Sometimes even science makes mistakes. Years ago Dr. Key’s Seven Countries Study examined heart risk based on lifestyle and dietary habits. He found that in the countries where people ate more fat — especially saturated fat — there were more cases of heart disease, and he concluded that the fat caused the disease. Bad science, correlation does not prove causation. Just because both fat intake and heart disease were higher among the same population doesn’t mean the heart disease was caused by the fat consumption.
Research about the possible harms and benefits of dietary fat is always evolving. A growing body of research suggests that when it comes to dietary fat, you should focus on eating healthy fats and avoiding unhealthy fats. There are four kinds: saturated, trans, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fat. These terms refer to the structure of the fatty acids found in fat, which have different chemical structures and physical properties. It’s the type and amount of fatty acid found in food that determines the effect of the fat on your health. Generally we want to avoid trans fat, limit saturated fat and focus on the unsaturated fats.
Omega 6 and omega 3 are the most important essential fatty acids. Most diets are heavy on omega 6 and low on omega 3 due to the over use of corn oils.
7 reasons why science now loves fat
1. Fat is a structurally integral part of every single cell membrane in our bodies.
2. Fats are required in order to properly digest and assimilate fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E and K.
3. Fats are required for the adequate use of protein.
4. Fats are a source of energy. They also slow food absorption, which helps with energy regulation.
5. When people eat less fat, they tend to eat more starch or sugar instead, and this actually increases their levels of the small, dense cholesterol that causes heart attacks.
6. Fats are key players in managing inflammation in your body. Some fats help your body inflame when necessary, other fats help your body anti-inflame.
7. Fat is frequently undervalued as a contributor to health and performance of athletes. The fat stores of the body are very large in comparison with carbohydrate stores. In some forms of exercise carbohydrate depletion is possibly a cause of fatigue and depletion and can occur within 1 to 2 hours of strenuous exercise. Fat stores can contain more than 50 times the amount of energy contained in carbohydrate stores. Ideally, athletes would like to tap into their fat stores as much as possible and save the carbohydrate for later in a competition. Researchers, coaches, and athletes have therefore tried to devise nutritional strategies to enhance fat metabolism, spare carbohydrate stores, and thereby improve endurance performance.
MORE INTERESTING FACTS………
Interesting Fact #1: It is called saturated fat because the carbon atoms contain all the hydrogen atoms they can hold, thus the term “saturated”.
Interesting Fact #2: Trans fat is a type of fat that occurs naturally in some foods in small amounts but most trans fats are made from oils through a food processing method called hydrogenation. Hydrogen molecules are added to unsaturated fat making it solid at room temperature. In the body, these fats mimic the properties of saturated fats.
Our desire to eat fat dates back to Stone Age times, because for most of human history, we didn’t have a grocery store down the street. So our brains became wired via evolution to seek out foods that were high in energy value to help us store fat for the next time there was a drought. Eating good fats can actually help you stay healthy. So, how does this apply to coffee? Part two will cover the marriage between fat and coffee as it can supposedly boost brain function, increase energy and set you up to have the best day ever. In the meantime, DRINK STRONG COFFEE.