Big Fat Lies!

Here’s a summary of the lies we have been told since the 1960s:

1. Saturated fat causes heart disease
2. Fat makes you fat
3. Low-fat foods are healthy options
4. The healthiest diet is low-fat
5. Processed margarines are more healthy than butter
6. High cholesterol foods are bad for you

We have been told these lies for the last 50 years, so it’s no surprise that the truth is hard to swallow (‘scuse the pun).

We are only starting to realise how important fat is for our health.

If you want to know more about these lies, read this full post, but if you just want to know some easily digestible (oops, there I go again) fat facts, here you go;

1. Foods containing trans fats should be avoided at all costs. Trans fats are found in processed foods and will be noted in the ingredients on packets as ‘hydrogenated’ or ‘partially hydrogenated’ oils. These fats are now banned in the US.
2. Cooking oils and fats need to be used in different ways to avoid bad cholesterol (LDL).  See the table further down giving guidance.
3. Eating in moderation is key.  Don’t overdose on coconut oil, and stuff your face with lard or butter ‘just because you can’. A healthy diet is a balanced diet, so mix-up your consumption of fats and oils; eat nuts and seeds, eat oily fish, have a steak now and again, have some butter on your vegetables, use coconut oil with your stir fry!
4. If you are still eating a lot of carbs and sugar, then adding the wrong fats to your high sugar diet will lead to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes – carbohydrates and sugar are the root of heart disease.
5. You won’t be hungry just because you cut down on carbs: fat is more fulfilling. Food cravings significantly diminish as your body shifts from burning carbs and sugars, to burning fat as its primary fuel. Once you’re fully fat adapted, cravings are a distant memory. If you’ve reduced your carb intake and replaced it with healthy fat but still struggle with hunger pangs, it’s a sign that you need to add more fat to your diet.
6. If you want to start eating more fat, see your doctor first (preferably one that knows about nutrition).

The bottom line is…

We cannot live without fat – it’s essential to life and is a necessary part of every cell in our body.

So here’s some background information on the lies outlined above.

Lie 1. Saturated fat causes heart disease

Before 1920, coronary heart disease was rare in the US, but between 1920 and 1960 the incidence of coronary heart disease rose dramatically, so much so that by the mid fifties heart disease was the leading cause of death among Americans, and it remains so.

In the ’50s, an American Pathologist called Keys excluded key demographics and used statistically insignificant samples in his research in an effort to prove his own hypothesis that saturated fat causes heart disease. Keys had friends in the right places in the US government, and in ’77 they adopted his view that saturated fat causes heart disease, and very soon the rest of the world followed suit.

British researchers held out for decades, pointing out the huge amount of evidence from around the world, from India to the Arctic that contradicted Keys’s hypothesis, but unfortunately too much money (half a billion pounds) had been put into support of Keys’s hypothesis, and so the idea that saturated fat causes heart disease just started to seem like common sense (see ‘The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet’, by Nina Teicholz).

If heart disease results from the consumption of saturated fats, then we would expect to find a corresponding increase in animal fat in the American diet. But this isn’t the case. In fact here are some figures for you (taken from The Skinny on Fats);

• from 1910 to 1970, the proportion of traditional animal fat in the American diet declined from 83% to 62%;
• butter consumption declined from 8kg to 2kg per person per year;
• During the past 80 years consumption of dietary vegetable oils in the form of margarine, shortening and refined oils has increased about 400%;
• The consumption of sugar and processed foods has increased by about 60%.

I don’t need to spell out the significance of these numbers (or if I do, just say and I’ll update this post).

In the last five years, many researchers have recanted on their stance against saturated fat, after numerous scientific studies showed “no significant evidence” that saturated fat in the diet is associated with heart disease. Have dietary fats been needlessly vilified?

Lie 2. Fat makes you fat. 

The presence of fat in the small intestine produces a hormone that acts as a hunger suppressant.  Unfortunately, bodies on LOW FAT diets will keep sending and receiving hunger signals; you may have eaten your calorie allowance for the day but you will still be hungry, therefore you will end up snacking or eating more than you should.

If you eat more than your daily calorie allowance in fat, then yes, you will probably get fat; eating excess calories of anything makes you fat.  It’s more likely that your body fat is caused by a high carbohydrate (AKA sugar) diet (see my other blog post on Sugar).

Lie 3. Low fat foods are healthy options. 

Foods that are labelled as ‘low fat’ are created by removing the fat and adding sugar and other chemicals (take a look at the ingredients on ‘low fat’ foods the next time you shop).  I’m not going into the ‘sugar’ thing again and how it causes cancer and diabetes.

Lie 4. The healthiest diet is low fat. 

The reality is, that without fat, we can’t efficiently absorb and utilise the vitamins A, D, E, and K. Not absorbing these vitamins has a dramatic consequence on our reproductive system, our ability to burn calories and, more importantly, our ability to stave off wrinkles …joke, obviously!  But on a serious note, eating a low fat diet will stop you absorbing vitamin A (you may recall ‘Retinol A’ references in adverts for face creams) and thus increase the likelihood of acne and wrinkles – so forget the botox and eat more fat.

Lie 5. Processed margarines are more healthy than butter.

Processed margarines and spreadable butters contain trans fats. Not only do trans fats raise levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol, but it also strips from our bodies the good (HDL) cholesterol; the kind that unblocks arteries.

Trans fats are hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.  Hydrogenation is a process used to turn liquid fats into solids, helping to extend the shelf life of processed food. These fats are now banned in the US, however I’m sure it won’t be long until manufacturers find an alternative that is just as bad.

Lie 6. High cholesterol foods are bad for you. 

There is good and bad cholesterol.  Measuring total cholesterol is not a measure of health.  Low or no cholesterol diets have been linked to health problems like mood and sleep disorders, adrenal burnout, infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and extreme PMS, due to the body’s inability to manufacture key hormones.

Good cholesterol (HDL) is an important antioxidant, it helps the body to heal and counteracts bad cholesterol (LDL) by unblocking arteries.

Oxidised cholesterol (LDL) is bad. It is created when certain fats are heated to high temperatures. This includes trans fats. This is where the type of fat we use in cooking is absolutely key. The table below gives guidance on what fat to use for what purpose.

What fats can I use?

Some oils are not on the list for a reason…

Rapeseed (Canola) Oil: The jury is still out on this one.  I pulled this out from the general Vegetable and Seed oils below because I know a lot of people in the UK use it.  Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil is perfectly safe when its cold, and its said to be high in Omega 3 & 6, but that doesn’t mean much – read this article and read on further below.  It’s actually a genetically modified oil, as the original ‘Rapeseed’ oil was banned in 1956 because of its toxicity. In fact, it’s called Canola Oil in the US specifically BECAUSE there are negative associations with the original name. If you do decide to use it, don’t heat it.  Its a polyunsaturated fat, which when heated, forms free-radicals (stuff you don’t want in your body!).

Vegetable and Seed Oils:  As above, these ‘unsaturated’ oils produce free radicals when heated, but also they are very high in Omega 6; this is an easily accessible nutrient because it’s in so much of our food, and if it’s not in balance with Omega 3 (found in oily fish), is a major cause of inflammation. Data from observational studies suggests that consumption of oils containing a high amount of Omega 6, is strongly associated with violent behaviour and murder. I’m switching to lard for my Sunday roasties to avoid arguments!!

Fat Type	How to use it
Coconut Oil (Saturated)	cooking at heat above 275 degrees
Butter (Saturated)	cooking at heat above 275 degrees
Lard (Saturated)	cooking at heat above 275 degrees
Cold Pressed Olive Oil, (Monounsaturated)	cold or at low-medium heat
Avocado Oil (Monounsaturated)	cold or at low-medium heat

You can’t find the oil you like to use?  Well that’s probably because it’s a vegetable or seed oil as mentioned above.

Weight Loss: Basics

The word ‘diet’ has a lot of negative connotations amongst those who don’t believe in weight loss ‘diets’, so I find myself explaining to people that when I use the word ‘diet’ in reference to the SCD, it’s about a change of approach to food as part of a lifestyle change, not a short term fix for being overweight.

And this should be anyone’s approach to weight loss: a lifestyle change. What you’ve been doing before has only led you to where you are now.

Doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result each time is a sign of madness!

Actually, it’s just plain stupid!

There is a lot of information out there on the best ‘diet’ for weight loss and health maintenance, and it can be hard to figure out what’s what when we are bombarded with information from all directions.

People that want to loose weight are not interested in the mechanics; they just want something simple that will help them loose weight without taking too much effort or involving too much analysis/thinking.  And that’s understandable; we lead busy lives and things need to be easy and straightforward. So let’s make this easy to understand….

“Calories are tiny creatures that live in your wardrobe, who sew your clothes a little smaller every night”

It might feel like that, but I think we know that’s not the case! Calorie is a measure of energy.  Food contains energy.  When we move around we use energy.

Calories is a simple way of measuring energy INPUT (the amount of energy we take in when we eat) and OUTPUT (the amount of energy we use moving around).

So here are three simple weight loss facts and they revolve around ‘Calories’:  

1. On any given day, if you eat more calories than you use (more input than output), you WILL GAIN WEIGHT.
2. If you REALLY like your food (lots of input) and you don’t want to put on weight, then you REALLY need to like exercise too (lots of output).  Exercise, uses that excess energy produced by your food.
3. If you don’t want to exercise, then just eat less.  Start cutting down your intake until you see your weight going down.  When you reach your ideal weight, increase your intake until your weight becomes static; this level is your ideal food intake for your activity level.

But, before we get too excited, there are some other things we need to take into account, because it’s not just about loosing weight any way we can; our priority is EATING NUTRITIOUS FOODS to keep our bodies running efficiently, fighting disease and feeling energetic.

‘Nutrition value’ refers to the level of vitamins, minerals & other essential nutrients in food.  So, here are three other points to take into account when counting calories;

1. Processed foods (cake, wine, beer, bread, pasta, rice, pastry) in general, are HIGH calorie and have LOW nutrition value.
2. Non-processed foods (vegetables, fruit, meat, beans etc..) in general, are LOW calorie and have HIGH nutrition value.
3. This means that if you are trying to loose weight by eating fad-diet foods and other processed foods (1) you will have to eat less, and (2) you are not taking in any nutrients, thus making yourself tired, sick and probably sapping your willpower to stay on track.

The picture below shows two lots of food; processed (left) and non-processed (right).  The total calories in each picture are exactly the same (around 1600), but the NON-processed foods will (1) keep you fuller for longer and (2) provide you with ample amount of nutrition that you will NOT find in the processed foods.

Notice how processed foods are always on the beige/brown part of the colour scale? YUCK!

But on top of this, there are other things to consider:

• Hopefully you read my blog post on sugar and carbohydrates; constantly using carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, pastry, low calorie cakes & sweets) to feel satisfied will be slowing, if not stalling, your weight loss. A high protein and fat diet has been shown to keep people satisfied for longer, thus stopping them snacking (a key problem with diets).
• Studies show that people on low-carb diets, taking in the same number of calories as people on high-carb diets, actually lose more weight. It has been found that a diet of LESS than 10% carbohydrates (AKA sugar) will aid weight loss. You WILL notice a difference.
• There are many myths around low-carb diets, which I will cover in a separate blog, but in summary: no, it’s not dangerous; the main myth is around Ketoacidosis which is a problem suffered by diabetics, not general low-carbers; and, if you eat less than 10% cabs, then yes, you might get funky smelling breath when your body starts using fat to create energy AKA Ketosis (ask Terry about my morning breath!).
• I will cover the topic of ‘fat in food’ in another blog, because there is a LOT to say.  But in summary, the thinking on fat has changed over the last couple of years; fat from NON-processed foods, even saturated fat, is good for you. Trans fats are NOT good for you; trans fats are found in processed foods.

But this doesn’t mean you should rub your hands together at the thought of the next fry-up! Just eating fat and protein, like all things, can cause other health issues. Have your eggs and bacon, but also have an avocado and fresh tomato with it! KEEP A BALANCE!  For weight loss and health maintenance you must ensure you are having a balanced diet containing healthy protein, vegetables and some carbohydrates.

But what is balanced, and how much of each should I eat? Your activity level will determine how much of each food group you should eat. Guidance on this varies: there’s the old food pyramid for the average person that indicates a very high intake of carbs, which I do not believe is right. And then there’s very high protein and no carbs, which contrary to popular opinion, is not good either, especially for body builders who need to ensure they have enough carbs in their diet to prevent their body cannibalising their hard-won muscles for energy.

There is a happy place somewhere in the middle for those of us who live an active or sedentary lifestyle. But here are some things to keep in mind:

• Carbohydrate (sugar) is in most vegetables and fruit, so you don’t need to add bread, pasta or rice to your meals;
• Fibre is in all fruit and vegetables so you do not need to eat bread, cereals etc;
• Protein can be found in veg, nuts, seeds – you do not need to just eat meat all the time for protein intake;
• You should have veg with each meal; this makes up most of your fibre, vitamins and minerals! If you can’t stomach veg at breakfast, then have a small portion of fruit instead (see my green smoothie recipe at the bottom of this post to start having veg at breakfast);
• Vegetables are your friend; the more you eat them the more you will like them, and the easier it will get;
• Portion sizes are important; the ‘serving size’ on a packet is NOT necessarily a healthy portion size (you shouldn’t be eating anything out of a packet anyway!!).

The chart below gives a guide to portion sizes for each meal for a normal person; I would suggest you keep carbs below 20%, and flex the other groups accordingly. For weight loss, your carb intake probably needs to be lower.

If you are trying to lose weight or give up smoking, but you always feel hungry, cut out the processed foods and start increasing your vegetable, fruit, and protein intake: boiled eggs, carrot sticks & hummus, sliced chicken breast…  it’s not complicated, just a case of using your imagination and planning ahead.  I have 2 boiled eggs mid morning as a snack, and that’s me happy till 1pm.  I also make my own yoghurt; it’s protein rich and thick like greek yoghurt, and has hardly any bitterness unlike commercial yoghurt.  As an afternoon snack, it keeps me full till dinner time!

If you are suffering from any health issues (e.g. diabetes), then it’s important to see your doctor if your planning on changing your diet. However, there is growing evidence that low-carb diets improve blood glucose levels and aid weight loss in diabetics.

Anyway, just to prove that low carb diets are not boring and bland, here’s a lovely recipe for you.

Recipe

Pistachio and Parsley Stuffed Chicken

For two people – or keep the other portion for lunch the next day!

This is easy and tasty!  I would suggest having it with a salad of various leaves, roquefort cheese, walnuts and crispy pancetta.

Ingredients

• 2 portions of chicken breast butterflied,
• handful pistachios; shelled, unsalted, roasted and chopped,
• handful fresh parsley, chopped,
• zest from half lemon,
• juice from half the lemon,
• 2 cloves minced garlic,
• black pepper,
• sea salt,
• 2 tbsp of butter, softened.

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C.
2. Butterfly chicken breasts – basically cut the piece of meat in half longways, but leave the two halves attached (making it look like an open book).  You can pound the chicken between plastic to make it flatter if you need/want to. Use string to tie it all together if you have some, otherwise don’t worry too much – filling might some out but you will still get the flavours.  You could also buy the chicken with the skin on and stuff the pesto underneath the skin (I buy all chicken breast like this because chicken with skin on hasn’t been rolled in water & protein to make it swell up).
3. Combine all the ingredients (except the chicken!) in a bowl.  As long as the butter is soft it should go into a chunky paste.
4. Put the mixture in the middle of each piece of chicken.
5. Fold it over and tie it up.
6. Oven bake at 400C for 20-25 minutes – cut a fat part of the chicken breast to ensure it’s done (no pink).
7. Let chicken rest for a few minutes before serving.

A Rant: Sugar and Carbs

A delayed blog….

We are on our way to Budapest for the weekend. I love travelling, but what I don’t like is airport food, or more to the point, the lack of healthy options at the airport. I would be happy with some carrot sticks and a pack of cooked meat, but no such luck.

This is the first time since I started on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) that I have eaten out, where my food choice is limited and I’ve had to wrestle between spending a fortune on something healthy or just eating something/anything.

I decided on the cheaper option, and after devouring a cheese sarni I already regret saving the money.

I have two issues:

1. Bread is carbohydrate, and carbohydrate is sugar. Yes, carbohydrate is sugar. Sugar feeds ‘bad’ bacteria in my gut which causes me all sorts of digestive issues. This is why sugar and specific carbohydrates are not allowed on the SCD.
2. Eating very little carbohydrate means I am loosing weight (yay!), I have loads more energy (yay!), finding it easier to wake up in the morning (yay!) and finding my skin feels softer and smoother (yahoo!). Eating the crappy bread does not support all this.

People think fat in food makes them fat, and that’s where it all goes wrong. Eating more sugar and carbohydrates than you need for energy makes you fat. We need fat in our diet, of course it matters what type of fat, but it’s not fat that makes you fat.  Just in case you missed it …. EATING EXCESS CARBOHYDRATES (Sugar) MAKES YOU FAT (and sick).

Here’s a rough idea how it works….

All your favourite things (bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, pastry, wine, beer, cakes, low fat biscuits, flavoured drinks, most types of flour, the list goes on…) CONTAIN SUGAR.

When we eat sugar, AKA carbohydrates, it is converted to glucose in our intestinal tract. The glucose enters our blood stream and travels to our liver, where the liver either farms it out to organs immediately to be used for energy or stores it as glycogen in our liver and muscles for later use. Any excess glucose is stored as fat. This is why if we eat a lot of carbohydrates and sugar we will just GET FAT. If you are exercising and not loosing weight, check your carb intake!

This isn’t just about weight: if we consume carbohydrate (AKA sugar) at a high level consistently, our body has to keep producing more and more insulin to stay on top of our blood sugar level. Eventually the insulin has little or no effect, and this is when you can develop DIABETES (Type 2).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) draft guidelines states that people should consume no more than 25g of sugar a day. A can of Coke has 35g of sugar!

In the UK we have a traffic light system on packaged food that indicates the level of sugar, salt, and fat content, but the maximum allowance for sugar is higher than WHO recommends, so this traffic light system is not doing what it should be doing. People are still consuming far more sugar than they should be. This high sugar intake is not just creating the obesity epidemic, but it’s contributing to the multitude of diseases and issues, such as diabetes, bowel disease and cancer.

Why is this happening? Well, people don’t really know what is good or bad when it comes to food labels.  Kids are not taught about nutrition facts at school; the food pyramid poster is still stuck on the wall of the food science (that’s a joke) room! People still think food marked as Low Fat or Low Calorie will help them loose weight or keep them healthy: this is a myth brought about by marketing companies, funded by food companies and, even more surprisingly, governments. This so called ‘Low Fat’ food is tasteless in its basic form because the fat has been removed, so it’s laced with sugar and salt to add flavour, and as we now know, EXCESS SUGAR/CARBOHYDRATE CAUSES FAT.

Some of this ‘ignorance’ is just plain old denial: people do not want to stop eating the lovely sweet/savoury crappy processed food or admit that this ‘food’ is shortening their life. Sugar is a drug. They are addicted. They are addicts.

The taste buds and brain of an addict are so dependent on getting a sugar fix, that when he tastes ‘real’ food, like green vegetables for example, he is revolted. To stop eating sugar he has a drug like withdrawal and he can’t deal with it. And actually, he doesn’t care.

Over the last few days I have been reading a blog of a lady who started a ‘diet plan’ where all the food is sent to her house in a box.  It’s all muck; sugar, carbs and sauces. The idea is you add more calories to supplement what they have sent you i.e. vegetables and fruit.  However, her supplementary food is bread and smash.  She admits she doesn’t like veg. She is loosing weight, but as soon as she stops paying for the diet plan, she will be back to square one. The only good thing this diet is doing is teaching her portion control.

Some people might argue that people need to find a diet that works for them – but this isn’t just about weight loss. This is about feeding our minds and bodies the nutrients it needs to run efficiently to prevent us getting sick. It strikes me that some people have been feeling like crap for so long, they think it’s normal.  They can’t even imagine what it’s like to feel light and full of energy. They don’t know that a week or so after they start eating nutritious food (veg, protein & good fats) and cutting down their sugar/carbs intake, it would be easier and they would start feeling so amazing. Why are schools not teaching this from the outset?

In summary…

The answer to most of our health needs are through a natural diet, not in a packet of pills or packaged diet food. Whilst I’m not into the paleo diet per se, I do recommend you read this article: Better Health: it’s less complicated than you think!

One other thing… have you noticed how all processed food is the same colour? It has a kind of yellow/beige hue.  Look at your plate, packet, box, or bag.  Is it a rainbow of colours? If not, you need to have a think about what you’re eating.

Recipe

Green Smoothie

I struggle to keep time in the mornings before work, so my quick and nutritious breakfast is a green smoothie.  For me the key is to have veg, protein and only a small amount of fruit – it’s too easy to overload on the sugar with fruit. You can do what you like with this recipe and you can find loads more online if you search for ‘green smoothie’, but don’t be tempted to just go for fruit smoothies.

• 2 handfuls of spinach or kale (I keep mine in the freezer)
• 1.5 cups of water
• Half an avocado
• Handful of frozen berries or fruit (blueberries are my go-to as a superfood)
• Big dollop or two of full fat natural yoghurt (mine is homemade but Total is a good alternative)

Good additions to this one are peanut butter, flaxseed or egg white.

Want something zingy? Look for recipes with lemon, lime or ginger.

For SCDers, be aware the nuts and seeds may irritate your tum when you are starting out.