Natural Health

johnE · #31 04-28-2008, 01:14 AM

High Fat, Low Carbs, What's the Harm?

"A diet high in fat has been suggested to contribute to a number of serious conditions. So far as heart disease goes, doesn't Atkins contend that his diet actually lowers cholesterol? "Cholesterol is only one risk factor of heart disease," points out Ivonne Cottrell, a registered dietition with the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. "Actually, I have had people come to me on this diet who had lowered their cholesterol and others who have seen theirs go up significantly."

"Cholesterol goes down when you lose weight," Anderson says. "It's the loss of the weight. If you try to maintain the weight loss by alternating high fat and 'normal' days, cholesterol could climb."

Some forms of cancer--breast, prostate--have been linked to high fat consumption, Eckel notes. Diabetes, too, is linked to fat. "My heavens," exclaims Anderson, "we did part of the research here that convinced the American Diabetes Association to recommend a low-fat diet for treatment and prevention of diabetes. Diabetes is best treated with high carbohydrate, high fiber, low glycemic [sugar], and low energy density foods."

High protein diets also strain the kidneys in susceptible people. "People eat more protein than they need now," observes Cottrell. "We have 18 million diabetics in this country, 50 million people with high blood pressure. They can have kidney problems--and high protein intake will bring them on faster," Anderson adds.

Obviously excess weight puts a strain on your heart. Would removing some of that strain balance out the artery-hardening potential of the high-fat diet? None of these authorities would say that. "This diet is thrombogenic," Anderson thunders. "This means the fat will tend to form lipid particles in your blood after meals, which could lead to blood clots, meaning heart attack or stroke.

"We worry about this," he continues, "because many of the people who love these diets are men aged 40 to 50, who like their meat. They may be 5 years from their first heart attack. This couldn't be worse for them. Did you know that for 50% of men who die from heart attacks, the fatal attack is their first symptom? They will never know what this diet is doing to them."

johnE · #32 04-28-2008, 01:18 AM

that artical doesn't distiguish between different fats

Is fat so bad? - Health & Wellbeing

Good and bad fats
Some fats are inherently more harmful to our health than others.

Saturated fats – found in a wide range of foods including fatty meats, full cream dairy products, pastries and cakes – raise our risk of heart attacks and strokes by increasing blood cholesterol levels (for more details, see The cholesterol story below).

Trans fats are even more potent than saturated fats in raising bad blood cholesterol. Found in many snack foods, processed foods, commercially prepared fried foods and some margarines, these man-made fats are produced by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of hydrogen (a process known as hydrogenation).

Unsaturated fats, on the other hand, are 'good' fats and can actually help unclog blood vessels blocked by cholesterol. Unsaturated fats include the mono-unsaturates found in olive oil, canola, and avocados, and two types of polyunsaturated fats: omega-6 (including safflower and sunflower oils) and omega-3 (found in fish, some plants such as spinach, nuts and seeds). Most Western diets are lower in omega-3 than omega-6, so focusing on boosting omega-3 fats is especially important.

The cholesterol story
Good and bad cholesterolJust as there are good and bad fats, there are also good and bad types of cholesterol. Bad cholesterol, known as LDL cholesterol, tends to stick to artery walls, making it harder for the blood to get through. Good cholesterol, or HDL cholesterol, cleans up bad cholesterol and takes it back to the liver.

How good and bad fats affect good and bad cholesterolSaturated fat raises both good HDL and bad LDL but the net effect is negative. Trans fats raise bad LDL and lower good HDL, so are especially harmful. Unsaturated fats, in contrast, pack a double 'good' whammy: not only do they lower bad LDL, but they also raise good HDL.

Foods and cholesterolEating cholesterol in foods has a much smaller influence on blood cholesterol levels than the mix of fats in the diet. Cutting back on foods containing saturated and trans fats is a more useful way to reduce blood cholesterol.

More information: Cholesterol fact file

kebod · #33 04-28-2008, 10:19 AM

John Tierny is a science writer for the New York Times, one of the most respected newspapers in the U.S. Yes, there is propaganda. There is also good science. The New York Times is not the only newpaper reporting this same news. Other news organizations and other nutritional scientists are discussing it.

Unfortunately, the first report in the '80s was propaganda and we bought it, hook, line and sinker.

kebod

johnE · #34 04-28-2008, 04:06 PM

i will never trust info that comes from a news paper.
and i dont trust john terney. there were no facts in the paper he was just saying that there are no facts to prove that we should cut down on fat.
but there are facts pointing to unhealthy fat as a problem.

so do you think more fat is good? should i start eating cheeseburgers agian? haha

ussaturated fat is good . but thats not to be over done either.

kebod · #35 04-29-2008, 09:59 PM

John,

You say there are no facts in the paper??? The fact is that the study researched 22 different countries, but Dr. Koop, the U.S. Surgeon General, only used information from a minority of countries that supported his belief that fat was unhealthy. He ignored the fact that the majority of countries did not have a correlation between poor health and a high fat diet, but rather had good health while on a high-fat diet.

This was the origin of the whole movement in support of low-fat diets and it was begun by the U.S. government. Non-scientists, employees of the U.S. government, took a study and used only what they wanted to use, not the findings of the study. If you are skeptical of the U.S. government, this is as good an issue as any to make you skeptical. The U.S. government gave us false information.

Now, it is coming to light what the research really found -- that we need fat in our diet. I'm not saying, and neither is the research, that we should pig out on fat, but that fat is good, as long as it is the good fats. And as long as we stay at a normal weight.

I suffered from extremely dry skin all my life, and various skin ailments, including KP. Maybe if I had eaten olive oil, coconut oil, nut oils, nuts, even butter in moderation, I would have had softer, moister skin and not had all my skin problems. But, I believed what we were being told -- that a low-fat diet is best. Well, I'm not eating low-fat anymore, and I feel great. I have lots of energy, my skin is soft and not dry, and I am not gaining extra weight.

The purpose of this thread is not to make you change your mind. Please believe whatever you want. The purpose is to put out for all our members information on health as it relates to natural remedies and methods, not chemicals or pharmaceuticals.

kebod

johnE · #36 04-30-2008, 02:28 AM

no i dont trust the us govenment. i do trust what doctors tell me. and that is that saturated fat is very bad from [animals and sugar]. unsaturated fat is very good[from nuts olive oil and some vegtables], and trans fat is horrable[ chemicaly altered oil].

"I'm not eating low-fat anymore, and I feel great"
are you eating all three fats now or just unsaturated fat?
were you avoiding unsaturated fat?

kebod · #37 04-30-2008, 04:39 PM

John,

I'm eating all fats except for trans-fats -- they won't help us. I eat mostly unsaturated fats, but I also eat butter and cream, saturated fats that are healthy in moderation. That is the key word -- moderation in all things. I avoid sugar, so I don't eat things like ice cream or dairy desserts. I also avoid non-organic fats, but I eat lots of farm-raised eggs and organic butter. Also organic coconut oil, olive oil, cold-pressed avocado oil and other nut and seed oils, like walnut and sesame, when I can get them.

By the way, there is no fat in sugar.

kebod

johnE · #38 04-30-2008, 05:21 PM

so did you fall of the vegitarian wagon? are you still a vegitarian? haha

"By the way, there is no fat in sugar." i knew you were going to call me on that one.

i was thinking of high fructose corn surup and i wrote sugar. that would have been wrong too, theres no fat in hfcs.

kebod · #39 04-30-2008, 05:29 PM

John,

I'm not a vegan -- they don't eat eggs or dairy products. I do. Technically, I'm a pescatarian. No, I'm not making this word up. It is a real word that describes people who don't eat any meat or flesh, except for fish. I wish I had another protein option beside fish, but at least it is wild-caught food that is free of antibiotics and hormones.

kebod

Shorin · #40 05-01-2008, 03:15 AM

I agree that it's definitely good to go natural and be more healthy overall. Your skin is often an expression of how healthy you are on the inside, so it's also sensible that better health in general leads to better skin too!

I was reading the debate on fats, and I've actually taken a food science class on this kind of stuff:
Fats (lipids) are an absolutely necessary part of your diet. If you didn't eat any, you would lack essential fatty acids that your cells need to function and replicate properly. Your cell membrane is made up by a lipid bilayer. A lack of fat leads to lack of material for cell division, which leads to less cell replication to replace dead or damaged cells. Fats also aid in the transport of vitamins. Just as there are water soluble vitamins like Vitamin C, there are also fat-soluble vitamins that require the presence of lipids for absorption. So basically, fat (preferably unsaturated) is good for you! It's absolutely necessary for bodily functions, so if you cut back on it too much you could end up hurting yourself.
However, fats have a LOT more calories than carbs or proteins, so if you eat too much you end up accumulating it, which could lead to health problems. So the key to fat intake is to neither deprive yourself of fats, nor binge on them.

kebod · #41 05-01-2008, 03:12 PM

Shorin,

Thanks for your information on fats. Yes, they are essential to a healthy diet, but in moderation. "Moderation in all things", they say, which are usually the things we would like to over-indulge in, like ice cream. Unfortunately, the "low-fat" diet has led too many people to not get enough of the good fats that they need.

kebod

johnE · #42 05-02-2008, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kebod

John,

I'm not a vegan -- they don't eat eggs or dairy products. I do. Technically, I'm a pescatarian. No, I'm not making this word up. It is a real word that describes people who don't eat any meat or flesh, except for fish. I wish I had another protein option beside fish, but at least it is wild-caught food that is free of antibiotics and hormones.

kebod

maybe you could drink protein shakes. i just bought a big container of protein powder. i was not getting nearly enouph protein in my diet. its cheaper than fish.
i paid 19$ for a container that has 33 servings, each serving has 17 grams of protein aswell as a bunch of amino acids.

kebod · #43 05-05-2008, 03:13 PM

From Nutrition Data:
April 24, 2008
Rethinking cholesterol
by Monica Reinagel, L.D.N., C.N.S.

For decades, we were warned to avoid foods containing cholesterol, such as eggs, shrimp, and many other types of seafood. The thought was that dietary cholesterol would contribute to high blood cholesterol. Now we know better.
Most of the cholesterol in your body is produced by your own liver. A diet high in saturated fats tends to promote the production of cholesterol by the liver. Dietary cholesterol, on the other hand, does not seem to have this effect. If anything, your liver will adjust its cholesterol production to compensate for the amount of cholesterol in your diet. That is, if you take in more dietary cholesterol, your liver will make a bit less.
To read complete article: Rethinking cholesterol | NutritionData.com Blog by Monica Reinagel, L.D.N., C.N.S. from NutritionData.com