Weight Loss and Healthy Living

It's easy to tell the good fats from the bad ones, right? In the past decade, we've learned that not all fats are evil. Almost everyone now is quick to point out that the unsaturated fats are the healthy ones. Saturated fats, like the ones found in animal meat, coconuts and avocados are to be avoided at all cost. Unfortunately, you haven't been told the whole story and in fact saturated fats may be victims of discrimination rather than the unhealthy culprits the so-called experts claim them to be. Learn the real deal about saturated fats.


In the 1930s, a Harvard-trained dentist named Weston A. Price traveled around the world observing the diets and health of various indigenous tribes. While not a nutritionist, he was interested primarily in the impact environment and nutrition had on the health of teeth. He documented countless encounters with various cultures, some of them completely isolated and others in contact with the modern world. What he found was surprising evidence that health may be more complicated than simply eating vegetables and avoiding fats. In fact, he found the healthiest cultures had sources of vegetables, protein, and animal fats in their diets. Despite the presence of organ meats, fatty fish, wild game, egg yolks and butter in their diets, they were almost devoid of heart disease, digestive problems, cancer, or obesity. These diseases and conditions only appeared in those cultures that had contact with the modern world and consumed a large portion of processed foods in their diet.

For years Americans have been brainwashed into believing that cholesterol and fats are the two most unhealthy choices in the diet. Despite the fact that Americans actually consume about the same amount of fat, diseases attributed to consumption of saturated fats are on the rise. In fact, Americans eat a smaller percentage of calories from fat today on average than they did 20 years ago ... but they eat about 400 calories more overall, so the net amount remains the same. What has increased is intake of carbohydrates.

So what about these evil saturated fats? Before we pass judgment, let's lay down some facts.

Saturated fats are what build your cell membranes. They give the cells strength. In 2003, the American Journal of Physiology published a study that showed fat cells help regulate blood sugar levels and may even aid in the response to cancerous cells. This, of course, happens when the body is in energy balance. Too many fat cells can begin to secrete biochemicals that may actually contribute to disease and cancer ... a good example of "all things in moderation."

Saturated fats help our bodies shuttle calcium to our bones. They perform many other functions as well. There is a reason that fats occur in nature and why our bodies are adapted to consume fats - yes, even saturated fats. They aren't really as bad as they've been made out to be.

While the average consumer can rattle off the names of the so-called "healthy fats" such as omega-3 and flaxseed oil, did you know that saturated fats come in different flavors as well? Few people know this interesting fact that has been conveniently left out by the "fat-bashers" of the world. Just like it doesn't make sense to say whether it is healthy to eat a large quantity of unsaturated fats without first qualifying the types of fats (too much of certain unsaturated fats - yes, the "healthy ones" - have actually been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, thinning of the blood, and other conditions), discussing saturated fats without knowing they come in different flavors is simply blowing hot air.

Butter contains butyric acid. Coconut oil and breast milk both contain lauric acid (so if we call saturated fats evil, why is breast milk linked with so many positive benefits for young children?) Dairy products are the domain of myristic acid, while meats are ripe with palmitic acid. If you're a chocolate fan like I am, the cocoa butter in your dark chocolate bar contains stearic acid.

The studies that link saturated fats to heart disease fail to qualify the types of fats.

To draw an analogy, imagine if we conducted research and determined that drinking liquids increased your risk of liver disease. We failed to mention that most people were drinking alcohol, so you assume water and cranberry juice are something to avoid as well. The truth is that research has yet to truly break down just which saturated fats are the "bad guys," short of one fat most Americans know by name: trans fats. Trans fats, however, are only a small percentage of the saturated fats found in most foods.

Back to our analogy. Let's say I take a large group of people, analyze their habits, and determine that eating outside of the house causes liver disease. If I only studied people who frequented bars, this might be the case. But what if those people all were eating fresh foods at the local farmer's market? Then I'd conclude something else: that eating out may help prevent cancer. The fact is that I'd be looking at the wrong parameter if I thought that "eating out" was the cause ... it's "what" people eat out that has the real impact. Studies have a way of making things appear "bad" or "good" when taken out of context, and saturated fats are a prime example of this.

In fact, the idea that consuming saturated fats is unhealthy for someone who is maintaining or losing weight is counterintuitive. Why? Because by definition, if you are maintaining your weight, you are in caloric balance. Your body is getting exactly what it needs. If you are losing weight, you are actually getting less than what you need ... the body is in a deficit, so it is forced to burn stored fat in order to get the energy it needs.

What does this have to do with saturated fats? The danger of saturated fats is that they can be converted to cholesterol. (Misinformation about cholesterol is another topic altogether.) Dr. Diane Schwarzbein discovered that even patients on a zero cholesterol, low fat diet can have elevated blood cholesterol levels. Why? Because if they are overeating calories, carbohydrates can be converted to triglycerides (fats) and then these are converted to cholesterol. The same holds true for saturated fats. Overeat, and the surplus has to go somewhere - for some people, this is extra cholesterol in the bloodstream.

But what about the person maintaining weight, or losing weight? Does it make sense to think that the body, starved of the calories it needs, is going to add additional overhead by taking those saturated fats and converting them to cholesterol instead of burning them for energy? The reason why it's difficult to gain muscle when restricting calories is the same reason why it is unlikely that consuming saturated fats will cause the major issues when losing weight. The body needs fats for hormones, cell membranes, energy, and other functions. It's when you are gaining weight (and don't forget that most Americans are overweight and a large percentage are obese) that these foods become an issue.

The morale of the story is that saturated fats are probably not getting the respect they deserve. Of course, the one caveat that comes with any fats is that they do have more calories by weight and volume than proteins and carbohydrates. If you are restricting calories, the fat can quickly add up. However, there is no need to avoid butters and creams like the plague or turn and run from avocados and coconuts just because they don't have the words "omega" in their nutritional breakdown. Just as the general public eventually came to understand the facts about unsaturated fats and trans fats, I have no doubt in a few years we'll all have a better appreciation of saturated fats as well. One day you may just pull down some of Grandma's old recipes and as you're cooking them with real cream instead of fat substitutes ponder the fact that despite soaking everything in bacon lard, Grandma sure did live to a ripe old age.

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