Why is fat so vilified?

[Riprorin]

The admonitions about avoiding fat at all costs appear to be based on junk science. As near as I can tell, it's driven largely by the food conglomerates and poorly informed medical professionals. The only really bad fat is trans-fat.

Here's a series of articles on the topic:

TheTruth about Saturated Fat

Here's an excerpt:

The Benefits Of Saturated Fats

The much-maligned saturated fats-which Americans are trying to avoid-are not the cause of our modern diseases. In fact, they play many important roles in the body chemistry:

Saturated fatty acids constitute at least 50% of the cell membranes. They are what gives our cells necessary stiffness and integrity.
They play a vital role in the health of our bones. For calcium to be effectively incorporated into the skeletal structure, at least 50% of the dietary fats should be saturated.
They lower Lp(a), a substance in the blood that indicates proneness to heart disease.39 They protect the liver from alcohol and other toxins, such as Tylenol.
They enhance the immune system.
They are needed for the proper utilization of essential fatty acids. Elongated omega-3 fatty acids are better retained in the tissues when the diet is rich in saturated fats.
Saturated 18-carbon stearic acid and 16-carbon palmitic acid are the preferred foods for the heart, which is why the fat around the heart muscle is highly saturated. The heart draws on this reserve of fat in times of stress.
Short- and medium-chain saturated fatty acids have important antimicrobial properties. They protect us against harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract.

The scientific evidence, honestly evaluated, does not support the assertion that "artery-clogging" saturated fats cause heart disease. Actually, evaluation of the fat in artery clogs reveals that only about 26% is saturated. The rest is unsaturated, of which more than half is polyunsaturated.

 

[cpals]

You can't force me to eat that Big Mac!!

 

[Bryan]

Nah, it's all about carbs now.

 

[isekii]

I eat whatever the hell I want.
I could care less. If I die, i'll die eating good food

 

[SagaLore]

The problems started when we invented hydrogenated oils - transfatty acids. And started deep frying everything.

I remember my mother-in-law saying that she liked fish, but didn't eat it because it was high in fat. :Q So there are a lot of people out there that know nothing of polunsaturated and saturated. And then you enter into the whole cholesterol realm - your body's cholesterol is not affected by the cholesterol you eat, in fact your liver produces the cholesterol. The bad cholesterol is made when there is a presence of fungal spores in the bloodstream. The medical community doesn't actually know why the cholesterol medications work, they were discovered while testing them for other ailments - it so happens that most of the cholesterol medications are actually powerful antifungal medications.

Natural saturated fat rules. :beer:

 

[Riprorin]

I saw a study where eating eggs raised HDL. Eggs are also a great source of protein.

Yet, we're told not to eat them because of they are high in cholesterol.

The amount of bad information is amazing.

 

[dullard]

It all really got its start in the early 80s. A bald woman (I wish I remembered her name) was on every talk show, every news show, and almost every infomercial with one catchy phrase: "fat makes you fat". She had no education, so scientific proof, nothing. But it caught on. She argued that you could eat 100 pounds of pasta a day as long as you didn't eat any fat. You could eat tons of breads, grains, fruit, vegetables, etc - 2, 3, 5, 10, 100 times more food than you normally eat and lose weight. Of course it was all just a bogus way to make a buck selling her diet book. But the phrase caught on, "Fat makes you fat". The low fat craze really caught on with the consumers. Low-fat products flooded the market and people ate way more than they used to, because "it is low fat". Fat consumption plummetted. What happened? The less fat people ate, the heavier they got. It is amazing to look at graphs of historical fat consumption and average weight - they go perfectly hand in hand (as one goes up the other goes down). All due to this one bald woman trying to make a buck.

The fact is your body's mass MUST obey the conservation of mass. If you put 5 kg in, and 4 kg comes out (bathroom duties, lost hair, bleeding, exhaled carbon, sweat, etc.) then you gained 1 kg. That is true if you ate 5 kg of fat, 5 kg of carbohydrates, or 5 kg of anything else. Fat DOESN'T make you fat. Eating 2, 3, 5, 10, 100 times more food than you used to makes you fat.

In fact fat makes you feel full so you eat far less food. A little bit of fat 30 minutes before a meal will dramatically cut your consumption during that meal. Avoid all fat and you never get that factor of "fullness". Sure it is just one of a half dozen "fullness" factors, but it is an important one.

There were low-fat diets around before this bald woman hit the scenes. But they never caught on. Not until she came around. We haven't recovered yet.

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

Originally posted by: isekii
I eat whatever the hell I want.
I could care less. If I die, i'll die eating good food

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Just because you need fat doesn't mean you need alot of it. I don't know why this is so difficult to understand.

 

[Eug]

Why is fat so vilified?

Because it tastes so good.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: dullard
It all really got its start in the early 80s. A bald woman (I wish I remembered her name) was on every talk show, every news show, and almost every infomercial with one catchy phrase: "fat makes you fat". She had no education, so scientific proof, nothing. But it caught on. She argued that you could eat 100 pounds of pasta a day as long as you didn't eat any fat. You could eat tons of breads, grains, fruit, vegetables, etc - 2, 3, 5, 10, 100 times more food than you normally eat and lose weight. Of course it was all just a bogus way to make a buck selling her diet book. But the phrase caught on, "Fat makes you fat". The low fat craze really caught on with the consumers. Low-fat products flooded the market and people ate way more than they used to, because "it is low fat". Fat consumption plummetted. What happened? The less fat people ate, the heavier they got. It is amazing to look at graphs of historical fat consumption and average weight - they go perfectly hand in hand (as one goes up the other goes down). All due to this one bald woman trying to make a buck.

The fact is your body's mass MUST obey the conservation of mass. If you put 5 kg in, and 4 kg comes out (bathroom duties, lost hair, bleeding, exhaled carbon, sweat, etc.) then you gained 1 kg. That is true if you ate 5 kg of fat, 5 kg of carbohydrates, or 5 kg of anything else. Fat DOESN'T make you fat. Eating 2, 3, 5, 10, 100 times more food than you used to makes you fat.

In fact fat makes you feel full so you eat far less food. A little bit of fat 30 minutes before a meal will dramatically cut your consumption during that meal. Avoid all fat and you never get that factor of "fullness". Sure it is just one of a half dozen "fullness" factors, but it is an important one.

There were low-fat diets around before this bald woman hit the scenes. But they never caught on. Not until she came around. We haven't recovered yet.

she was annoying, but she didn't start it.

she was a symptom not a cause of the anti fat movement.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Most people have no issues with "good fats", i.e. the ones that come from fish, etc.

 

[Wingznut]

Of course then people buy the "Low Fat" version of their favorite products, thinking they must be better because they have less overall fat... Right?

Wrong! To compensate, these products are generally loaded with trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Way worse for you than natural fats.

 

[ElFenix]

we've had low fat for 20 years or more now and we're fatter than ever.

 

[Yossarian]

fat makes you fat because it has more than twice the calories of protein or carbs per gram.

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
we've had low fat for 20 years or more now and we're fatter than ever.

Bingo!

I can completely relate to this. My wife and I ate nothing but low fat. Rarely ever had red meat and ate the low fat varient of pretty much everything. And yet, we gained weight. How can this be???

We now eat much better... Eat only natural foods, cut out almost all sugars, and not being concerned with the fat content. Nine months later... I am thinner, my cholesterol numbers are way improved, and overall much more energy.

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Originally posted by: Wingznut
Of course then people buy the "Low Fat" version of their favorite products, thinking they must be better because they have less overall fat... Right?

Not to mention the idea that if something is low-fat, you can eat more of it without consequences, which then becomes a double whammy.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: ElFenix
we've had low fat for 20 years or more now and we're fatter than ever.

Bingo!

I can completely relate to this. My wife and I ate nothing but low fat. Rarely ever had red meat and ate the low fat varient of pretty much everything. And yet, we gained weight. How can this be???

Because you ate too much of it, plain and simple.

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: ElFenix
we've had low fat for 20 years or more now and we're fatter than ever.

Bingo!

I can completely relate to this. My wife and I ate nothing but low fat. Rarely ever had red meat and ate the low fat varient of pretty much everything. And yet, we gained weight. How can this be???

Because you ate too much of it, plain and simple.

Not so simple, sparky. I don't eat much at all, and I never have. Significantly less than what my peers eat, that's for sure.

I still eat the same amount I ever did, yet I've lost well over 40 lbs since I educated myself on what a farce the "food pyramid" and "low fat" is.

 

[amcdonald]

People simply aren't educated enough in simple biology to understand what will make them fat.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: amcdonald
People simply aren't educated enough in simple biology to understand what will make them fat.

Basically that's it. A majority of people are just downright retarded when it comes to knowing how to eat healthy, how to loose weight, and how to keep the weight off.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: ElFenix
we've had low fat for 20 years or more now and we're fatter than ever.

Bingo!

I can completely relate to this. My wife and I ate nothing but low fat. Rarely ever had red meat and ate the low fat varient of pretty much everything. And yet, we gained weight. How can this be???

Because you ate too much of it, plain and simple.

Not so simple, sparky. I don't eat much at all, and I never have. Significantly less than what my peers eat, that's for sure.

I still eat the same amount I ever did, yet I've lost well over 40 lbs since I educated myself on what a farce the "food pyramid" and "low fat" is.

Down with the food pyramid.

 

[ElFenix]

does anyone else find it somewhat retarded that so-called "nutritionists" often don't have a background in cellular biology? how can you determine what people should eat if you don't understand cellular energy pathways?

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: Wingznut

Originally posted by: ElFenix
we've had low fat for 20 years or more now and we're fatter than ever.

Bingo!

I can completely relate to this. My wife and I ate nothing but low fat. Rarely ever had red meat and ate the low fat varient of pretty much everything. And yet, we gained weight. How can this be???

Because you ate too much of it, plain and simple.

Not so simple, sparky. I don't eat much at all, and I never have. Significantly less than what my peers eat, that's for sure.

I still eat the same amount I ever did, yet I've lost well over 40 lbs since I educated myself on what a farce the "food pyramid" and "low fat" is.

Well, if you're suggesting it's your metabolism of carbs/protein/fat, it's a common myth.

Plus other can eat more and exercise more.

Some basic facts:

1) People who gain weight often think they eat less than someone else with a similar body habitus and exercise habits but who is not gaining weight. However, if you do controlled analyses of caloric intake, the person gaining the weight is almost invariably eating more calories, despite what he or she might think.

2) People who are overweight have a higher metabolism than people who are normal weight, if everything else is equal. (It takes energy to maintain fat.)

3) "Low-fat" food is often high-cal, but just lower cal than the usual even higher-fat versions. eg: Low-cal cheesecake. Oftentimes low-fat food is just high sugar or whatever.

4) People who preferentially eat low-fat foods often eat more of it once the diet starts. This has been shown time and again in studies of caloric intakes of dieters who gain weight.

5) People who lose weight on low-carb diets don't lose weight because of low-carbs per se. They lose weight because of lowered calories and/or increased expenditure (ie. exercise).

6) Many people lose weight on high-carb diets, as long as they exercise and decrease their caloric intake. The problem with high-carb diets is the issue of satiety. Fats make you feel full quickly and for a longer period of time.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Eug

6) Many people lose weight on high-carb diets, as long as they exercise and decrease their caloric intake. The problem with high-carb diets is the issue of satiety. Fats make you feel full quickly and for a longer period of time.

fiber does as well, but unfortunately a lot of people think they can just eat white bread and white rice and baked potatoes. not a lot of fiber there.