Fat is a superfood.
Fats Heal.
Fat nourishes the body helping the body absorb fat-soluble nutrients like vitamins A, D, E and K as well as beta carotene and lycopene.
I like this quote from Dr. Bruce Fife, “If you’ve been eating the SAD (Standard American Diet), a low-carb high-fat (LCHF) (ketogenic) diet has the potential to significantly improve your health. It may just be the solution you were looking for.” “Fat Heals and Sugar Kills.”
“While a LCHF diet may correct many areas of our health, it is not a cure all. The diet itself doesn’t cure anything; it simply provides the body with more nutrients it needs to correct imbalances caused by poor dietary and lifestyle choices.” Dr. Bruce Fife is the leading authority and author on coconut oil and the ketogenic diet. I truly enjoy reading his informative books.
Personally, I choose to remain in my keto lifestyle because it keeps my insulin levels low and will do so for everyone. I like having less hunger and continue to improve my health on an ongoing basis. Following a cyclical Ketogenic diet, I am using it as an anti-aging tool to keep me free of disease, increase gut health and to increase new brain cells. I am following the anti-aging specialists and excited about my new future. I have taken two back to back health coaching programs, studied B-School by Marie Forleo. I study daily to support my new career and to continue learning and building my functional health knowledge. I could never have done this without following the Bulletproof Diet and living keto. This turned my brain back on and gave me my life back. You CAN turn your brain back on as well.
My signature program, “Weight Loss Like a Lady Boss,” helps high-intensity women get rid of belly fat, beat fatigue and break brain fog easier and faster while having fun adventures.
“You have nothing to lose except your poor health.” Dr. Bruce Fife
YOU NEED TO EAT FAT TO LOSE FAT
Studies show that a carb-rich diet increases the synthesis of fat and cholesterol in the liver. The liver produces triglycerides to transport excess fat into storage using the hormone insulin. This is the continual production of fat by the liver which increases non-alcoholic liver disease and diabetes, which we are having a near epidemic today.
Eating fat decreases synthesis of fat and cholesterol in the liver. Therefore, replacing most of the refined carbohydrates in the diet with good fat will lead to less inflammatory fat production. A Properly designed keto diet can be like “hitting the reset button” on your health. The keto diet improves all metabolic health markers. There is a reason most of the anti-aging specialists are drinking Bulletproof Coffee and living Keto. This knowledge gives me personal power and furthers my momentum towards health and longevity.
Most Americans don’t eat enough good, healthy fat. Most of the fat in our bodies comes from bad fats and from carbohydrates. Insulin’s job is to store the carbohydrates as fat in our fat cells for a future famine. It works overtime and the result is insulin resistance, pre-diabetes or diabetes.
Researchers have discovered that a keto diet stimulates the breakdown and burning of body fat. Low insulin levels draw fat out of storage to be burned for energy. Just adding more fat into your diet doesn’t work by itself. You must also reduce carbohydrate intake. The type of fat you eat is important. Some fats heal and other’s cause inflammation that kills.
THE ROLE OF FATTY ACIDS IN OUR BODY
Fats that Heal and Fats That Kill
Fat is a vital component of our bodies and forms the major part of the structure of our cells for nerve function–the myelin sheath. It is necessary for the cells lining the intestinal tract and to reduce inflammation, polyps and other colon diseases. (Dr. Terry Wahls, “The Wahls Protocol” on Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has treated her MS with a ketogenic diet and put her MS into remission.) She can be a doctor again instead of in a wheelchair or dead. That is the power of essential fats.
A healthy individual weighing 150 pounds has 30 pounds of essential fat in the body for normal everyday functions. Fat provides: protective cushion for the organs, regulates body temperature, produces our vital hormones and provides energy during times of famine. Without fat we would be dead. I find it interesting about the history of past prospectors who sometimes ate too much squirrel or rabbit and when they did would experience protein poisoning from the lack of fat and get sick. That’s food for thought.
The most important fat in our body is Cholesterol. Every cell in the body uses it as well as making our sex hormones. Vitamin D travels through the body to receptor sites via cholesterol. That is our immune system. Cholesterol makes bile acids necessary for proper digestion and intestinal absorption of lipids and fat soluble vitamins. Without cholesterol cells die.
Fat is our fuel. Gasoline powers our cars; fat powers our bodies for metabolic processes. We are also like batteries; we run on electrolyte. A 3-year Harvard diet study on higher saturated fats showed less progression of coronary atherosclerosis whereas high carbohydrates were associated with higher coronary atherosclerosis. “Inflammation, Oxidation and Sugar are the real culprits of athersclerosis,” The Great Cholesterol Myth by Dr. Steven Sinatra. (His book is very well written with Johnny Bowden, nutritionist, and easy to read; one of my favorites.)
HEALING FATS
Which Fats are Good for our Body?
The food we eat provides the building blocks of our cells and tissues. The fats we need and get from our food are monounsaturated fats, saturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. These fats provide the essential components for our bodies, eyes and brain. There is an epidemic of eye disease because of high insulin levels and the lack of good fats. When adding in fat to our diet we want the saturated fats to come from free-range and organic sources that are full of omega 3 fats that help reduce inflammation. Avoid animal food high in Omega 6 fats from Industrial kept animals fed GMO corn and soy which are highly inflammatory.
Monounsaturated fats: Olives and olive oil, avocados and avocado oil, macadamias, almonds and pecans.
Saturated fats: Whole fat dairy and cheese, red meat, coconut and coconut oil and mct oils as well as palm oils.
These are medium chain fats and are stable in our body. They also take higher heat before breaking down. These fats help our body heal and get back into homeostasis. Throughout history, natural fat was savored and eaten with relish in all societies and they had excellent health.
Polyunsaturated fats: These are the plant-based omega 6s and 3s. The omega 6 long-chain fats are fragile and break easily causing free radical damage, especially when cooked at high temperatures. This is an essential fat we do not make, however, we only need about a teaspoon a day to keep from having any deficiency. We never want to eat any of these fats cooked or as oils added to our food in mayonnaise and dressings.
Omega 6s: grains, nuts and seeds, all vegetable oils (these are inflammatory). (We have a need for inflammation when injured to begin repairs in the body, however, when it is abundant the inflammatory pathways don’t turn off and become acute.)
Omega 3s: plant-based—flax, chia, hemp, walnuts (these fats need to be converted in the body to DHA). Omega 3 that come directly from animal food and do not need to be converted; fish oils, grass-fed meat and fish (these are not inflammatory).
INFLAMMATORY AND TOXIC FATS
These fats cause inflammation in the body: refined vegetable oils–corn, soy, cottonseed, canola, peanut, safflower, and highly refined sunflower and sesame. They are found in all processed foods and many condiments and most salad dressings. These are the long-chain polyunsaturated fats. The Omega 6s oils cause most of the inflammation damage in the body. We want to avoid these. Also other fats are called Trans Fats: hydrogenated oils. These are dangerous and to be avoided.
The primary omega 6 comes from linoleic acid which is the dominant polyunsaturated vegetable oil in the SAD diet. Eaten as a whole food, omega 6s are not inflammatory unless eaten in abundance with a lack of omega 3. When the omega 6 foods are too plentiful in the diet from a high grain/sugar diet with lots of vegetable oils–that is when the body’s inflammation levels are sky-high, pain sets in and disease is developing. (This is one of the reasons the medical system will tell people to eat fat free which will help reduce inflammation by minimizing omega 6 vegetable oils.) These omega 6 vegetable oils are highly inflammatory and cause oxidation creating rampant free radical damage. The ideal ratio of omega 6s to 3s is 4:1. Most Americans’ ratio is 20:1. This is the main cause of inflammation in America. To balance your ratio don’t cook with vegetable oils. Use avocado, coconut, butter and ghee and animal fats. Cooke lightly if at all with olive oil.
A KETO DIET IS NUTRITIONAL KETOSIS
Nutritional ketosis is a state where the body is creating cellular energy from ketone metabolism or “fat for fuel.” Ketones are produced by the liver when insulin and blood glucose levels are low and dietary fat is high. To do this requires minimizing starch and sugar carbohydrates. This reduces blood sugar. This lowers the insulin hormone that is the fat storage hormone. (A carbohydrate diet has a direct effect on the development of insulin resistance.)
Reducing carbs to 30-50 grams a day will lower insulin levels to put the body into nutritional ketosis or “Keto.” The body then becomes adapted to using fat for fuel–called “fat adapted.” You become “keto adapted” when your carbs are low enough and efficient at producing ketones for fuel creating weight loss. The keto diet adds fat to raise total fat to 60% or more of calories to supply energy and convert to ketones. Fat is supplied by cooking with animal fats, full-fat dairy and coconut milk, eating eggs, avocados, nuts and seeds. It can take several days to a week to become keto adapted as the body resets the metabolism. You may need more fat and an increase in calories for the best results. It does not need to be precise. Mild ketosis is at 40-50 net carbs and higher ketosis is less than 20 net carbs. I personally follow a cyclical ketogenic diet recommended by Dave Asprey of the Bulletproof Diet. This is one or two days a week as a refeed day where one eats starchier carbs for a higher carb day. This restocks glycogen levels in the liver and increases the soluble fiber to feed the good bacteria in the intestinal tract that then create short-chain fatty acids to keep the gut strong and our immune system functioning.
HOW YOU FEEL WHEN IN KETOSIS
Fat regulates a healthier digestion, blood sugar, insulin levels and diabetes improving our health.
Great energy: You feel wonderful and have more energy. Two specific fatty acids, Capric and Caprylic Acids from coconut oil, have a positive effect on our health and are anti-inflammatory in our body. They increase energy quickly bypassing standard fat digestion. These fats do not store as body fat but are burned directly into energy.
Mental Clarity: The coconut oil fatty acids increase brain energy and eliminate brain fog. They are instrumental in reducing neurodegenerative diseases. (Check out the story about Mary Newhall, MD., and her husband whom she helped by reducing his Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Bruce Fife has another book out about their story called, “Stop Alzheimer’s Now!) I use Brain Octane which is pure C8 by Bulletproof and it is amazing for mental clarity as well and energizing.
Less Hunger and Cravings: These good fats and being on a keto diet have this wonderful side effect of turning off hunger. With lower insulin levels the body is no longer sending out signals to continue eating. We are no longer slaves to cravings and uncontrollable hunger. This is one of my favorite aspects of “living keto.” I love to eat, but I choose when and what to eat.
If you are still in sugar-burning mode, you will feel fatigue, brain fog and cravings for carbs and sugar.
“You can live a long, healthy life without carbs; but you cannot live without fat,” Dr. Bruce Fife.
Age successfully! Be Vibrant!
Lori Balue, A-CFHC, FDN-P
Below are some study’s I found extremely fascinating in regard to our health and longevity concerning diets too low in fat. If you are curious, read on for a more thorough understanding. (The below studies are briefly described from “Fat Heals, Sugar Kills” by Dr. Bruce Fife.)
Nathan Pritikin, a self proclaimed nutritionist in the 1970s and 1980s, as one of America’s leading advocates for low-fat dieting for optimal health. He founded the Pritikin Longevity Center to promote his low-fat program. He claimed there was enough fat in vegetables to meet our body’s needs. His diet limited fat consumption to 10% of total calories. People developed health problems as a result of fat deficiency. Charles T. McGee, MD, describes patients who came to him for treatment after they had been on the Pritikin low-fat diet. “Pritikin Program patients become deficient in essential fatty acids after they have been on the diet for about two years,” says Dr. McGee. “These people entered the office looking gaunt, with skin that was dry, droopy pale, gray and flaky (classic sign of EFA deficiency). Most people couldn’t do this so there weren’t too many. Pritikin, himself, developed leukemia, went into deep depression and committed suicide. Per Dr. Bruce Fife, “Low immune function, depression and suicide are well-known side effects of low-fat dieting.” “The diet he advocated to achieve optimal health and increase longevity and happiness was the thing that drove him out of his mind and to an early death.”
Another example, fitness expert James Fixx, the author of the 1977 best-selling book “The Complete Book of Running.” Fixx was an outspoken advocate of the health benefits of exercise, claiming that active people live longer, and was one of the primary forces behind the popularization of jogging. He ran several miles daily and was a lean, muscular 159 pounds. He competed in Boston marathons. He was declared medically fitter than most college athletes. Yet, he died of a massive heart attack while jogging at the young age of 52. It was revealed that he had extensive atherosclerosis, with arteries 95% blocked. There are many cases of young, fit athletes dying suddenly. Exercise is good for us, but without a diet with essential fatty acids, not so much.
Dr. Peter Attia was a similar advocate for low fat dieting and extreme exercising. However, he became aware of his declining health. He had 3 of the 5 markers for metabolic syndrome. He was 35, weighed 195, fit but fat. He didn’t eat out or eat junk food. Being very conscious of his health he began to monitor what he ate, the standard athlete diet high in carbs and protein but low in fat. Since exercising wasn’t working he began to focus on his diet. Over a two year period he gradually adopted a very low-carb, high fat ketogenic diet. All his health markers improved. To this day he has maintained a keto diet since 2011 and lectures throughout the world about the health benefits of the ketogenic diet. His website is eatingacademy.com. (For a more thorough review of this study see “Fat Heals, Sugar Kills” by Dr. Bruce Fife)
The famous low-fat advocate, Roy L. Walford, MD, a professor of medicine at UCLA medical school was considered the expert on Calorie Restriction and longevity. He had several books. Restricting calories consumed was central to Walford’s program. Fat was completely eliminated. He had expected to live to 100, however, he developed ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) a brain wasting disease and died at 79. The average life expectancy for men was 78–he lived a year longer. He had followed his program for over 20 years. Instead of protecting him from degenerative disease his low fat diet was what eventually killed him.
My favorite example, Dave Asprey, the Bulletproof Executive, was 300 lbs and sick from chronic mold exposure. He exercised daily and ate the SAD diet as was promoted for health and weight loss. He never lost any weight and continued to be sick and feel miserable. His doctors couldn’t help him. He had symptoms of heart disease and a brain that was sick. He didn’t get healthy till he discovered Yak butter tea on a trek in Tibet and put himself on a ketogenic diet. Now he drinks the high-fat bulletproof coffee daily and practices a cyclical ketogenic diet for longevity. He is one of the most fit men and was on the cover of a magazine. He eats pasture-raised animal food and has no inflammation in his intestinal tract.
One of the classic symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases is chronic inflammation–which is destructive to the body and brain.
The answer? Lower inflammation with a higher fat, low carb diet as Dr. Attia and Dave Asprey discovered to their good fortune. In a study conducted at the University of Connecticut, investigators found that a low-carb high-fat diet does an admirable job of lowering runaway inflammation.
This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. It is being provided to you to educate you about functional health and nutrition and as a self-help tool for your own use. It is not medical advice. This information is to be used at your own risk based on your own judgement. For my full Disclaimer, please go to my website loribalue.com.