Low fat is bad news
Fortunately, the low fat dogma of the late 20th century and early 21st century is sloooowly being accepted as the awful nutrition advice it really is. As a matter of fact, Sweden recently became the first Western nation to adopt a low-carb, high-fat approach to nutrition. Way to go, Sweden!
When I explain the importance of dietary fat to my curious friends and clients, I prefer a simple explanation from a biological standpoint, which I share in this post. I find this is more effective than handing them a thick stack of the controlled studies showing that saturated fat consumption doesn’t cause heart disease. But if you want the studies, take a look at this huge meta-analysis from 2010 and this other gigantic one from 2014. They both show that saturated fat intake has no correlation with heart disease!
If you are currently paranoid about eating fat, this post will give you the knowledge and due sense of urgency to correct your diet. If you already consume a balanced-fat diet, this post will provide you with information to share with those who are curious or suspicious of your unconventional eating habits.
1. Healthy bile release requires fat
The gallbladder stores bile, which digests fats. The presence of fats in a meal signals the gallbladder to release bile into the digestive tract, and the bile emulsifies the fat so we can absorb it.
But what happens when we only have a few measly grams of fats in our meal? Bile release isn’t signaled, so bile sits in the gallbladder, turning thick and viscous. In a vicious cycle, it becomes more difficult for the gallbladder to release bile when bile is thick, so it just gets thicker in the gallbladder. Then, if we do eat a meal heavy in fat, the gallbladder can’t squeeze out the thick bile and the fat passes through our digestive tract undigested and unused for critical tasks in the body.
To make matters worse, the body becomes increasingly toxic because the bile stores toxins and hormones that need to leave the body. If we don’t get rid of that bile, those toxins and old hormones just sit there and can be recirculated.
2. Gallbladder health requires fat
When it comes to the gallbladder, the rule is “use it or lose it.” This makes sense, as we see soaring numbers of gallbladder removals from people who have consumed a low fat or poor fat diet in the past. What happens to the gallbladder after months or years on a low fat diet? After a short stint on a low fat diet, we can create serious gallbladder congestion due to that thick, sticky bile sitting in the gallbladder. Eventually, gallbladder attacks and gallstones occur.
If you currently experience gallbladder problems or have had your gallbladder removed, you should gradually increase your fat intake and take targeted supplements, including ox bile. I recommend working with a nutritional therapist or naturopath to address the problem.
3. Fat-soluble vitamins are found in fat
Vitamins A, D, E and K rare found in fatty foods, because they require lots of fat for absorption. As recorded by nutrition pioneer Weston Price, traditional diets of cultures from around the globe contained 10 times the amount of fat soluble vitamins than the modern diet. The nourishing animal foods considered sacred by traditional cultures, such as dairy products, fish roe, and organ meats, deliver the these vitamins along with the fat needed to absorb the vitamins.
As one example, we can only obtain vitamin A from naturally fat-rich sources like cod liver oil, grassfed dairy, liver, and egg yolks. That’s right, carrots and other vegetables will not provide you with vitamin A!
4. Cholesterol balance requires plenty of good fats
The roles of cholesterol in our body is catastrophically misunderstood thanks to a lot of propaganda by industries that prioritize profits over the the health of their consumers. As evidenced by the eating habits of traditional cultures from across the globe, good health relies on an adequate intake of cholesterol from animal fats.
Science tells us that cholesterol does not cause athersclerosis. As a healing agent in the body, levels of cholesterol rise during periods of stress or when inflammation is present. Providing cholesterol through good quality fats, such as pastured egg yolks and grassfed butter, allows the body to use cholesterol to help address the inflammation.
As a matter of fact, low blood cholesterol levels are associated with (but not proven to cause):
- A higher risk of mortality (1, 2. 3)
- A higher risk of depression (4, 5)
- A higher risk of committing violent crime and suicide (6, 7)
- A higher risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (8, 9)
One area of confusion is the labeling of LDL as “bad cholesterol” and HDL as “good cholesterol.” We know that high levels of HDL cholesterol is beneficial and we know there are subtypes of LDL cholesterol. The large, fluffy LDL particles are benign but the small, dense LDL is correlated to heart disease.
Sources of saturated fats (like butter, animal fats, and coconut oil) change the dense LDL to fluffy LDL and raise HDL cholesterol… both health protective factors! Processed grains (like cereal) and vegetable oils, however, turn the fluffy LDL into the dense LDL, increasing the risk of heart disease (Source).
For additional information on cholesterol, statin drugs, and cholesterol testing, I highly recommend signing up for Chris Kresser’s newsletter. You’ll get free, instant access to his ebook The Diet-Heart Myth, which clears up cholesterol confusion in plain english. Also, I recommend his book Your Personal Paleo Code to fine-tune your diet into a truly heart-healthy protocol.
5. Blood sugar balance requires fat
Whenever we eat a source of carbohydrate, it should be accompanied by a quality source of fat. Fat slows down the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream and prevents sugar highs and sugar crashes. This keeps us full longer so we can reach or maintain a healthy weight.
When food producers and healthy cookbook authors jumped on the low-fat bandwagon, they realized that reducing the fat in food eliminated moisture and flavor. So, they compensated by increasing the sugar content. Increased sugar and decreased fat means bad, bad news for blood sugar regulation. No wonder we are seeing skyrocketing numbers of diabetes!
6. Protein utilization requires fat
Adequate fat is necessary for the proper digestion and utilization of proteins. Frequent consumption of protein without fat depletes fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamin A. According to nutrition expert Sally Fallon:
Protein cannot be adequately utilized without dietary fats. That is why protein and fats occur together in eggs, milk, fish and meats. A high protein, low fat diet can cause many problems including too rapid growth and depletion of vitamin A and D reserves. Source and read more.
If we examine the eating habits of our parents and grandparents (and great grandparents, for those in my generation) , we see that lean protein is a thoroughly modern invention. Great-grandma would never serve egg white omelets, for goodness sakes! After all, the vitamins and fatty acids in the yolk are required to utilize the protein in the white.
7. Hormone balance requires fat
We must consume sources of cholesterol-rich saturated fats to provide the building blocks for sex hormones, including testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone. Without enough dietary cholesterol, women often become very deficient in progesterone. For men, a low fat diet means low testosterone… and you know what that means, guys!
Low fat diets also undermine balanced hormones by preventing the detox of excess hormones, particularly estrogen. When there is excess estrogen in the body, it is packaged into the bile so it can be excreted with food waste. If bile is not being released, then old estrogen sits in the liver and gallbladder and can be recirculated in the body.
Modern lifestyles lead to estrogen dominance for many men and women, since stress and poor diet increases estrogen synthesis and reduces detox of old hormones. For women, estrogen dominance means PMS and menopausal symptoms. For men, this often manifests as erectile dysfunction or “man boobs.”
8. Detox requires fat
The liver acts like a toxin filter for our entire body. After collecting toxins, it packages them in bile. If things work correctly, the gallbladder releases bile when we digest our food and the toxins in the bile leave the body with the feces.
If we aren’t consuming adequate to signal bile release, however, then the toxins build up in both the liver and gallbladder. The toxic load increases overtime and the body can reabsorb these stagnant toxins.
You may not see a knob of butter as a detox-promoting food, but it actually is! By stimulating bile release, good sources of saturated fats like butter encourage detox, balanced hormones and weight loss.
9. Weight loss and weight management requires fat
What happens when you reach for a few rice cakes or a low-fat protein bar as an afternoon snack? You feel ravenous and desperately crave sugar in under an hour. When we take a calorie-for-calorie approach, 200 calories of coconut oil is going to keep you full for at least 2-3 hours, while those 200 calories of whole-grain cereal and skim milk will leave you starving an hour later.
Fat signals satiation because it digests slowly, providing long-burning energy. Also important, it makes food taste delicious so that we end a meal with thoroughly satisfied taste buds. Additionally, it supports detox – a key part of losing stubborn weight.
If you want to lose weight, adequate fat MUST be part of the picture! Not only will it leave you feeling full, it supports detox and liver health… two necessities for weight management.
10. Fat makes food taste good
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, fat makes food enjoyable. If you browse cookbooks from the 1800’s, you’ll find that every vegetable recipe contains copious amounts of butter, lard, egg yolks, pork, and/or cream. Plain steamed vegetables would be a completely foreign concept to home cooks of that era. Homemakers understood that plenty of whole food fats created delicious meals and, as a result, each family member eagerly finished off a serving of spinach… because it was swimming in fresh cream and dollops of butter.
Nourishing sources of fats makes healthy food taste delicious. It isn’t a shame that butter and egg yolks taste so good… it’s nature’s way of telling us that these foods are good for us!
How much fat is enough?
As a general rule of thumb, we should eat no less than 40% of our calories as fat. Many individuals thrive on a 50% fat diet and some people feel best on as much as 60% of calories as fat.
For a 2,000 calorie diet, obtaining 40% of calories from fat means eating about 90 grams of fat. Over the course of the day, if we are eating real foods prepared from scratch, an example looks roughly like:
- 2 Tbs. butter
- 1 Tbs. coconut oil (coconut oil is extremely healthful but it will not stimulate bile production, according to my extremely knowledgeable mentor. Consume it in addition to animal fats)
- 2 whole eggs
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 serving fatty steak (grassfed, of course!)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup macadamia nuts
As you can see, the fats in this example are primarily saturated fats from the coconut oil, dairy, eggs, and meat. The avocado and macadamia nuts provides healthy monounsaturated fats. Vegetable oils such as canola oil should be completely avoided, because the high ratio of omega-6, polyunsaturated fats is unnatural and inflammatory.
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So what are your thoughts on a short term fast? Either of juice, or mainly just veggies/fruits/legumes? I’ve heard that is also good for detoxing, helping the liver, etc. I’m guessing the key is that it’s short term, giving the body a chance to heal? Or what are your thoughts?
Fasting *cough starving yourself* is no way to detox.
I know it may sound counterintuitive, but you need protein to run the detoxification process and whey protein is a great source of protein and the master antioxidant, glutathione.
Check out: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/10/can-you-use-food-to-increase-glutathione-instead-of-supplements.aspx
Except that “starvation mode” doesn’t start until 96 hours without any calories. It only even starts to show signs at 72 hours.
I have just recently stopped eating cereals, bread, potatoes, and instead eating more meat, fish, eggs, veges, fruit, nuts. I am less tired BUT my brain is starved. Please can someone tell me what is missing.? I am getting desperate.
Hi, I tried to sign up for your newsletter, but your website,would not accept my email address, ” It ” said my email was not valued. Will you help? I found this very informative. Thanks, Lisa
Thanks for the article. I’ve been eating more fat for the past year or so, and find that my face is breaking out a lot…I’m 65 and this ain’t right! I seem to get pimples when I eat ghee and canned coconut milk, both of which I love. Also tallow and lard seem to cause breakouts. I take ox bile and hcl. Do you think maybe the ox bile I take isn’t effective, or maybe something else causing this reaction? Thanks…
Most likely only butter / ghee will do this. It happened to me when I started eating a lot of ghee / clarified butter. Drinking caffeine does this to me too. It is supposedly the hormones you are getting from the mother cow or those hormones effect yours. Meat fats like tallow should not do this, though they may increase some of your own hormone production in general because that is what fat is used for so that may cause some breakouts, but if you take a month off of high dairy fats you could try again and I suspect the tallow won’t do this.
Dear Lauren,
I really appreciate your website. Your information is always helpful. I have been trying to get onto the Paleo diet, but the fat is just too much for me. I have primary biliary cirrhosis which for me means that I have great difficulty digesting fats. Have you any suggestions for how I might be able to slowly get on it in baby steps, for I really feel that this is a healthy pattern of eating.
Thanks for your consideration.
Leanne
Hello, Lauren:
I wonder if you could share your perspective on the following clips. They are pretty short.
No Oil — Not Even Olive Oil! – Caldwell Esselstyn MD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_o4YBQPKtQ
Olive Oil Is Not Healthy – Michael Klaper MD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGGQxJLuVjg
Olive Oil is NOT Health Food but Sick Food – Jeff Novick, RD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfBKauKVi4M&feature=youtu.be&t=30s
Olive Oil — It’s NOT good for your heart!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zheiZX0_Z2w&feature=youtu.be&t=2m54s
*** I should note that I am NOT a vegan or vegetarian. I’ve no agenda to push and no axe to grind. ***
In 2009, I started shifting my diet away from refined/processed grains, because I found that eating them made me feel bloated. In 2010, a friend told me about “The Primal Blueprint.” I then dropped legumes and started moving in a Primal/Paleo/Low-Carb direction. Later, I started eating a lot more saturated fats. Then, “Intermittent” fasting. In other words, I was following the herd.
My history is too much to list in a blog post, but I can say that I did a lot of exercise (push-ups, pull-ups, kettlebells, weights, some sprints, mountain biking, walking, hiking, etc.) and bought everything organic/pastured/etc. I was in my mid-40s and strong as a bull. But, I was still doughy around the middle. And my NMR LipoProfile continued to trend in the wrong direction.
Later, my energy started to tank. Then, I injured my shoulder and it just wouldn’t seem to heal. Then, I got REALLY sick with some sort of mutant virus or something that lasted a couple of months. And, so it went.
I eventually concluded (i.e. I made a wild guess) that my diet was too low in carbs, given the amount of exercise I had been doing. So, I started looking into higher-carb diets. That led me to vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, fruitarian, juicing, blending, etc. Eventually, I distilled them down to Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.
I started eating lots of sweet potatoes, beans, (more) fruit, white rice, and doing my own juicing/blending of fruits and vegetables. I did this while reducing (not eliminating) grass-fed beef and quitting all added oil (which had been only coconut oil). I still ate no grains and no dairy. I quickly dropped the 10 pounds I never could while on Paleo. Also, I was not exercising while eating this way, as I was too tired.
However, it really didn’t do much for my fatigue. My energy was neither better nor worse. But, I was happier eating beans and rice again. But, now, due to the aforementioned YouTube videos, I’m now unsure about saturated fat intake — a topic I was previously sure about. So, that’s why I’d appreciate your feedback.
Finally, in case you’re curious, I’m STILL not sure why my energy levels plummeted. Neither are any of the many Doctors I’ve visited — conventional Doctors, Specialists, Integrative Doctors, Functional Medicine Doctors, and Chiropractors. My energy is a bit better on most days, but still low on other days. I’m still grain-free, but otherwise eat a mixed diet.
Best regards,
Mike
Hi Mike,
I’m not an expert, but I’d recommend you to read a book named The Perfect Health Diet by Paul and shou-Ching Jaminet. It’s a high fat diet, but the authors advocate for eating between 20 and 30 % carbs to alleviate symptoms from a very low carb diet.
You don’t have to take my word for it. You can go and see for yourself on their blog site at theperfecthealthdiet.com. I hope it’ll help you.
Good luck in your journey to become a stronger version of yourself.
Ijjunne
Hi Lauren,
I really enjoy your blog. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! I wanted to ask your advice. I’ve been a proponent of the Weston Price Foundation’s approach to nutrition for years, and it’s worked wonders on my health to adapt even a few dietary changes based on their guidelines. But ever since I’m very young (and probably already fraught with digestive issues) I’ve been lactose intolerant. I drank Lactaid most of my life, which is just awful, and had terrible IBS up until I cut out dairy completely. I’ve been dairy free for many years now but I always wonder about the possibility that I could eat dairy and have it be healthy for me. I’ve been gluten and soy free for many years now as well, and have tried to heal my leaky gut — though I could definitely do more to that end, these days, I did spend quite a while grain-free. But I’m still not able to handle dairy. It makes new sick– as in, I’ll get a terrible cold — the day after i eat it. Is there anything else one can do to be able to heal their gut enough to not only tolerate, but gain healthful benefits from dairy? Much appreciated.
Try kefir. Much of the lactose (milk sugar) is “eaten” by the bacteria. Another example would be cheese and yoghurt (real yoghurt of course, none of that added flavours or sugars garbage). Perhaps also try milk from other animals? I have heard many people who intolerances to dairy can tolerate cheese and kefir so give that a test drive and see how you feel.
I was curious – the list of fats – you mean you get 90 grams of fat for your day if you eat the whole list, or just one food off of the list?
Hi my name is Rachel. I just found out that I had gallstones in April I have been terrified ever since . So I eat I very low fat diet and sometimes I don’t eat at all. I have recently started eating more and taking af beta foods should I increase fat with this supplement and what fats do you think are good?
I wholeheartedly agree. This is coming from someone who has had numerous gallbladder attacks in his life and was one step away from gallbladder removal surgery. My dad’s side of the family have a history for fatty livers, which I have inherited unfortunately. Technically speaking, I should be staying away from fats as suggested by doctors. But what I have noticed is that when I don’t eat fats, I feel unhealthy. I get aches on my gallbladder area, because I’m not releasing any bile flow. What makes it worse is that I get extremely constipated whenever I don’t consume fats, and along consuming Metamucil which makes my constipation worse. You know what that feels like. It became so bad that I even bleed. Low fat IS the cause of hemorrhoids, I personally believe that. Since stopping ingesting soluble fiber such as psyllium, I don’t have bleeding anymore, even though I am still constipated.
Now, I was going to say yes to the surgery to remove my gallbladder, but I decided to look online for alternative methods, and this is when I stumbled upon gallbladder flushing with olive oil and lemon. At first, I was scared because I was led to believe that ingesting fats in unhealthy, but my guts told me to do so.
And it was the best decision I have ever made. I have expelled so much stones I wondered how the **** they could have fit inside that little pouch. I have gained back healthy weight, and I don’t feel pain anymore most of the time. It’s been 2 years though since I have done my flushes, and I am starting to feel stones backing up again on my gallbladder, so I will probably flush just before I go back to college this September.
Thank you, you’re such an inspiration. You have opened my eyes to some of the ailments I’ve been dealing with.
Great News ! I find that just eating more fat daily keeps the bile thin and flowing so that no stones can ever form.
All Lauren mentions above is right, yet there are still more serious good “news” about fat: Nutrients, minerals and antioxidants are often contained in “fat free” packages like in many fruits and berries. They do often require fat or/and bile to be absorbed! Eating them with low fat meals mean most of the expensive goodies can be flushed “straight through” ! Not enough fat with together with the goodies, no bile to dissolve the stuff so it cannot be absorbed! This is probably the most serious negative health effect of low fat eating ! It is so bad that in a Swedish study it was found that people eating high fat dairy compared favorably with less heart disease than those who were eating low fat dairy. But then checking several co-variables it was found that only those on high fat that were adding fruit and vegetables had a significantly lower risk for heart disease than both high and low fat without fruit and vegetables. But the really stunning result is that adding fruit and vegetables to a low fat diet WORSENED heart disease incidence.! 4 times (400%) higher incidence than those on high fat with fruit&Veg. The obvious conclusion is that a key function of fat is to enable absorption of vital antioxidants/nutrients, which is also well described in the literature, but without further conclusions. Swedish study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2790097/