues and said everything I had going on was depression related. There was pretty much no end in sight for me.... and then I attended nutrition school..

....EVERYTHING CHANGED! 

I began to learn that fat was actually good- well traditional fats! I dove deep into the nutrition world and haven't looked back! I am actually continuing my education to become a Naturopathic Doctor to help bring awareness to people that Nutrition can change so much in your life.

Why are fats good?

First off lets talk about what fats are good for you:

Coconut Oil, Lard, Tallow, Butter, Ghee, Palm Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil. 

The fats that are not good for you: 

Vegetable Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Cottonseed oil, Grape Seed oil, Margarine, etc. 

Good fats nourish the nerves, feed the brain, feed the skin, and aid in proper fat metabolism. In order for you not to get what I call "dry brain" you need to eat the proper fats. A lot of young children are fed low-fat diets and they are hyper active and have behavioral issues. Try adding Grass Fed Butter to their diet. Slather on more than you normally would on their toast! 

Our ancestors cooked with fats from animals such as lard and tallow. Even 60-70 years ago, grandma would make pie crusts with lard and it was amazing! Now a days people try not to eat the crust of the pie- what a shame! My mother used to strain and save bacon grease to cook with when I was a child. It was yummy! I had a lot of fat as a young child- my parents knew that fat was good for you. 

For people who suffer from nerve damage and chronic pain, fat is where it's at! Fat will nourish the nerves and help them to properly send signals to the brain. I used to have horrible chronic pain, when I started eating coconut oil, my pain almost completely subsided within a month! My nerves were screaming to be fed. If you have nerve damage or have had a stroke in the past, fat is really good for you and you need a lot of it daily. It will nourish and feed the brain and help it to re-grow. It will also help the nerves to come back to life.

But wait... my step-father's cardiologist told him to go on a low fat diet so that his arteries wouldn't get clogged... hmmm... interesting fact.. 50-60 years ago when crisco and margarine were introduced society was when heart disease skyrocketed. Before that people used butter, lard, tallow, etc for their cooking and there was little to no heart disease. My step-father was apart of the generation that started using margarine instead of butter and crisco instead of lard. To be honest, fat and cholesterol are not what clogs the arteries.....

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Ancel Keys, who in many ways can be considered the “father” of the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis, had this to say in 1997:

“There’s no connection whatsoever between the cholesterol in food and cholesterol in the blood. And we’ve known that all along. Cholesterol in the diet doesn’t matter at all unless you happen to be a chicken or a rabbit.”

My step-dad was told to avoid saturated fats. But the truth is that saturated fats actually protect the arteries of the heart! Also it is said that cholesterol is caused from animal fats.. if this were the case then heart disease should and would be risk factor at all ages and not just mostly in men but in women as well. Ancel Key's was right in saying "Cholesterol doesn't matter unless you happen to be a chicken or rabbit". Chickens and rabbits are vegetarians. If they had high cholesterol levels that would be something to be concerned about. 


Also saturated fats are good for pregnant women! The body needs extra fat during this time in order to help the baby grow! Your body will naturally crave "fatty" foods- even if it is not the best fat- the body will try to get it from somewhere.

Also FAT does not make you FAT. It actually does the opposite. I personally lost 30-35 pounds in 2013. One of the main things I did was eat 1/4 cup of coconut oil and a stick of butter every day. The fat just melted right off of me! If you eat fat and cut out gluten the excess fat will come right off. The reason is the body needs saturated fats in order to remove fats from the body. It's kind of like your math teacher used to say when doing equations,"what you take from one side has to be taken from the other". To lose fat you have to eat fat. The body will let go of the old fat and replace it with new healthy fats. Those healthy fats will go to other vital places in the body like your eyes, your brain, your nerves, etc. 


I could ramble about why fats are good for you all day... but try it- add more fat to your diet. Even if it is just a tablespoon of coconut oil in your smoothie everyday or throwing out the margarine and using butter. You will notice a difference!