Tag Archives: Fat

A Confession and A Countdown

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Another week in front of us, huh? Well how about that.  How was everyone’s holiday weekend? Mine was actually pretty fantastic, and ended with a day trip to NYC with Will on Sunday, which was excellent in itself! Alas, now I’m exhausted, but lack of sleep is well worth an eventful weekend in my book.  As you can see from my title, there are two pieces to today’s post: a confession and a countdown.

First, the confession.

Let’s just get it out of the way before it gets awkward in here.

So, all of you (hopefully) know that I am a huge proponent of including fats in your diet (Yes, even saturated fat), and I am generally against substituting fake low-fat and fat-free chemical-laden foods for real foods.

Yet, in spite of this, I did something I’m kind of ashamed of.

If you spend a lot of time perusing healthy living or foodie blogs, you’ve probably heard about something called Pb2.

Yes, it’s powdered peanut butter. And Yes, it has 85% less fat and calories than real peanut butter. And Yes, I ordered some.

Let’s get ONE thing clear before anyone calls me a hypocrite:

I did not ever intend to replace my nutbutter intake with this. I only ordered it because I really love the taste of peanuts, and tend to eat a lot of peanut butter if I’m not careful.  Because peanut butter is so calorie dense, this can lead to far more calories than someone my size requires.

So rather than replacing the peanut butter in my oatmeal with Pb2, I simply got this so that I could add in some peanut flavor to my yogurt without over-calorizing (yes, it’s a word. well it is now) myself, especially on days with light or no training.

And the thing is, Pb2 really is an OK product. It is not chemically formed peanut butter, nor is it created with fillers and flavors. It actually is made of peanuts. It is peanuts that are basically pressed through a sieve, removing most of the oils/fats, and leaving behind a peanut dust that is then combined with salt and a tiny bit of sugar.

3 Ingredients. That’s it. That’s much more than I can say for some other “low calorie” peanut butters out there (ahem, Better ‘n Butter).  Although one of those ingredients is unfortunately sugar, it’s only a very small amount. I do think, though, that the product and flavor would be better without it.

So, after trying it in my yogurt the other afternoon (you just mix a tablespoon of powder with a Tbs of water, and voila! “peanut butter”), here’s my verdict.

I don’t get it.

Sure, it gives a peanut-y flavor, and yes, the consistency is similar enough to the real thing (although a little bit chalky), but it’s so very clearly not peanut butter. You know what it is about peanut butter that tastes so good? It’s the fat. Fat is one of the things that makes food palatable, which is why fatty foods are just so darn good. But this just didn’t have it (or it only had about 15% of “it”). It was tolerable, sure. But would I ever go for this stuff when I’m truly craving nut butter? Probably not.

I’m not saying it’s a terrible product, and I’m certainly not saying that you shouldn’t buy it, but it’s really not for me. Now that I have a whole jar, I’m sure I’ll use it up in my yogurt and to add some peanut flavor into smoothies, but in the future, I may just take a more novel approach and (gasp!) just flat out not eat so much damn nut butter. But even so, mark my words. A product like this will never, ever replace real nut butter in my house.  So if you’re looking for a low calorie way to enjoy real peanuts, and not some chemically enhanced crap, than this might be the right stuff for you. But please keep in mind that the fats found in nut butters are extremely healthy, and when eaten in moderation are an excellent part of a well-rounded diet. Moderation being the key word here, one that I seem to have a lot of trouble with on some days.

And now for the (pseudo) countdown. I know you’re excited.

5: The number of days UNTIL I GET TO GO SEE THE HUNGER GAMES!!!!!!! I can’t possibly begin to tell you how excited I am for this movie. It’s rather sickening, actually.

4: The number of hours I spent on a bus yesterday from NYC to Boston. All four of those hours were spent listening to the two dudes beside me laughing hysterically and LOUDLY at their comic books. Really?!?

3: The number of Deadlift reps I pulled at 145 lb on Friday, a new PR! ‘Nuff said :)

2:  The number of weeks I have left in my last class! Master’s degree, here I come. And on a related note…

1: The number of exams that are standing between me and my MS. So gosh darn close. Hallelujah.

Have you tried Pb2? What do you think of it? What awesome things are you counting down to?

The Truth About Fat – Part Deux

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Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a weekend that was as fantastic as mine. Mine was so super-fantastic, that I’m less rested than I was going into the weekend. Ah, such is life. Oh, and can I get a little Hoo-Rah for the Pats, even though they got a wee bit lucky at the end there? Ok, on to today’s post…

After writing this post about a week ago, I realized that I needed to go into more detail about fat, especially concerning the uber-villainized saturated fat, which has gotten so much bad press over the past couple of decades that it has pretty much turned into a bad word. This is completely unfair if you ask me, because saturated fat actually does some pretty great things. No, it doesn’t save kittens from trees, or rescue puppies from burning buildings, but it does have it’s own positive attributes that are definitely worth noting.  Let’s discuss.

When did saturated fat start taking the blame for heart disease? And why? The answer goes back to the 1950s, when Dr. Ancel Keys noticed a correlation between countries that consume more dietary fat and higher risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, his research showed exactly that: A correlation. Not a definitive cause-effect relationship. Either way, the thought caught on, the government rolled with it, and as I mentioned in the earlier post, fat instantly became a villain of American Health.  And you know what? His theory still hasn’t been proven. In fact, there are several studies within the past 10 years that have been trying to prove this, but they can’t.

One particularly large study called the Women’s Health Initiative, showed no decrease in heart disease in 20,000 women who consumed a low total-fat and saturated-fat diet for 8 years.  While of course one study is not enough to make a definitive answer, there have been others like it, such as the long-term Framingham Study, which has also failed to prove that saturated fat is directly linked to heart disease. What is known is that heart disease is not caused by one thing alone; it is multifactorial. Diet, lack of exercise, stress, smoking, among other things are all indicators of risk. So with all of these factors, is saturated fat really the biggest enemy?

It has long been thought that eating saturated fats raises your cholesterol levels, and that this is what leads directly to heart disease. The research in the past decade, however, has failed to prove this point entirely. Let’s break it down a little bit.

You have two main types of blood cholesterol that we are concerned about when it comes to heart disease: LDL and HDL. While yes, LDL or “bad” cholesterol contributes to arterial plaque buildup, HDL or “good” cholesterol is thought to help take that buildup away.  What the research has shown us is that it is not so much the levels of LDL that are important in determining risk of CAD, but much more important is the ratio between LDL and HDL (a low LDL:HDL ratio decreases your risk).  It is  true that consuming saturated fat increases your blood cholesterol levels, but what’s really important here is that when you eat a steak (or cheese, or whole milk, etc.) you are raising your levels of LDL but you are also raising your levels of HDL the same amount, if not more.  Now, I’m no math whiz, but when it comes to ratios, doesn’t that mean that you actually come out dead even, or maybe even a little bit on top?

When it comes to heart health, the more HDL cholesterol your body has, the better. And you know what?  HDL comes from eggs, cheese, butter, red meat, and other animal products. All of those things that contain saturated fats and are supposedly bad for you.

Here’s the kicker: It has even been suggested that the heart’s preferred source of fuel is saturated fatty acids.

BOOM! Just blew your mind, didn’t I.

 

So what’s my message here? Surprisingly, it’s not to go out and eat a diet consisting 100% of bacon blue-cheese burgers (although quite delicious). I’m not saying that we should all gorge ourselves on saturated fat in order to keep our hearts healthy, because that’s certainly not the answer either. I’m just saying that Saturated Fat doesn’t have to be the enemy.  The recommended daily amount of saturated fat was recently lowered from 10% to 7% for Americans.  As I see it, research has shown us that this is not completely  necessary, and as long as you keep your macros and daily calorie total in check, then you’ll be all set. Look at it this way: If you follow a low-fat diet full of highly refined carbohydrates, don’t exercise, and smoke a pack a day, you’d better bet that you’d be a better candidate for CAD than someone with a higher fat diet. Now, clearly there are some cases where people who have advanced heart disease need to be more careful with their SF and cholesterol intake. But for most  active, healthy people, saturated fat can absolutely have a place in a healthy, well-rounded diet. It’s all about balance, folks. And that’s the truth.

*Note: Here is a link to a good post by Cassandra Forsyth, summarizing a conference in which this subject was discussed. It’s also the source of one of the photos above :)

The Truth About Fat

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Back when I was 20, my diet consisted mostly of the following: Pepperoni Pizza Lean Pockets, Baked Ruffles Chips, and Reduced-Fat Cheez-Its.

Vomit in a box

As painful as it is to publicly admit that, I was sadly brainwashed by the no-fat monsters that took over Big Food.  And that brings us to today’s post:  Let’s talk about the F word.

I think the most important distinction when talking about fat is realizing the difference between dietary fat (the fat that you consume), and body fat (the adipose tissue that you have in your body).  What’s the difference, you ask? Doesn’t one cause the other?

In a word, NO.

Let’s take a trip back in time to the early 1980′s. No, not so we can all wax nostalgic about John Cusack and that awesome boom box, but so that we can see where this whole fat debate started.

Arguably the best movie scene of all time, but I digress.

The early 1980′s is when the whole “Low-Fat” Fad started, mostly because of some scientists who gathered some very limited information and then shouted from the rooftops that fat consumption is dangerous and leads to heart disease. This misinformation spread through the media and government like wildfire, and thus begun years of recommendations to decrease fat in the American diet.

The funny thing is, right around the same time that the average American decreased their daily fat intake, the average American started getting fatter, and fatter, and yes still, fatter. Throughout the 80′s and 90′s, the increase in low-fat diets coincided  with an insane spike in the obesity rate in the country, which is unfortunately still growing today.

Throughout this time, the food industry capitalized on highly processed, low-fat foods that were cheap to make and thus led to a large profit margin for them. And we Americans, well, we gobbled it right up! Low-fat cheese! Margarine! Non-fat cookies! Non-fat chips! (Never mind the anal-leakage caused by Olestra, there’s NO FAT!!)  So what were are all of these non-fat food substitutes made of?

A whole lot of sugar and highly refined carbohydrates.

Can someone (anyone?) please explain to me that if fat is the culprit, why did Americans suddenly have a spike in the overweight/obesity rate as soon as fat was severely decreased in their diet? Wouldn’t it be a little bit more logical to conclude that fat was not in fact the culprit at all, but the ridiculously high amounts of sugar that people were now eating?

You may think that maybe it was because that was around the time that people started eating more fast food. Quite the contrary: There was actually a steady increase in consumption of fast food throughout the 70s and 80s, however, there was never a spike in fast-food consumption that correlated with the obesity rate.

During the past 10-15 years, there have been numerous studies which have found no direct link between dietary fat and body fat. They have found, however, that body fat is directly related to excess caloric consumption, as well as other more complicated conditions.  One thing that research has proven about fat is that it increases the palatability (Yumminess!) and satiety of food, which is what leads people to overeat. Yes, this may be true, but it is not the fat alone that is causing people to gain body fat, it is the beyond-excess caloric consumption that is doing so.

At this point some people might be thinking “Hey Moron, fat has more calories than carbs (9kcal/g vs 4), so of course it makes you fat!”

True, it does. I won’t fight you on that one. Caloric intake vs. expenditure is always important when talking about fat loss and body composition. However, fat takes much longer for your body to digest, so including it in your diet will help you to stay more satisfied between meals, and you will  be able to eat less throughout the day due to the satiety factor.  If your goal is fat loss, just make sure that you have a caloric deficit, and dietary fat can (and should) be your friend!

If you don’t believe me, or for more info on the glorious F word, you can find a great review article here, and I also have several PDF files of others if you would like to read them.   Or, if you’re in for a little bit of a lengthy read, check out this great article from the NY times in 2002. As this post was just a broad overview of this amazing topic, in another post I will be going into more of the specifics about the different types of fats, such as the supposedly evil Saturated Fat, so keep on the lookout for that soon!

Now I’m going to go eat some eggs. Who’s with me?!?