The Lowdown on Low-fat: Is It REALLY Healthy?

“Saturated fat is going to give you heart disease and kill you!”

“Fat makes you fat!”

“Eating a low-fat diet can help reduce the risk of cancer!”

Do any of these mainstream myths sound familiar? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, haven’t made a trip to the grocery store, read a magazine, or listened to a commercial in the last 30 years, chances are these statements have littered your subconscious with dirty lies about our dear friend, fat. More specifically, saturated fat.

As a result, companies eyeing their bottom line, sought to cash in on this “new” ideology and began creating and marketing hydrogenated oil products made with unsaturated vegetable oils, {such as margarine}. After all, if it was unsaturated, it MUST be healthier, right?

That is absolute crap.

These fake hydrogenated “fats” can lead to an increase in artificial trans-fats that raise your LDL cholesterol and lower your HDL cholesterol.

Not sure what that means?

Your LDL is the stuff that you don’t want to increase, and your HDL is what you don’t want lowered. So in short, these products are everything that you don’t need in your diet.

The story doesn’t end there.

A heavy increase in trans-fats has also been associated with a number of other health problems. Remember the heart disease that food companies were referencing when they were trying to scare you away from saturated fats? Well, turns out these hydrogenated products can also lead to an increased risk of the same sort of cardiovascular illness.

Heart disease prevention that causes heart disease? Ummm…yeah…no thanks.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the likelihood of having a stroke also increases with a higher consumption of “low-fat” products. Diets heavy in the same substitutes are also associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

So in a nutshell, the artificial alternatives to fat are by no means healthier – they’re a lot worse. All they do is kick your ass from the inside out.

Why are people buying this stuff?

Well, around the time that they were becoming popular, not too many people really knew about the effects that trans-fats had on their health. Everybody was too concerned with cutting saturated fats out of their diets that they didn’t really stop to think about what the alternatives may be doing to them.

Even if the foods were actually killing them.

As with anything in life, moderation and balance are key. Many of the foods that contain naturally high levels of saturated fat {like grass-fed butter and coconut oil}are also associated with reduced body fat and weight {source} and great for your blood health, hormone function, and nervous system, PLUS don’t come with the adverse effects of artificial chemicals.

Don’t be fooled, my friends. Make friends with fat. Invite fat over for dinner. Take fat with you on vacation.

“Fat is our friend…”

Now go enjoy a dollop of {grass-fed} butter on those veggies, ok? Isn’t eating real food fun?

Moment of truth…what crazy “health food” trends did you buy into back in the day? I’d love to hear! Please leave a comment below.

Yearning for more? Check out my Top 6 Diet Myths Exposed here.

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