Jonathan Tan
lifestyle@thesundaily.com
lifestyle@thesundaily.com
CONTRARY to popular belief, fat consumption is not the main culprit that makes us fat, or the cause of the obesity epidemic today.
The ‘war’ on saturated fat is a big mistake in the history of nutrition and has been largely spun by food producers championing their version of healthy ‘fat-free’ products.
Consumerism has had us believing that fat-free is what will make you less obese. What many don’t realise is that fat-free does not mean it is equally healthy in comparison to a regular product.
A gramme of fat is a gramme of fat, be it good or bad fat. It is nine calories in each gramme. By comparison, this is only two calories more than a gramme of carbohydrate or protein, which is seven calories each.
In many processed food, fat-free just means sugar added. A diet rich in fruits can unknowingly set you back plenty of calories, as certain fruits are high in sugar content.
Fats in our bodies are not formed from fat, but from excess consumption, with sugar being one of the culprits.
While people have reduced their intake of animal fat and cholesterol, the incidence of many serious diseases is still going up.
Studies conducted in the past few decades have shown that neither saturated fat nor dietary cholesterol cause harm in humans.
Scientists are now beginning to realise that the entire low-fat theory was based on flawed studies that have since been debunked.
The French Paradox is used to describe that seemingly paradoxical fact that French people have a low risk of heart disease while eating a diet that is high in saturated fat.
Are they genetically better in managing fat or healthily fitter in general?
The truth is there is no paradox. Saturated fat is not the main cause of cardiovascular disease.
In the 70s, as the lifestyle of baby boomers got better, so did their food choices.
The low-fat diet was recommended to all Americans. People started giving up traditional foods like butter in place of processed ‘low-fat’ foods high in sugar and additives.
Sugar is also a carbohydrate and excess carbohydrates in the body are turned to fat, eventually. So, while consumers have been happily buying all things ‘non-fat’ guilt free, in reality, the same harm is being done.
Since then, many studies have been conducted on the low-fat diet. They show that the low-fat diet does not cause weight loss and has zero effect on cardiovascular disease in the long term.
Unfortunately, despite these results, this diet is still recommended by nutrition organisations all over the world.
Diets that are high in fat but low in carbohydrates cause more weight loss than diets that are low in fat. They consistently lead to much better managed results than low-fat, high-carb diets.
Not only do they cause more weight loss, they also lead to big improvements in weight management and for prevention of diseases like diabetes.
Back when everyone started pointing the finger at saturated fat as the cause of heart disease, nutrition professionals started telling people to replace butter with margarine, eat white meat ... which is low in saturated fat, but high in man-made trans fats.
As with so many of the “truths” in nutrition, this ended up having the exact opposite result. Whereas saturated fat is harmless, additives like trans fats are highly toxic.
But the trend towards a paradigm shift has started to change now. Wellness advocators are now adding new buzzwords to the lexicon for weight management, weight loss and general fitness.
“Moderation, fresh, raw and unprocessed” are some the new buzzwords popping up.
But at the end of the spectrum towards wellness, health and fitness and how you manage consumption – which is only 60% of the plan – good old exercise still counts in managing body function, growth and expulsion of toxic wastes.
Let’s be fit!
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/897993
