Nutrition Month is 50 Shades of Crazy. About Those Fats.

OMG whatever you do, DON’T eat the FATS!! They’re going to clog your arteries, make you fat, turn you into a couch slug, and give you zits!

After being convinced for the past 30 years that if you eat fat, you get fat, now the only thing we can be convinced about is that no one is convinced about anything.

But. When the obesity rates in the U.S. were 11% (can you imagine looking around today and seeing an 11% obesity rate?) we must have been eating really low amounts of fat in our diet, right?

Wrong. In the 1960’s, the amount of fat as a percentage of total calories is projected to be around 40%. Yes, 40%. Between then (healthy us) and now (unhealthy us), our fat consumption has declined to be very close to official recommendation (~32%). At the same time, caloric consumption has sky-rocketed.

Why? It may be because fats are satiating, and allow you to better control cravings and portions at the meal.

Don’t get me wrong, we do need to control fat intake, but in healthy cultures they do this by controlling volume, without creating reduced fat options. In fact, zero people do this but us, the ones with some of the biggest weight and health problems.

Finally, during March Nutrition month, eat good fats, not bad fats. How do you know the difference? Good fats come from natural sources, and plant fats from olives, nuts, avocados etc. are best.