Connect with us

"Let Food Be Thy Medicine"
Hippocrates

March 2016

In This Issue

Eat Fat to Lose Fat

Recipes of the Month

About Jean Varney

Quick Links

Eat Right Be Fit Live Well

Whole Foods

Previous Newsletters

Jeannie Varney

Nutrition Consultant

HC, AADP

703.505.0505

Avoiding fat for fear it will make you fat? If so, I don't blame you. For decades medical professionals, health advocates and government officials recommended we limit our total fat intake to lose weight and reduce our risk of heart disease. We "ate up" this advice and spent much of our adult lives shunning peanuts for pretzels, eggs yolks for fat-free, sweetened yogurts and fish for pasta.

Fast forward 30 plus years and we now know this advice was a BIG FAT mistake. It turns out that whole foods rich in fat help us burn fat while refined, no-fat and reduced fat products, many of which contain added sugar, encourage us to store it. What was the result of this gaffe? A national health crisis! Today, heart disease remains the number one killer of adults worldwide. (Eat these foods to reduce your risk of HD.) Roughly 45% of Americans are pre-diabetic or diabetic and 75% of us are overweight or obese. Obesity is one of the greatest risk factors for chronic disease of all kinds, cancer included.

How is it possible that eschewing fats could be so disastrous to our health and waistline? Read on ...

Fondly,

Eat Fat to Lose Fat

The unintended consequence of reducing all types of fat led us to consume more carbohydrates. Unfortunately, we didn't indulge in carbs like fruits, veggies, beans, lentils and whole intact grains all of which have tremendous health benefits, but rather we filled up on processed carbs made from refined grains, starches and sugar, which contribute to obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and elevated glucose levels. Low-fat foods like pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, cereals, crackers, chips, pretzels, low-fat frozen desserts, cookies, muffins, breakfast and energy bars, candy, flavored yogurts, granolas, smoothies, juices, sweetened coffees, teas and other beverages became dietary staples causing our girths to explode and our health to decline.

Why are refined carbs (whether in the form of added sugar, potato products or refined flour - gluten free varieties included) so unhealthy? In a "nutshell", they spike our blood sugar and elicit a surge in insulin. Insulin is a hormone that shuffles the sugar/glucose from our blood into our cells to be used as energy by our body and brain. However, excess insulin:

Prohibits the body from burning fat
Encourages the body to store fat and
Stimulates our appetite.

This trifecta = weight gain and is especially disastrous for middle-aged men and women. As we age our body composition naturally changes. Our skeletal muscle mass peaks in

our 30s and declines thereafter, as we gradually lose lean muscle mass and accumulate fat. For postmenopausal women, the news is even worse as our bodies tend to compensate for the loss of estrogen by accumulating more estrogen-producing fat cells. Fat cells are insulin resistant or as I like to describe them, insulin intolerant. In other words, they don't respond efficiently to the hormone insulin causing excess insulin to remain in our bloodstream, resulting in even more fat accumulation. If you're lactose intolerant you need to mind your lactose intake, right? Well, if you're insulin intolerant, which most adults are, you need to limit the foods that spike your insulin, namely refined and fast-digesting carbohydrates.

Unlike refined carbs, fat has a minimal effect on insulin production. And, low levels of insulin are associated with weight loss.

Eat Fat to Lose Fat:

This is not a call to shun all carbs. In fact I firmly believe nutrient dense, slow digesting carbs (non-starchy veggies, beans/legumes and fresh fruit) are the cornerstone of any healthy diet - click here, to see which carbs to include in your diet. I do, however, recommend swapping refined carbs for healthy fats in order to:

Reduce insulin secretion
Shed pounds
Lower your risk for heart disease
Keep you satisfied longer so you eat less
Rev up your metabolism
Allow your body to absorb fat soluble vitamins

Here's the but ....
Before you load up your plate with butter, Brie and beef, do understand that, like carbs and protein:

Some fats fight disease and others fuel it.

Listen to the sensational headlines or the latest fad diets and you'll be shunning all carbs and gorging yourself on high amounts of fat regardless of the type. Be wary.

Different fats have different effects on our health.

What you need to know:

Trans-fat: These heart damaging "partially-hydrogenated" oils found in some fried foods, baked goods, coffee creamers, stick margarines, and highly processed snack foods were recently banned by the FDA and thankfully will be out of the food supply by 2018. Avoid until then.

Unsaturated fats: Volumes of research continue to suggest, foods rich in mono-

and polyunsaturated fats like nuts, seeds, olives, olive oil, avocados, fish, unrefined vegetable oils, and minimally processed soybeans are heart protective and reduce our risk of heart disease and insulin resistence. They should be the predominate source of fat in your diet.

Saturated fats: While not as dangerous as once thought, foods high in saturated fat like butter, cream, cheese, full fat milk and yogurt, red meat, coconut, palm oil and cocoa will not lower your risk for heart disease and much research suggests they'll increase it. They raise your bad cholesterol, increase inflammation in your body and quite possibly increase insulin resistance. However, they also raise good cholesterol causing experts to disagree on how unhealthful they are.

To confuse the issue, different types of saturated fats seemingly have different effects on our health. Full fat dairy is less concerning than red meat and according to Harvard endocrinologist, Dr. Ludwig, "shorter chain saturated fatty acids found in coconut are metabolized quickly and don't stick around long enough to cause much trouble." However, Dr. Tom Brenna, a professor of human nutrition at Cornell University warns us in a recent NY Times article that refined, bleached and deodorized coconut oil so predictably raises bad cholesterol that it is used as a control in studies comparing various fats. He suggests if we want to enjoy this fat, use unrefined, virgin varieties only and consume it in moderation.

Given the uncertainty surrounding saturated fat, I encourage you to enjoy it sparingly. If you struggle with high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure or insulin resistance, speak to your doctor before adding it to your diet. In the meantime, as researchers continue to assess the effects of saturated fat on our health, get most of your fat from unsaturated sources.

Are you concerned about the added calories fat provides?

If so, stay tuned. In a future column, I'll discuss how weight loss and improved health is about the quality of the calorie not the quantity. Until then, replace those fat producing starches and processed carbs with deliciously satisfying and metabolically boosting healthy fats. Here are some tips to get you started:

For breakfast: Substitute your honey-flavored yogurt, which can contain upwards of 6 tsp. of added sugar with plain, Greek yogurt, a handful of nuts and some berries. Or top off a pepper, onion, and spinach omelet with 2 TBSP of Parmesan cheese or � of an avocado.
For lunch: Forget the croutons, dried fruit and fat-free dressing, instead cover your greens with n0n-starchy veggies, a 3oz packet of tuna or tofu, � of an avocado, 2 tsp. of olive oil and vinegar of your choice.
Hungry at 4PM? Swap your pretzels or popcorn for an apple and 1-2 TBSP of unsweetened peanut or almond butter.
For dinner: Instead of tenderloin and potato, enjoy a piece of wild salmon with broccoli saut�ed in olive oil and garlic and a salad.
Save the best for last - In the evening, say good-bye to frozen yogurt, SnackWells and even alcohol and savor .5oz of dark chocolate dipped in almond butter.

This article is for informational purposes only, is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and is not a substitute for medical advice.

Recipes of the Month

Almond Butter Delight

Chocolate Sauce

Coconut Cashew Clusters

Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing

Eggplant-Walnut P�t�

Thai Peanut Sauce

About Jean Varney

Jean Varney is the founder and president of Eat Right, Be Fit, Live Well LLC, a health and nutrition consulting firm committed to empowering men and women to improve their health through sustainable changes to their diet and lifestyle. Based in the Washington DC metropolitan area, Jean coaches clients nationwide by phone and in person. She focuses on helping individuals make smart choices about the foods they eat in order to maintain high energy levels, avoid unwanted weight gain and decrease their risk of heart disease, cancer, type II diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Jean received her training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. To learn more about her practice, please visit her website at: www.EatRightBeFitLiveWell.com.