Fats: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, June 2006
Our society is completely obsessed with either the over consumption or under consumption of fats. The plain medical and physiological truth is our bodies need consumable fats to function. The key however, is to provide our bodies with healthy fats and in moderation along with a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables and nuts and sprouted or whole grains. I know, I sound like your grandmother, but she has a good point. When my Nana was younger, she cooked with butter or lard. Fortunately, we now have more complete knowledge of oils and fats with which to cook and consume for better health. So my Nana was really on a better track than she knew.
History lesson: The process of hydrogenating oils was invented in 1903. Scientists discovered a way to turn relatively harmless liquid vegetable oil, usually soybean or cottonseed, into something that stays solid at room temperature and improves shelf life. During World War II, Crisco presented the cooking public with an innovative alternative to war-rationed butter in the form of hydrogenated oil. As convenience foods started to hit the market in the 1960s and '70s, more hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oil was used. And why not? It was considerably cheaper than the natural alternative. That's why so many commercial food producers today love it. However, there has been a lot of eye-opening negative press about hydrogenated oils lately. Nabisco was recently sued because they were marketing their hydrogenated oil-laden, high trans fat, high refined sugar, and bad preservatives cookie, the Oreo, to school-age children. The law suit was dropped, but it was enough to get Nabisco's, and the public's, attention. The company is now coming out with trans fat-free cookies. A few other companies, Frito Lay, Lipton, and Nestle, have already taken steps to eliminate trans fat in some of their products as well. And, to make the cycle complete, even the FDA admits that Hydrogenated Oils are directly correlated to heart attacks and cancer!
When it is all boiled down, here are the dangers of why you want to avoid trans fats: Hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oils may well be the number one cause of obesity, heart disease, and cancer, in our society today. Hydrogenated or Trans fats line the cell walls in our bodies and prevent healthy fats from entering to do their job - thereby inducing cellular malfunction (cancer, heart disease, etc.) and also causing otherwise easily processed fats to be stored (who wants to be a fat warehouse? Not me!). Trans fats can be directly linked to impaired cellular function, clogged arteries, allergies, asthma, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, cancer, candida, chronic fatigue, diabetes, eczema, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, obesity, Parkinson's disease, psoriasis, ulcers....need I go on? Where do you find hydrogenated oils? Everywhere. In most commercially processed and "fast" foods, shortening, frozen prepared/breaded foods, candy, baked goods, breakfast foods, toppings and dips, margarine, non-dairy powdered creamer, cookies, cake mixes, bread, peanut butter, pizza, stuffing mix, breaded fish and chicken, and the list goes on and on.
The fact is our bodies need fats. Healthy fats contain the essential fatty acids that truly are essential to every bodily function. They are called essential be cause our bodies are unable to manufacture them alone - they must be included in our diets. After you remove the water from your body, more than 50% of what's left is fatty acids. So they're important - more important even than vitamins, minerals, or even proteins. Because, without them, there is no life energy. Saturated fats, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated - which way should we turn? Let me make it simple. The best oils to use daily are mono-unsaturated such as first cold-pressed extra virgin olive, unrefined seed oils like sesame and sunflower, and unheated nut oils like walnut and almond oils. Unrefined raw virgin organic coconut oil is a good saturated oils because it consists primarily of medium-chain fatty acids, which are metabolized very differently, so they're burned as fuel rather than stored as fat. So it actually helps you to lose weight.
A good way to get the healthy, essential Omega-3 fats into our diets is through and flax seeds, flax seed oil, walnuts and almonds, and pumpkin seeds - at least twice a week.
The summary of it all is this: Consuming partially hydrogenated oils will kill you -- slowly, over time, as surely as you breathe. And in the meantime, they will make you sick and fat! If you do nothing else for yourself or your family, eliminate hydrogenated oils from your diet. You will feel better, look better, and live longer.
