Don’t Be Fat Phobic

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I wanted to tell you not to be fat – phobic. And yes, I mean even saturated fat. Fats and cholesterol are actually good for you. Without fats and cholesterol, you can’t make sex and stress hormones. The liver turns cholesterol into bile salts needed for intestinal absorption of fats and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. And when exposed to sunlight, the skin turns cholesterol into vitamin D.
Look:

“What about cholesterol? As with saturated fat, it is not a villain. On the contrary, cholesterol is critical for good health. It is an essential component in every cell in the body. Although few doctors know this, more than 20 studies have shown that elderly people with a high cholesterol blood level live longer than do those who have a low cholesterol blood level.

In 1987, in the Journal of the American Medical Association Framingham Study investigators reported these two important findings: 1) Over age 50 there is no increased overall mortality with either high or low serum cholesterol levels, and 2) In people with a falling cholesterol level (over the first 14 years of the study), for each 1% mg/dl drop in cholesterol there was an 11 percent increase in all-cause mortality over the next 18 years. (JAMA1987;257:2176-2180)

Then, in 1992, in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the third director of the study, Dr. William Castelli, reported: “In Framingham, Mass., the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol” [emphasis in original]… We found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least, and were the most physically active.” (Arch Int Med 1992;152:1271-2)”http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller38.1.html

These are excerpts from an excellent article published in the New York Times titled, A Big Fat Lie, published in 2002, which seems like it would make dated. But truth, logic and facts can’t really be dated, can they?

“By the late 60’s, researchers had shown that high triglyceride levels were at least as common in heart-disease patients as high L.D.L. cholesterol, and that eating a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet would, for many people, raise their triglyceride levels, lower their H.D.L. levels and accentuate what Gerry Reaven, an endocrinologist at Stanford University, called Syndrome X. This is a cluster of conditions that can lead to heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

In ”The Physiology of Taste,” for instance, an 1825 discourse considered among the most famous books ever written about food, the French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin says that he could easily identify the causes of obesity after 30 years of listening to one ”stout party” after another proclaiming the joys of bread, rice and (from a ”particularly stout party”) potatoes. Brillat-Savarin described the roots of obesity as a natural predisposition conjuncted with the ”floury and feculent substances which man makes the prime ingredients of his daily nourishment.” He added that the effects of this fecula — i.e., ”potatoes, grain or any kind of flour” — were seen sooner when sugar was added to the diet.”

I have helped lots of people lower triglycerides and even cholesterol (for those that are concerned with a number) through proper diet and supplementation. Of course, there are always statins, but they don’t sound like very much fun:
The most common statin side effects include:
  • headache
  • difficulty sleeping
  • flushing of the skin
  • muscle aches, tenderness, or weakness
  • drowsiness/ weakness
  • dizziness
  • nausea and/or vomiting
  • abdominal cramping and/or pain
  • bloating and/or gas
  • diarrhea
  • constipation
  • rash

http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/side-effects-of-statin-drugs

These recommendations are for the reduction of stress only. They are not intended as treatment or prescription for any disease, or as a substitute for regular medical care.