Guest Blog Post: "Busting Fat Myths!" by Christine Crouau.

Picture this: Little ten year old Mel (so like a normal 5 year old size) bounding into the house after a day at school, the smell of freshly made scones fills her hair-less nostrils. She leaps over the kitchen table and makes a be-line to the fridge where she frantically looks for a scones greatest companion- the soft, fluffy block of butter that usually sits on the top shelf. But oh no, the butter is missing, she gasps and dramatically throws her hand to her fore head. 

Before she could wildly rip her school uniform off and chuck a hissy fit like a raging monkey- Her mother enters the room like Beyoncé enters the stage,  (with back up dancers and a microphone in her hand) and asks- "you know why I have thrown out the butter Mel?" Mel looks at her with confusion, like she's just smelt a protein fart for the first time. 

Mel’s mother aggressively grabs the top of her leg as she exclaims, "See this", shaking her leg fat in her hand, "Butter is the reason for this, we need to stop eating saturated fats they are the reason people get fat, saturated fats are the bad ones she explained, because they 'saturate' your fat cells and clog your arteries.."

That was the fateful day my fear of saturated fat was born, full fat milk, butter, avocados and full fat yoghurt became the enemy and items only labeled as low fat flooded into my life.

It wasn't until about a year ago, after my epic quest to find my abs that I found myself listening to Christine Crouau at a Paleo conference in Melbourne. I had just come off 6 months of a very strict low fat diet & was desperately searching for answers to help me stay lean and healthy in the long term. 

Christine confidently walked to the front of the room, she radiated health and her slim and athletic figure was complimented by her bright smile and warming personality. Little did I know she was about to drop a fat filled truth bomb into my life that was about to transform the way me and my family ate...

I cant thank Christine enough for writing this guest blog post for me, I am honored to have her write & really feel like her message is one that needs to be read by the masses.

Prepare your eyeballs for a 'phat' beating... 

Food Myths Exposed!- Written by Christie Crouau 

The food industry has perpetuated several major food myths that are keeping many people overweight, unhealthy, and unhappy.  Once people have the right information, weight loss and health become so much easier.  The information I am sharing is controversial, but is the truth.  I am busting major food myths so you can get the real scoop on health and weight-loss.

Fat can’t make you fat! Food myth No 1 busted!

Fat can’t make you fat.  That’s right.  One of the most world’s most hated substances doesn’t cause weight gain, and is actually good for us.  Our bodies are designed to thrive on fat, and we have been doing so for thousands of years, prior to fat becoming taboo in the 1950s.  In fact, it has been proven that the true link to heart disease is sugar; not fat.  The food industry has actually caused more disease by naming fat as the culprit and advocating “low-fat” boxed products that are loaded with sugar.

It is physiologically impossible for fat to make us fat.  How do farmers fatten cattle?  If they were following the common dietary guidelines, they would feed them fatty food, right?  They don’t; they feed them low-fat grain.  That is because the only food that prompts the body to store fat is one that produces insulin.  The only food that produces insulin is a carbohydrate (mainly, grains and sugars).  We are designed to eat carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, fruits, and a small amount of grain, but today, we eat too many and it causes weight gain and obesity.

Insulin is essential, especially when humans are subject to feast or famine.  If sugar in the blood is higher than normal, the body’s response is to store the extra nutrients for later use.  Insulin is responsible for storing the extra sugar as glycogen, but the body can only store small amounts at one time.

When we eat too many carbohydrates, the body has to decide what to do with the extra glycogen; it has two options.  In most cases, it stores the excess in the fat cells, which means we become overweight.  Or, in some cases, the thyroid can deal with the excess, which means we stay thin, but become fatigued.  Eventually, the body gets sick of the process, and gives up making insulin entirely.  The result is Type II Diabetes.

What does all this mean?  It means that the recommended carbohydrate-rich diet, full of whole grains and low in fat, is an absolute recipe for weight gain.  In most cases, the body will store most of it as saturated fat.  This process is documented in mainstream, biochemistry textbooks, so isn’t a secret, yet few people know about it and understand what it means from a dietary perspective.

Our ancestors could not possibly have eaten the diet advocated by the widely-accepted food pyramid.  The real foods accessible by our ancestors were meat, vegetables, eggs, butter, and unpasteurised milk products (mostly cultured).  Our ancestors had access to some fruits and a few grains, but grains weren’t the staple of their diet.  Also, any grains or nuts they used would have been soaked and fermented.

Reducing fat in the diet can also cause weight gain for another reason.  Eating fats produces a hormone called Cholecystokinin (CCK), which is what makes us feel satisfied when we eat.  This is why we can eat an entire packet of cookies (pure carbohydrate) and still not feel satisfied.  If we eat a meal with healthy fats, we naturally feel full and stop eating.  It is no wonder that our nations are getting fatter and fatter on low-fat diets.  People overeat because they never feel satisfied, even though they feel bloated and uncomfortable.

Some mainstream doctors and other health professionals are starting to advocate fat as an essential nutrient, but some are still very conservative with their recommendations and encourage us to stick with nuts, avocado, olive oil, etc., for small quotas of fat.  Fat is an essential nutrient and it needs to be a regular part of our diet, rather than minimal doses.

If you are thinking you need to exercise more to burn fat off, this is a fallacy also.  My weight doesn’t change when I don’t exercise.  Exercise is great as part of a balanced life style (it creates endorphins, and is great for energy etc), but when it comes to weight loss, it is more about the food we eat, rather than the exercise.

Saturated fat doesn’t cause Heart Disease! Food myth No 2 busted!

Ok, fat can’t make you fat, but what about heart disease? Most people think cholesterol must be avoided, and carefully watch their fat intake; especially saturated fat.  But, today’s most demonised food is not actually the culprit behind heart disease, stroke, or even high cholesterol.

The idea that saturated fat caused heart disease originated in the 1950s, but was never actually proven.  In fact, many studies have been launched to prove the theory, and have ended up proving the opposite.  In 1988, the surgeon general’s office (head of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in the U.S. (PHSCC)) decided to gather all the evidence linking saturated fat to heart disease, to prove the theory once and for all (probably to quieten people like me).  In 1999, after 11 years of research, they were unable to prove it, and killed the project. 

No report was ever released, but I spoke to Gary Taubes personally, a science journalist who interviewed two people involved in the project: Marion Nestle, who helped launch the project and now runs the nutrition and food studies department at New York University (NYU), and Bill Harlan, a member of the oversight committee and associate director of the Office of Disease Prevention at NIH. 

The comment from Bill Harlan was “The report was initiated with a preconceived opinion of the conclusions, but the science behind those opinions was clearly not holding up.  Clearly the thoughts of yesterday were not going to serve us very well.”  In other words, the entire idea that fat caused heart disease was flawed, and in fact, completely incorrect.

Another recent study, published in 2010, was done at the Oakland Research Institute in California.  The researchers pooled the data from 21 studies, including 348,000 subjects, and found no difference in the risks of heart disease and stroke between people with the lowest and highest intakes of saturated fat.

Many well-known doctors, naturopaths, and nutritionists are now re-educating people that fat never was the issue, and is actually an essential nutrient. 

The real culprit behind heart disease is sugar.  Heart Disease was almost unheard of in the 1800s, but started cropping up once sugar was introduced into the Western diet.  By the 1920s and 30s, Heart Disease was more common, and is now one of the biggest causes of death in all Western Countries. 

How does sugar cause Heart Disease?  In a multitude of ways, but here is one that we can easily understand.  Diabetics often have limbs amputated because their blood vessels and arteries become so clogged that they can no longer be repaired.  Excess sugar in the blood is quite sharp, so it scrapes the sides of the blood vessels; this causes holes on the inside of the vessel, which are repaired by scabs.  Each scab, gets broken again by the sugar, and is replaced with a bigger scab.  The process continues until the artery is completely blocked.  The medical term for this process is acute thrombosis.

But what about cholesterol?  Cholesterol is an essential nutrient that we need to thrive.  In fact, it is almost impossible for us to ingest enough cholesterol to meet our bodies’ requirements (we would need to eat around 8 egg yolks every day), so our liver makes the rest.  Our own bodies make cholesterol so we can function.

What does it mean if we have high cholesterol?  Good question.  High cholesterol is an indication of chronic inflammation in the body.  Inflammation is a normal bodily function designed to protect our bodies from bacteria and viruses.  With an unnatural diet, the inflammatory response goes haywire, even when there is no threat to the immune system.  Excess inflammation in the body is the underlying cause for most modern disease, including allergies, autoimmune disease, heart disease, and more.

When we do have chronic inflammation, cholesterol becomes elevated in an attempt to heal and repair the body; the worst thing we can do is to artificially lower it by taking a cholesterol-lowering drug.  The best way to deal with high cholesterol is to fix the inflammation by eliminating sugar and excess carbohydrates; anything that causes a strong insulin response in the body.

Now is a crucial time for us to understand the fact that saturated fat, which everyone has been diligently avoiding, is not the cause of modern disease.  Saturated fat has been the primary energy source for most of our ancestors.  There are many indigenous cultures around the world, like the Eskimos, that consume mostly protein and fat.

Fat keeps us younger and is essential as part of a healthy, balanced diet.

  Food myth No 3 busted!

One of the best-kept secrets for radiant skin is eating fat.  Fat keeps us looking younger by keeping our skin sells strong and hydrated.  When we stop eating fats, we start to age prematurely.  In addition to not having enough fats, most of us also eat sugar, and sugar is the number 1 ager.  It causes inflammation, which dramatically impacts the collagen in our skin, causing wrinkles, loss of tone, and sagging skin.  It doesn’t just affect our face.  Often, especially for women, the first indicator of age can be our body; the rough loose skin, including the skin under our arms and even our breasts.  The good news is that premature ageing can be stopped and even reversed with the right food.

Fat is also essential because provides energy and is needed for cell rejuvenation and hormone production.  In addition, fats help us assimilate vitamins A, D, E, and K, so a dab of butter on vegetables is a perfect combination.  Fats are required when converting carotene to vitamin A, and also vital for many other processes within a healthy body. 

But, all fats are not created equal.  Avoid the modern fats, for example, hydrogenated and polyunsaturated vegetable oils.  Use natural, old-fashioned fats like butter, coconut oil, and animal fat (yes, I said it).  When using vegetable oils, use traditional oils like extra-virgin olive oil, which has been cold-pressed (it hasn’t been damaged by heat during processing).

Fat is an essential nutrient; vital to our health and well-being.  It gives us energy, keeps us youthful and vibrant, and helps us maintain a healthy weight.  Most of us love to eat fat, and now we can enjoy eating it.  

But what about the sugar?  Most people couldn’t imagine living without sugar, but there is good news here too.  Just because we give up sugar, doesn’t mean we need to miss out on our favourite foods; we just need to learn better ways to make them.  Great Health is a Piece of Cake is loaded with healthy recipes for all the favourites, including real chocolate, ice cream, cake, muffins, chocolate mousse, custard, and more.  Many people think that sugar-free desserts couldn’t possibly taste good, but these desserts, snacks and sweets taste just like the sugary ones; without the side-effects.   In addition to delicious desserts, Great Health is a Piece of Cakecontains more information about health and wellbeing, and easy recipes for meals, lunches, condiments, and drinks.  More health information is also available on christinecronau.com.

Food without fat is like life without love.  Modern Proverb

Chocolate ice cream

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves: 8

600 ml organic pure cream                                                                                  

2 tbsp quality cocoa                                                                                                  

8 egg yolks

2½ tbsp raw honey

Vanilla bean

1.     Pour cream into a large mixing bowl and add the cocoa.

2.     Whip cream with an electric beater until almost completely whipped (not yet forming stiff peaks, but almost to that point).  The cocoa will slowly dissolve while whipping.

3.     Add yolks, one at a time, while continually whipping.  Whip until fluffy.

4.     Add seeds from the vanilla bean.

5.     Add honey slowly while whipping.

6.     Pour into an airtight container and freeze.

References

Chek, Paul (2004). How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy!  San Diego, California: C.H.E.K. Institute.

Fallon, Sally and Enig, Mary G. (1999, 2001). Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, Rev. 2^nded. Washington DC: New Trends Publishing.

Kendrick, Malcolm (2007). The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth about What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It. London: John Blake Publishing.

Mercola, Joseph (2009). What You Need to Know About Inflammation.  articles.mercola.com/
sites/articles/archive/2009/09/08/what-you-need-to-know-about-inflammation.aspx, last accessed July, 2011.

Oz, Mehmet, (2010).  Dr Oz Talks about Diabetes. oprah.com/oprahshow/Dr-Oz-Talks-About-Diabetes-Video, last accessed July, 2011.

Perricone, Nicholas (2004). The Perricone Promise: Look Younger, Live Longer in Three Easy Steps. New York: Warner Books.

Ravnskov, Uffe (2002). The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease. Washington, D. C. and Winona Lake, Indiana: New Trends Publishing.

Rosedale, Ron (2001). Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects.  articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/
archive/2001/07/14/insulin-part-one.aspx, last accessed July, 2011.

Taubes, Gary (2001). The Soft Science of Dietary Fat. Science 30 March 2001: Vol. 291. no. 5513, pp. 2536 – 2545, DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5513.2536

Siri,Tarino and Sun, Qi and Hu, Frank and Krauss, Ronald (2010). Saturated fat, Carbohydrate, and Cardiovascular disease.American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2010, vol. 91, No 3 502-50.

As always I am open to questions and comments,

Please email me at melvfitness@live.com.au

I hope you enjoyed the read,

Mel xx

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