FAT, The Good the Bad and the Amazing!
I often hear of people in search of low fat options because they think the term "low fat" is synonymous with healthy. I have to exercise much self control to keep myself from cringing because nothing could be further from the truth, and the people who are trying to be healthy and fit are shooting themselves in the foot.
The truth is that our brains are over 60% fat.
The myelin sheath is a crucial part of brain function, and it is 85% fat. It serves as the conductor on our nerve cells that carries nerve impulses quickly and efficiently through our brain. As the myelin deteriorates you see things like Alzheimer's and dementia begin to develop. The autopsy on Albert Einstein's brain revealed an above average amount of myelination and many people attribute his genius to this anomaly. Fat is crucial for our brain, but not just any fat. Fish oil from clean sources that has not been compromised by heat processing is liquid gold. Not only does it contain EPA and DHA, which are critical to brain function, but it is also incredibly anti inflammatory are critical for comfortable joint movement.
These critical fats are also plentiful in the eggs of free range chickens. I say free range chickens as opposed to factory caged chickens because factory chickens don't have access to the insects which are loaded with good stuff, and because us finicky Americans are not keen on eating insects (myself included) A good farm fresh, free range egg is the next best option!
Fish oil, which is amazing when handled correctly, can easily become rancid and unhealthy when it is high heat processed because those precious elements are not heat stable. This is what brings me to the bad fats. Many of our cooking oils have been through such rigorous processing that they are rancid and oxidized by the time the end up on the shelf at the grocery store. These compromised vegetable (corn, soybean, canola) oils are inflammatory and loaded with free radicals that cause cell damage in our bodies and they are steeped in omega 6 and very low in omega 3. Our bodies function best with an even balance of omega 3 and 6. This healthy balance is struck in those free range eggs and fish oil I spoke about earlier.
Hydrogenated oils, found in non dairy creamer, cool whip, and margarine are oils that have been treated with hydrogen at high heats (Sometimes up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit). The process allows the otherwise liquid oil to stay solid at room temperature and the resulting product resembles plastic much more closely than it does oil. Its the most lethal fat that I know of and shows a strong correlation with occurrence cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and heart problems. The correlation is attributed to the fact that the plastic nature of hydrogenated oils. Once it is absorbed into your cell inhibits the cell permeability, crucial for communication, assimilation of nutrients, and elimination of waste. In essence, your cells become plastic.
In the next blog we will discuss healthy cooking oils and their application in the kitchen.
