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The Fat Controversy: A Historical Perspective
Fat gets a lot of attention, but most of the attention fat gets is due to the fact that so many people have excess body fat, we don’t hear much about healthy dietary fats. We know excess body fat is not good for our health, and because body fat is considered bad, the dietary fat we eat in our diets has also been lumped into the same bucket even though they are different. Making the problem even worse, there was/is a big push from many health authorities saying that dietary fat could lead to negative health outcomes like cardiovascular disease.
This resulted in a shift in the dietary patterns of most people.
Since dietary fat was deemed “bad” for our health many people were eager to eliminate fat in their diets. Food high in fat, like eggs and butter, were eliminated from people’s diets and replaced with things like egg whites and margarine. In addition, we saw the rise of “low fat foods”. But you can’t just eliminate the fat from foods and still expect people to eat it so to make food taste good fats were replaced with highly processed carbohydrates. This drastic shift in our diet composition came with its own set of issues, a lot of which was rooted in the problem of these highly processed foods.
As I have talked about several times in previous blog posts, highly processed foods bypass our natural mechanisms to stop eating and can lead to us overconsuming calories resulting in excess body fat.
We are right back to the problem we started with…excess body fat.
And while our attempt to eliminate fats in our diet was supposed to help with cardiovascular disease, the excess carbohydrates we replaced those fats with (combined with several other poor lifestyle factors) leads to chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes.
Are we truly any better off by limiting dietary fats in our diet?
It doesn’t really seem like it.
Fortunately as we have dug more into the detrimental effects of dietary fat we have discovered that maybe they aren’t as bad as we had once thought.
There is no better way of illustrating this shift in mindset than this image
So how do we untangle this crazy back and forth about dietary fat? Should we avoid it? Should we eat it with reckless abandon?
The answer is likely somewhere in between.
In this blog post I will provide a framework you can use to help decide where dietary fat fits into your own diet and also tell you where I get most of my dietary fat from.
Natural vs. Processed: The Key to Healthy Fats
The first step in deciding whether a dietary fat is good or bad or somewhere in between is by asking “is it natural”?
This is the same filter we use to decide if any food is good for us or not. The more natural the food is the more likely it won’t have a negative impact on our health.
When it comes to dietary fats the best example of this would be the negative impact of trans fats.
When the messaging from food organizations began to shift against dietary fat the food industry began to shift the type of fats that were being used in food products. One of the fats that gained a lot of traction by food producers was trans fats. For example, instead of butter which contained a lot of saturated fat which was thought to be particularly bad for your health, we now had margarine, which was made using highly processed vegetable oils low in saturated fat.
This reduction in saturated fat by using trans fats as a replacement was initially thought to be a win for our health but it turns out it was the complete opposite. By the early 2000’s many countries were starting to implement trans fat bans. Then the World Health Organization set a goal to eliminate industrial produced trans fats from our diets by 2023.
Now I am not saying that all processed foods are bad for your health, but the chances that they are will go up greatly when compared to foods that come from nature. This is why I think you should tend to stick with fats that occur naturally in foods.
Healthy Natural Fat Sources
The best example of a healthy natural fat is olive oil. No matter your view on fat, olive oil seems to be deemed as healthy. I am pretty sure every health organization today agrees that olive oil can have many health benefits.
Olive oil consumption is associated with cardiovascular health, cancer prevention, improved mental health, diabetes management, weight management, and has been shown to be anti-inflammatory. While it is important to remember that a lot of this is correlative associations rather than a direct effect, there certainly seems to be something to the health benefits of olive oil.
And olive oil naturally comes from…you guessed it olives! If you crush olives you get olive oil, no machines or chemicals necessary!
Another food that is pretty high on the list of beneficial fats is avocados. A medium size avocado has about 22 grams of fat in it! Personally, I think avocados taste great. Sliced avocado with a bit of sea salt on it is fantastic! In addition to whole avocados being a great source of fat, that fat can also be turned into a cooking oil. Avocado oil is becoming more and more popular these days. It has a neutral taste, which makes it good to use in a variety of recipes (especially baking!) and is a great choice when cooking with high heat.
Next on the list of beneficial fats is fish oil. Like olive oil, fish oil is universally agreed upon to be good for your health, so much so fish oil can be consumed as a supplement in pill form! Fish oil contains a type of fat called Omega-3 fats and these fats have been shown to be great for improving heart and brain health as well as being anti-inflammatory. The best source of Omega-3 fats are going to be anchovies, salmon, mackerel, sardines, and herring. Now many people don’t enjoy the taste of those types of fish or do not have access to them, hence why there are many Omega-3 supplements on the market today.
Nuts are also another source of natural fats. However most people don’t consume them as a fat source. They think of them as a protein source or a snack. NUTS ARE NOT A SOURCE OF PROTEIN THEY ARE PRIMARILY FAT. Never try to get a significant amount of protein from nuts. That said, nuts are associated with a number of health benefits including weight loss, blood sugar management, and cardiovascular health. They also come with a number of different vitamins and minerals.
Last on the list of natural fats are those that come along with animal foods in your diet. This typically comes from two sources, protein and dairy.
Almost all of the protein that comes from animal sources comes along with some amount of fat. The amount of fat can vary depending on the protein source so you want to keep that in mind but in general you should not worry about the fats that come with these proteins as long as you are not exclusively consuming fatty protein sources. The other important part about consuming animal protein sources outside of the dietary fat they often come with is that they are packed with vitamins and minerals that you miss out on when eliminating animal protein due to the fat they contain.
Dairy can be a bit more complicated as a fat source. The reason is because many people have an intolerance to dairy or they find dairy hyperpalatable. Both of these can be a negative for your health and in which case it makes fat from dairy not a good source for you. That said, if you can tolerate dairy and you can control the amount you eat, eating dairy fat is a good source of fat. Like protein these can be other benefits as well especially if that dairy is fermented in which case you can be helping your gut health in the process.
In the last part of this article I would like to address a number of different questions that often come up with regards to dietary fats.
Common Questions About Dietary Fat
How much fat should I be eating?
There is not going to be a clear answer to this question. The fact of the matter is that people can be healthy eating both a high fat diet and a low fat diet. However there are two things I think people should look out for when on the extreme end of both spectrum of fat intake.
First, going too low in fat can be detrimental for your health. While eating a low fat diet is fine, going below 50-60 grams of fat for an extended period of time can be bad for your health. You need dietary fat for various processes in your body and without that fat you can start to see negative effects.
On the high fat side of the spectrum I worry about keeping overall calories in check. Fat has 9 calories per gram and is the most calorically dense source of food in our diets (protein and carbs only have 4 calories per gram). So a little fat goes a long way when it comes to calories.
The best example of this is to actually measure how much peanut butter you are actually using or how many calories are in that handful of nuts you think is a harmless snack, or how many calories are in the salad dressing you are putting on your salad. If you don’t realize how calorically dense fat can be you might be blown away by this exercise.
Eating a higher fat diet is fine, just make sure you don’t go overboard on the calories.
For most people though I think consuming 60-100g of fat per day is a solid target.
Should I concern myself with the different types of fats?
I didn’t dive into it too much in this blog post but there are a large variety of fats. We touched on some of them in this post but there are many more and the nuances in the differences between them can be quite technical and scientific.
That said, I think there are some things to be mindful of.
First remove any trans fats in your diet, these are universally considered bad.
Second, most people can use more Omega-3 fats (fats from fish) in their diet. So consuming some of the fish I mentioned above if you are not already would be a good idea and if you don’t like fish or don’t have access to it, looking into a fish oil supplement is probably a must.
Third would be to be mindful of saturated fats. The topic of saturated fats is controversial because the traditional consensus around them is that saturated fats raise your cholesterol and elevated cholesterol can lead to cardiovascular disease. This is a whole other can of worms that I won’t go into at this point, but I will say that it is probably not as clear cut as we were once told. There is lots of evidence now that saturated fats and higher cholesterol may not lead to cardiovascular disease 100% of time.
However if your cholesterol is elevated and you are consuming a large amount of saturated fats and you have other risk factors for cardiovascular disease lowering your saturated fat intake and therefore lowering your cholesterol might be a good thing to experiment with.
That said, some people can eat a fair amount of saturated fat and not see their cholesterol go up and there are also people like myself who don’t eat a lot of saturated fat and still have elevated cholesterol.
As you can see this topic is not black and white so please work with your healthcare provider and educate yourself on the topic.
Are seed oils as bad as I have heard on the internet?
This is another topic that is controversial. There will be people who tell you that seed oils, aka vegetable oil, is universally bad for us and is the root cause of all our health problems. Then there will be other people who claim that seed oils have been shown to actually improve health outcomes.
The answer is likely somewhere in the middle. The one thing I know is that seed oils are a highly processed source of fats. You can’t squeeze corn for example and extract oil from it like you can an olive or an avocado. Since there are other natural alternative oils to seed oils I tend to stick with those (mostly avocado oil in my case).
However if you go out to eat at all or consume the occasional packaged food it is likely that you are consuming seed oils. Do I think that is all that bad if most of your food is unprocessed and consumed at home? Probably not.
Feel free to educate yourself on this topic and set your own threshold for tolerance.
Will eating dietary fat make me gain body fat?
This one is quite simple.
No.
Dietary fat will not make you gain body fat. Excess calories from any source will cause you to gain body fat, it has nothing to do with the macronutrient.
What are the best fats to cook with?
Personally I tend to use a wide variety of fats in my cooking.
My top sources are:
- Olive oil
- Avocado oil
- Coconut oil
- Animal fats (beef tallow, pork lard, duck fat)
- Truffle oil
I tend to roast vegetables in olive oil and truffle oil. I use avocado oil when baking. I use coconut oil when sauteeing. And when cooking a leaner piece of animal protein I use animal fat.
Simplifying Your Approach to Dietary Fat
In conclusion, the world of dietary fats is complex, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By focusing on natural, whole food sources of fat, you can navigate this nutritional landscape with confidence. Remember, fat isn’t the villain it was once made out to be – it’s an essential part of a balanced diet.
Here are the key takeaways:
- Prioritize natural fats from sources like olive oil, avocados, fish, nuts, and quality animal products.
- Be mindful of your total fat intake, aiming for about 60-100g per day for most people.
- Pay attention to different types of fats, especially increasing your omega-3 intake and avoiding trans fats.
- Don’t stress too much about seed oils, but consider using alternatives when cooking at home.
- Remember that dietary fat doesn’t directly cause body fat – excess calories do, regardless of the source.
At the end of the day, the best approach to dietary fat is to keep it simple. Embrace a variety of whole, natural foods and cooking oils, and you’ll likely cover all your bases without overthinking it. By doing so, you’ll not only meet your nutritional needs but also enjoy the rich flavors and satisfying textures that healthy fats bring to your meals.
So go ahead, drizzle that olive oil, slice that avocado, and savor that piece of salmon. Your body – and your taste buds – will thank you for it.