Fat: The Wrongly Accused

I came across this tasty little tidbit early today:

According to a new book out called Fat by Jennifer McLagan, bacon's fat is a lot like that of olive oil: "45 percent of the fat in bacon is monounsaturated, the good-for-you fat that can help lower bad cholesterol levels. Better still, bacon's monounsaturated fat turns out to be oleic acid, the same fat found in olive oil. So that means that some could argue that bacon is about half as good for you as olive oil and about 100 times more delicious."

You wont find any arguing on this side! Poor bacon. Why did it get such a bad rap? It shouldn't be picked on because it is beautiful and delicious. Don't worry Bacon, I understand all too much. Lets take a look at where fat's good name began to be rubbed, unfairly, into the mud.

Lets start here, in 1960, when the government responded to an increase in heart disease with this monstrosity:

Little did they know at the time, nor care to correct now, the breads, cereals, rice and pastas were contributing, if not causing the heart disease; not the saturated fat and cholesterol......aannnyywaaayy....poor bacon is lumped up there at the top of the pyramid. How sad.

So, years and years of government and doctoral prodding have us all stuck in this stupid mentality that fat=bad. If you can see the delicious, delicious fat that = extra bad. We have this mentality, this oh so very wrong, mentality that fat makes us fat; that fat makes us unhealthy. Don't make me make you think....ugh! Fine.

Join with me now on a mental journey. Picture what you believe a hunter/gatherer...person to look like. What are they doing? What does their body look like? What are they eating? Not a scary thing to imagine, unless your hunter/gatherer chick isn't wearing a shirt. Just sayin.

Lets disregard the fact that people have lived off of animals and plants for a really long time and, from studies done by observing a few of the last remaining, they are about a billion times healthier than most Americans. (Yes, a BILLION!) Lets disregard that as a free-flow of breads, grains, pastas and rice were made more plentiful, and cheaper, to Americans, that we have seen a sure and steady rise in obesity and heart disease (to name a few). All of that aside, please explain to me why, if fat is the secret killer in the closet, the fat free movement of the 1990's did, oh, nothing?

Oh sweet, sweet fat free double latte. You were all for not. Think about it. Companies were taking out the fat from butters, cookies, bacon (sniff), popcorn, ice cream, and a ton of other products. They had to replace the fat with something, yes? How about chemicals and additives. Look junkies, it wasn't until processed foods (yes, that includes your mini muffin) that the issues we face now made their headway. Pfff...nice going.

All that to tell you this: Fat is not bad for you. We ourselves are products of mind shaping by the Department of Health and Human Services. Eat your bread! Eat that spaghetti! Don't let your toast get away! You'd be better off eating a spoonful of butter than the toast in the first place.

There is a lot of science on these issues; you have only to look. Try Robb Wolf's 30 Day Challenge or Whole 9's 30 Day Challege (My favorite because the author says Effin) or Mark's Daily Apple 30 Day Challenge. All different sites saying the same exact thing.

My success story is only starting to unfold. At first it was all about my losing fat. Now it is all about the extreme change in how I feel, perform, my daily life, my health, my happiness....all that weight stuff is just secondary.