Note: The material in this article is not intended as an alternative to personal, professional medical advice. Written material can only offer information and advice. And, however well intended, all advice is, by definition, subjective. Readers should immediately consult a trained and properly qualified health professional whom they trust and respect, for advice about any symptoms or health problem which requires diagnosis, treatment or any kind of medical attention. While the advice and information in this Report are believed to be accurate at the time of publication, neither the author nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for errors or omissions which may be made.
Killer Fats
Everyone (well,
nearly everyone) has heard that too much fat is bad for you and that
here is a close link between a high fat diet and an early death. Most people
know that fat is a major cause of heart disease. Most recognise that there is
a link between eating too much fat and becoming overweight. Quite a few know
that individuals who eat a high fat diet are much more likely to develop cancer
– particular colon cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer.
But most of us
still eat far too much fat. And the chances are high that you probably need
to reduce your fat intake even more than you have already done.
(Many people who have cut their calorie consumption, and who think that they
are eating more healthily, may now be eating a noticeably higher percentage
of fat than they were before. In the UK, for example, around 61% of men have
a weight problem: 45% are simply overweight (bad enough) but 16% are dangerously
obese. And these figures are increasing. In recent years the incidence of obesity
in the UK has been rising steadily. In the US the incidence of obesity has been
rising dramatically. Surprisingly, this increase in obesity isn’t a result
of us consuming more calories. Indeed, our calorie intake has actually decreased
but although we tend to be swallowing fewer calories more of them are coming
from fat than ever before.)
There are several
reasons for the fact that most of us are still eating far too much fat.
First, the
picture is constantly being confused by doctors, lobbyists and PR companies
claiming that fat is good for us. ‘Our ancestors used to eat loads of fatty
meat, butter and cheese,’ goes the argument. ‘It didn’t do them
any harm. Natural foods such as butter, milk, cheese and steak are good for
you.’ It is perfectly true that we need some fat. Fat is a great source
of energy (it contains twice as much energy as carbohydrate or protein) and
it fills you up and makes you feel full (largely because it takes your body
around three hours to digest fat). The damned stuff tastes nice, smells good
and is, in general, a good deal more appealing than lettuce.
In addition, some
vitamins are fat soluble and so if your diet doesn’t contain any fat you
will be short of those vitamins. But although you need some fat you don’t
need a lot of it. A few of the people promoting fat and a fatty diet probably
genuinely believe that lots of fat is good for you but I strongly suspect that
many of the people who promote fat do so because they are being paid to do so
by industries which make money out of selling fat.
Second,
many authorities (including governments and large parts of the medical establishment)
still promote diets which are far too rich in fat. A reader who recently attended
a health check screening organised by BUPA (one of Britain’s best known
private medical groups) was given a diet information sheet which recommended
a diet containing 30% fat. Hospital dieticians often tell patients that they
are eating healthily if their diet contains 30% fat. The British Government’s
Health Education Authority recommends a diet which provides 35% of our calories
as fat. In practice the average individual gets around 40% of his calories from
fat. I think this is absurdly and dangerously high and that a normal, healthy
diet should contain no more than 15% – 20% fat. The difference between
20% and 30% may not sound a lot but it’s huge – and will have a dramatic
effect on your future health. The difference between 20% and 40% is lethal.
I suspect that governments and government agencies recommend a much higher figure
because they are frightened of upsetting the industries which sell fat filled
food. No government will ever risk a confrontation with the meat industry or
the farmers. A year or two ago the British Government officially accepted that
meat causes cancer. But a campaign to warn people of this truth was abandoned
at the last moment. The American Government has also accepted that meat causes
cancer. But, once again, they don’t like to share this commercially unpopular
news with too many people. The simple fact is that governments everywhere spend
a lot of money promoting and protecting their farming industries. In the UK
the farming industry even has its own tame ministry – complete with civil
servants and ministers. No other industry has a ministry of its own.
Third, the
picture is genuinely confused by the fact that not all fat is bad for us. Some
fat is essential. Some fats are out and out killers. Some are neither particularly
good or bad. And some are positively good for us (though all fats are bad for
your immune system – vegetable fats can be just as damaging as animal fats.)
The lobbyists who are trying to preserve the commercial profitability of the
industries which sell fat (in particular the dairy and meat industries) cause
confusion by making things as complicated as they can. They know that if consumers
are confused they won’t change their dietary habits and will carry on eating
the foods they are accustomed to eating.
Fourth, there is a considerable amount of ignorance about the foods which contain fats – and, more specifically, about which foods contain good fats and which foods contain bad fats. An avocado and a piece of fried chicken both contain about the same amount of fat. But how many people know which food contains the ‘good’ fat and which food contains the ‘bad’ fat? (The avocado is the good guy. The fried chicken contains the bad fat.)
Fact File On Fats • Fact File On Fats • Fact File On Fats
There are many different types of fat, and some are worse for you than others.
Here’s the low down on fats – all you need to know about fat. Read
this and you’ll know more about fat than your doctor and probably more
than the local hospital dietician.
1) Saturated
fats
These are found in meat, dairy products, lard, biscuits, palm and coconut oils.
Butter and lard are saturated fats. Lamb, pork, beef, eggs and whole milk are
all rich in saturated fats – as are some vegetable oils including palm
oil and coconut oil. These are bad fats and eating them will increase your chances
of having a heart attack or a stroke because they will encourage your body to
produce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (really bad stuff) which can
and probably will clog your artery walls and make your blood more likely to
clot. High intakes of saturated fats have also been linked with various types
of cancer – including: bowel, breast and prostate cancer. Saturated fats
are often pretty easy to spot because they tend to be solid at room temperature.
2) Trans fatty
acids (also known as hydrogenated fat)
You’ll find these in dairy products, red meat, hard margarine, cakes and
biscuits, and in lots of deep fried foods – such as chips. Hydrogenation
is a process food manufacturers use to make fat more dangerous. Hydrogen is
added to vegetable oil (that is the process known as hydrogenation). This increases
the level of saturation of the fat – and produces a more solid fat. Hard
margarine is more hydrogenated (and more saturated) than soft margarine. Food
companies have been using hydrogenated fats as replacements for saturated fats
but, sadly, they are likely to be just as dangerous as saturated fats. They
may cause increased levels of bad cholesterol while, at the same time, reducing
your body’s levels of good cholesterol – so they are very much bad
fats. They have been linked with an increased risk of heart disease and rheumatoid
arthritis. Avoiding trans fatty acids isn’t always easy but one way to
spot them is to look for some mention of hydrogenated fats on food labels –
and to then avoid those foods. Lots of really tasty foods – such as cakes,
biscuits and quick snacks – contain at least some hydrogenated vegetable
oil. As a rough guide it is safe to assume that hydrogenated fats are just as
bad for you as saturated fats.
3) Cholesterol
Cholesterol is found in shellfish, eggs and offal but, rather surprisingly perhaps,
the sort of cholesterol that you are likely to find in food will not have such
a bad effect on your blood cholesterol levels as will eating saturated fat.
Cholesterol in food goes via the liver and not straight into the blood –
and your liver can both make and destroy cholesterol. There are two types of
cholesterol: the good stuff and the bad stuff. The bad stuff is called LDL cholesterol
and tends to form fatty deposits on artery walls, thereby increasing the risk
of blood clots and artery blockages. The so-called good stuff is HDL cholesterol
(high density lipoprotein cholesterol) and this helps to move the bad stuff
away from the arteries and into the liver where some of it is broken down into
bile. The proportion of HDL to LDL is crucial – just as important as total
cholesterol levels. Taking regular aerobic exercise seems to help increase HDL
cholesterol levels and is one of several million reasons why not taking regular
exercise is a bad thing.
4) Polyunsaturated
fats
Found in vegetable and seed oils, oily fish and margarines. This group includes
the omega-6 polyunsaturates and the omega-3 polyunsaturates. Polyunsaturates
bring down total blood cholesterol – including both the good and bad bits
– and some types may help protect against cancer and diabetes. Omega-3
and omega-6, are the two main types of polyunsaturated fats.
a) Omega-6 polyunsaturates (found in polyunsaturated margarine and corn, sunflower and soya bean oils) – have a tendency to reduce bad cholesterol but very high levels may also decrease good cholesterol. Omega-6 polyunsaturates are pretty good – but they are still fats.
b) Omega-3 polyunsaturates are found in oily fish such as pilchards, sardines, trout, herrings and mackerel and in walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seed (linseed) oil, and green, leafy vegetables such as spinach and romaine lettuce. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fats may damp down your body’s response to inflammation and can, therefore, help reduce the occurrence of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. They are also thought to reduce the risk of heart attacks by reducing the risk of blood clots forming. If you’re going to pick a favourite fat then omega-3 should be top of your list – but don’t get all silly and fall in love with omega-3s: remember that fat is still fat and a healthy diet shouldn’t contain too much of it.
c) Essential fatty acids. Although these specific polyunsaturates are important to your body’s metabolic processes (they are, among other things, used in making cell membranes) your body cannot make them but has to obtain them from food. (That is why they are ‘essential’.) If you don’t eat enough essential fatty acids you may develop skin problems, and also problems with growth and development. Linoleic acid (an omega-6 fat) and alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fat) are the two main essential fatty acids.
5) Mono-unsaturated
fats
Mono-unsaturated fats, which can be found in blended vegetable oil, olive oil
(whether virgin, extra virgin or just plain sluttish), rapeseed oil, avocados
and nuts are mostly derived from plants. Replacing the saturated fat in your
diet with mono-unsaturated fats is almost certainly a good thing. Mono-unsaturated
fats probably slightly increase, or at least maintain, the good cholesterol
levels while helping to reduce bad cholesterol levels – though this probably
happens simply because you are eating mono-unsaturates rather than saturates.
Mono-unsaturates can protect against the sort of tissue damage which may contribute
to heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.
Reduce Your Fat Consumption
If you eat too
much cholesterol there is a risk that your body’s white cells – crucial
warriors in your body’s immune system defences – may be damaged. And
if you have lots of fat in your blood that will also affect your body’s
ability to deal with infections.
In a normal, healthy
body white cells constantly patrol your blood stream hunting out bacteria (and
stray cancer cells). If your blood stream is clogged with fat your white cells
simply cannot move around effectively. Imagine how difficult it would be for
a group of lifeguards to swim through an oilslick and you’ll have an idea
of just how difficult it is for white cells to move through fat-soaked blood.
A low fat diet
is essential for good health. Too much fat can cause cancer – as well as
strokes, high blood pressure and heart disease. And too much fat in your diet
can dramatically weaken and damage your immune system.
Although the mechanism
whereby fat causes heart disease is well understood (the fat sticks to the inside
of the arteries making clots more likely) the mechanism whereby fat causes cancer
is more of a mystery. The link between fat and cancer has been proved. But no
one really knows why there is such a link.
My own theory (which I first put forward a good few years ago and which has been taken up by some doctors) is that fat causes cancer because chemicals are taken up by and stored in fat. It is for this reason that meat (and particularly fatty meat) causes cancer. Modern farmers deliberately fatten their animals (because a heavy animal can be sold for more money than a light one) and they also use a great many carcinogenic chemicals. The carcinogenic chemicals which are used in animal feeds and the chemicals which are used on the grass and other crops are stored in the animal’s fat deposits and enter its milk. Animal fat is often contaminated with chemical residues – toxic and possibly carcinogenic residues of drugs consumed (accidentally or deliberately) by feeding animals.
Twenty Vital Tips For Healthy Low Fat Eating
1. Cut out very
high fat foods completely. Fast food outlets usually serve very high fat food
and are best avoided. If you’re in a rush buy a sandwich and avoid burgers
and sausages which contain enormous quantities of saturated fat.
2. Nuts contain
a lot of fat but it is usually mono-unsaturated fat rather than saturated fat.
Almonds, pecans and pistachios all have a high ratio of mono-unsaturated fat
to saturated fat. They also contain vitamin E – a powerful antioxidant
which will boost your immune system and help protect you against cancer and
infections.
3. Cook with olive
oil rather than butter or margarine. Olive oil is rich in mono-unsaturated fat.
(It also contains vitamin E.) One of the reasons why heart disease is relatively
low in Mediterranean countries is believed to be the fact that the diet there
is high in mono-unsaturated fat – largely because virtually everything
is cooked in olive oil.
4. Omega-3 fatty
acids are the good guys. An enormous amount of research has been done showing
that people who eat plenty of omega-3 fatty acids are less likely to have heart
attacks. And people who eat a diet which contains plenty of omega-3 fatty acids
are also less likely to become depressed. If you eat fish then dark salmon and
tuna are both rich in omega-3 fatty acids. But you can get omega-3s by eating
chopped walnuts, sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds. Use flax-seed oil (linseed oil)
with vinegar when making salad dressing – it’s full of omega-3 fatty
acids. Spinach is also a rich source of omega-3 fatty acid. Use young, tender
leaves in a salad rather than eating old spinach that has been cooked into submission.
5. If you take
vitamin supplements try to take them when you’re eating something fatty.
Supplements of fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed much more readily if you take
them while eating a meal which contains some fat. One research project showed
that volunteers who took their beta-carotene supplement while eating ice-cream
absorbed far more of the beta-carotene. Fat also helps the absorption of lycopene,
which is found in cooked tomatoes and known to be astonishingly effective in
helping to prevent prostate cancer. So eat your spaghetti napolitaine with a
little olive oil drizzled over it.
6. Eat baked potatoes
instead of chips. Most chips are cooked in vegetable oil which is packed to
the brim with trans fatty acids. If the oil is reused it increases the amount
of trans fatty acids even further. Fatty food tends to make us feel satisfied.
But that doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Sometimes your body doesn’t
know best.
7. Avoid fast food
snacks. Processed snacks sold in supermarkets and vending machines usually contain
a high percentage of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. How do you know if
your favourite snack contains trans fat? Simple – if your fingers are greasy
when you’ve eaten it then the chances are that the snack was full of trans
fat.
8. It is vital
to cut down your consumption of trans fatty acids. You can cut your risk of
having a heart attack in half by eating 4g less of trans fatty acids a day.
9. When picking
out a margarine look for the softest one you can find. The softer the margarine
the less trans fatty acid it contains.
10. If you are
a cheese lover try to find a low fat cheese which you like by studying this
list which shows the fat content of some popular cheeses:
If you like high fat cheeses try to eat them in small quantities.
11. To find out
how much fat there is in the food you are eating multiply the number of grammes
of fat by nine, divide that figure by the total number of calories and multiply
by 100. That will give you the percentage of the calories in the food you are
eating which are fat. Do this for your favourite processed foods and you’ll
soon be able to spot which are the high fat (killer) foods.
12. If you use
milk make sure you use skimmed or semi-skimmed milk rather than full fat milk.
13. Avoid or cut
down on pies and pastries. Sausage rolls, meat pies and quiche are all very
high in fat content.
14. There is no
need to add butter to vegetables. Steam or stir fry in a little olive oil and
use herbs and spices to add flavour.
15. Avoid high
fat salad dressings. Make your own and use little oil.
16. Good bread
doesn’t need butter or margarine to make it palatable. If you need to
put something on use jam or honey rather than butter. Good bread is worth paying
extra for because you won’t need to add fat to make it palatable.
17. Avoid high
fat snacks such as cakes, biscuits and crisps. Look out for low fat versions
if you can’t live without them.
18. Steam, grill,
boil, bake or stir-fry food. If you roast, then use a grill to allow excess
fat to drip into the pan beneath.
19. Use non-stick
pans and you will be able to cook with less fat.
20. If you eat meat make sure that you trim all visible excess fat (though much of the fat will be invisible). And remove the skin from poultry because most of the fat is stored just beneath the skin. If you are vegetarian watch out for creamy sauces and cheese. Some vegetarian meals are high in fat because there is so much cheese involved.
Where Do We Get Most Of Our Fat?
Here is where most
people get the fat in their diet:
1. Meat and meat products.
2. Milk and dairy products.
3. Cakes and biscuits.
4. Non-dairy spreads e.g. margarines.
5. Snacks and sweets.
Copyright Vernon Coleman 2001