There have been a lot of studies that have proven saturated fats are bad for you, including a high tech one publicized a few days ago that proved a high fat, high saturated fat diet caused inflammation in the blood vessels. Other studies have proven that diets with low to moderate fat consumption and low to zero saturated fat consumption actually decreases heart disease risks, improves cardiac health, and leads to longer life spans.
This comment in the article struck me - a weight-loss or maintenance diet in which some carbohydrates are replaced with fat — even if it's saturated — will reduce markers of heart-disease risk more than if you followed a low-fat, high-carb diet. The study I mentioned above proved exactly the opposite.
Yeah there's so many different opinions and studies I don't know whose right anymore. I guess what's important is not eating too much of anything and burning off what you do eat.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzanne 3FC
There have been a lot of studies that have proven saturated fats are bad for you, including a high tech one publicized a few days ago that proved a high fat, high saturated fat diet caused inflammation in the blood vessels. Other studies have proven that diets with low to moderate fat consumption and low to zero saturated fat consumption actually decreases heart disease risks, improves cardiac health, and leads to longer life spans.
This comment in the article struck me - a weight-loss or maintenance diet in which some carbohydrates are replaced with fat — even if it's saturated — will reduce markers of heart-disease risk more than if you followed a low-fat, high-carb diet. The study I mentioned above proved exactly the opposite.
We were discussing that msn article in the 100 lb club. The 3 points that the article makes about low carb is really saying "don't eat processed foods".
Low fat diets do work but you can't substitute the fat with processed sugary foods. That was the problem in the late 70s/80s where a low fat diet was advocated then manufacturers started making lowfat/nonfat products with tons of sugar. Then surprisingly people were actually consuming more calories.
It is the same for atkins. People who follow atkins do fairly well unless they start eating a lot of processed 'low carb' foods, then they can stall or gain weight.
I wish they would just say a whole foods diet is best rather than saying 'hey low fat is good for you' 'oh wait low carb is good for you' 'oh wait... uhhh...'
Also, the article talks about the masai diet. I remember in high school one of my professors talking about the masai. They would drink milk with the blood of the cows mixed in it. very yum. It is also not surprising that once the masai start adopting a western diet, their health goes down the drain. Same for japanese, chinese and many other cultures with a native healthy diet. You enter in a lot of crap into your diet and your health will go to crap. Is the crap carbs? Is it saturated fat? Its a mix of a lot of processed junk is what it is.
All I can say is, its about time the medical profession is realizing fat is NOT what makes individuals fat!!
This has nothing to do with fat making or not making anyone fat It's about the health implications of what we put in our bodies in regards to cardiac health - weight is not the question. As far as fat making you fat, everything has the potential to make you fat if it contains calories. Too many calories, regardless of where they come from will do it every time. The medical profession has always known that.
I think 95% of the confusion is due to the media being basically obsessed with finding a "one size fits all" solution to weight loss and health in general.
Have people lost weight and kept it off by keeping calories low? Yes!
Have people lost weight and kept it off by using low-carb approaches? Yes!
Have people lost weight and kept it off with whole foods? Yes!
Have people lost weight and kept it off with low-glycemic approaches? Yes!
If you read the studies, the conclusions RARELY contradict - they say things like "We find that people can lose weight by eating X way". Which is usually TRUE - if you eat that way, you can lose weight! Then the media turns it into "Best way to lose weight is eating X", which is not what the studies said, and which isn't true for everyone.
Just look at the headline - "What if Bad Fat Is Actually Good For You" - the studies referenced aren't necessarily saying that saturated fat is GOOD. They appear to be saying that REPLACING some of your calories from other sources with calories from saturated fat may not be detrimental to heart disease risk, as previously thought. But that doesn't mean it is GOOD - it means it doesn't matter as much where your calories are coming from if you're successfully following a weight loss or maintenance eating plan.
Last edited by mandalinn82; 11-08-2007 at 04:48 PM.
I haven't seen any studies that draw attention to pre and post diet behavior. Usually they follow people while or after they are making changes. Even when I was on Atkins for example, my calorie level was so reduced from what I was eating before the diet, that while the percentage of saturated fat in my diet jumped dramatically, my calorie consumption was so drastically cut that my overall total of saturated fat may actually have been reduced.
For example if I was eating 1000 calories from fat, mostly saturated and 2000 calories from protein and carbohydrates 33% of my calories are coming from fat.
Now if I'm on Atkins and eating 800 calories from fat again mostly saturated, and 1000 calories from other sources, my fat percentage has gone up, but my total fat consumption has gone down.
Besides which, all of these statistics are based on group numbers, not individual ones. The best advice to anyone is see your doctor and hav regular blood tests for various health markers. If you start a diet plan and your cholesterol skyrockets, maybe try a new plan.
I think we have to be our own scientists and lab rats in this area.
I truly think if we take out the processes foods from our diet we would be much healthier people. To much sat fat is bad because of all kinds of reasons. To many simple carbs are bad. Most of us here, are not just wanting to loss lbs. We want to be more healthy people. There is no one size fits all plan. A good blood work up would tell many of us what are body has to much of and what it doesn't have enough of.
I personally don't care what these articles say, I don't see anything good about saturated fat. Yes, we need some fat in our diets. But I try and shoot for the good fats. My cholesterol (triglycerides especially) used to be sky-high. When I stopped eating a high-fat diet, it came down. My triglycerides (blood fats) are now at a normal level, which is 150 or below. Mine are 120. They used to be over 800.
Why? Because I ate a lot of fat. My cholesterol was high, my blood pressure was high and I had frequent chest pains. I was a walking timebomb.
When I started eating a diet very low in saturated fat, all of that changed. I still eat SOME saturated fat, but not much. And I don't plan to change that anytime soon.
well if you think about it eating saturated fat is much more natural than eating processed 100 calorie pack oreos.
WARNING! WARNING! Soap box moment...
This statement is not exactly true if you are eating conventional meat and living in the US. I find nothing natural about the way most of the livestock is raised in this country. However, if you are speaking of meat that was raised the way Nature really intended (true free range & eating a natural diet--not grain force fed), then there is less saturated fat in the meat anyway.
Moment over...
Here's my take on the whole thing:
The two groups of people who live the longest on Earth are in two locations. Okinawa (they eat very little meat, lots of fish, veggies, rice, etc.) and Loma Linda, CA (vegetarian 7th Day Adventists.) Somehow I doubt that saturated fat is a good fat. I think perhaps we should stop looking at studies and start trying to emulate the diets of people we know to live long and healthy lives.
One of the problems with all of these studies, is that by the time they reach mainstream press, the information is so distorted, it's virtually useless. Very few people are interested in terms like common sense or moderation. Extreme claims sell more magazines and attract more viewers. We apparently want a list of foods to never eat (with the dire consequences often left rather murky and mysterious) and a list of foods to always eat (often the consequences just as mysterious), or a day by day, meal by meal, menu plan (which nearly noone will be able to follow, they'll give up and just go back to eating the crap they always eat).
It isn't surprising that saturated fat might (in some cases, in some amounts) be less harmful than some alternatives that some people may have thought were better (such as the low fat, highly processed, high sugar snack foods).
Basic nutrition isn't rocket science, and there are tons of great inexpensive basic nutrition books out there, and just like dieting for weight loss, dieting for health is more about making progress rather than trying to attain some mystical and mythical perfection. Eating more fruits and vegetables, less and leaner cuts of meat, fewer processed foods...
In college I had a friend who was a vegetarian and only ate "organic" fruits and vegetables because she was afraid of pesticides. In theory, this is a great practice, but because organics were expensive, she ate almost no fruits and vegetables, and very little protein. She lived mostly on health food store processed foods (such as macaroni and cheese and instant soups, granola. She had some beliefs I thought were pretty weird (no fresh milk because of her fear of hormones, but ate commercial yoghurt like Yoplait brand...)
Have people lost weight and kept it off by keeping calories low? Yes!
Have people lost weight and kept it off by using low-carb approaches? Yes!
Have people lost weight and kept it off with whole foods? Yes!
Have people lost weight and kept it off with low-glycemic approaches? Yes!
Thank you! Yes, ALL diets work, if you stick with them The reason is they all find a way to get you to eat less. You just have to like it well enough to stick with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaplods
Even when I was on Atkins for example, my calorie level was so reduced from what I was eating before the diet, that while the percentage of saturated fat in my diet jumped dramatically, my calorie consumption was so drastically cut that my overall total of saturated fat may actually have been reduced.
Yep, when I was on Atkins I followed the menu plan as it was written in the book. I lost weight, but no faster than with any other diet I had tried. When I checked my calories in FitDay I discovered I was on just another reduced calorie diet. Go figure I hated the food and struggled to get by each day, and my body craved more nutrition than I could get from such a limited amount of vegetables, so I moved on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zenor77
The two groups of people who live the longest on Earth are in two locations. Okinawa (they eat very little meat, lots of fish, veggies, rice, etc.) and Loma Linda, CA (vegetarian 7th Day Adventists.) Somehow I doubt that saturated fat is a good fat. I think perhaps we should stop looking at studies and start trying to emulate the diets of people we know to live long and healthy lives.
I'm so glad you brought this up! I've been hearing more about this lately, and it really is fascinating. Maybe we can get a thread going in the Whole Foods forum
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaplods
One of the problems with all of these studies, is that by the time they reach mainstream press, the information is so distorted, it's virtually useless. Very few people are interested in terms like common sense or moderation. Extreme claims sell more magazines and attract more viewers. We apparently want a list of foods to never eat (with the dire consequences often left rather murky and mysterious) and a list of foods to always eat (often the consequences just as mysterious), or a day by day, meal by meal, menu plan (which nearly noone will be able to follow, they'll give up and just go back to eating the crap they always eat).
Well said Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to change any time soon.
Saturated Fat Not so Bad Afterall??
It's about the health implications of what we put in our bodies in regards to cardiac health - weight is not the question. As far as fat making you fat, everything has the potential to make you fat if it contains calories. Too many calories, regardless of where they come from will do it every time. The medical profession has always known that.
The reason is they all find a way to get you to eat less. You just have to like it well enough to stick with it. 
I hated the food and struggled to get by each day, and my body craved more nutrition than I could get from such a limited amount of vegetables, so I moved on. 
Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to change any time soon.
