Betrayed by my body. Well it wouldn’t be the first time, I thought grimly as I sat in my flimsy paper gown listening to the doctor explain the results of my previous testing. (Dear doctor, please at least allow me the dignity of being lectured with my clothes on next time.) Seriously rank flatulence in a crowded TurboKick class, rogue panty liners, acrobatic falls off the treadmill – really I could go on all day – but this time I was torpedoed by own blood.
It was my yearly physical and my cholesterol, while below normal, showed a disturbingly low level of HDL or “good cholesterol.” The doctor told me to eat better (hah – that was coming off my orthorexic phase, if I ate any cleaner I’d squeak!), get more fiber (my colon is so radiant so you can see it from space – I’m a natural wonder, right up there with the Great Wall of China) and exercise more (hello, it says compulsive over-exerciser right there on my chart that you’re holding!). But then he added, “Eat more good fats.”
At that point in time I was still afraid of fat. Nay, terrified. I know. This will be hard to understand for those of you that did not come of age in the fat-phobic ’90’s but back then fat was public enemy #1. Fat free butter spray, Snackwell’s cookies or (worst of all) fat free turkey hot dogs anyone? Eating fat makes you fat – makes perfect sense, right? I learned to count fat grams before I learned to count calories. (Thank heavens I got that pricey graduate degree so I could learn how to make Excel spreadsheets to tabulate all my macronutrients!) And while the zeitgeist in the health community had changed – Dr. Oz went on Oprah and explained to a nation of women about the wonders of extra virgin olive oil and avocados and we all got breathless over the 7 continents study – there was still a lingering fear of fat.
For one thing, we were told there were “good” fats – pretty much anything plant based – and “bad” fats – anything animal based or man made. That made sense to me. At that time I was hovering between being a vegetarian and a vegan and didn’t like animal products anyhow. The health community still instructed us to drink skim milk and eat fat-free cottage cheese and yogurt. We were still warned to keep fat calories under 30% of our daily total. And I’d been doing all that! Perfectly! (That’s me, Type A all the way!) And then here I was with an “extremely low” freaking HDL? I was irate.
So I did what I always do when I’m upset. I called my sister (you have no idea how many ledges she has talked me off of – love you Laura!) and then I made an offering at the altar of the almighty Google. What I discovered after weeks of studying the issue shocked me. Here’s what I learned, in a nutshell: Fat does not make you fat, not even lots of it. The only truly “bad” fats out there are transfats because they’re an unholy abomination created in a lab. American diets are very heavy in Omega-6’s and low in Omega-3’s and while both are good for you, you should be eating much more of the latter than the former. Canola oil, incidentally, is both man-made and very high in Omega-6’s.
I read Gary Taubes, Michael Pollan, Dr. Eades, Dr. Weill and (warning: blog crush ahead) Mark’s Daily Apple. They told me to eat fat. Lots of it. All kinds of it. But to stick to whole foods sources. I decided to try an Experiment but I knew this one had to be longer than 30 days to see an effect. So I spent the entire next year eating a crap-ton of fat.
Veggies stir fried in coconut oil, butter slathered on oatmeal, olive oil generously poured over salad greens, meat eaten with the fat intact*, all my dairy full-fat (back before I discovered I’m severely lactose intolerant and now have to avoid most of it), popcorn coated in coconut oil (before being dusted in chili powder and lime which is a-MAY-zing if you’ve never tried it) and nuts eaten by the bucket. Every meal I ate had a lot of fat in it. (How much I’m not exactly sure as I stopped counting calories years ago as it’s my one-way ticket back to eating disorder land but I can guarantee you it’s well over the 30% recommended by the American Heart Association.) Heavens to Betsy, I ate my two morning eggs whole, yolks and everything!
I certainly enjoyed my trip to Fat Heaven – my skin felt better, I stayed full after meals longer and by golly everything tasted better with coconut on it! But how was it affecting my health?
One year later I again sat uncomfortably in a paper gown giving up all kinds of bodily fluids for tests and I went from borderline bad to having a rockstar lipid profile! (That is if they’re the kind of rockstar that doesn’t live like a rockstar since, as my husband pointed out, rockstars are not known for their healthy living.) This was enough to keep me on-board the fat train and now it’s been THREE years on this fat-stravagnza and I recently had my yearly exam again. The only things that have changed was that my good cholesterol is now even better and I switched from chile-and-lime to tandoori-and-grapefruit on my coconut-oil popcorn.
I don’t normally do numbers on this blog (comparisons are as odious and all that) but I’m going to brag the heck out of these numbers:
My HDL cholesterol, the one which was very low before, is now 84! They recommend being above 39 for good health. I went up 60 points from where I was 3 years ago! (That’s a good thing, the higher your HDL the better.)
My LDL (I’m not calling it “bad” because, as Mark points out, both HDL and LDL serve vital purposes in our bodies and we need both) is 92. For good health you’re supposed to be below 130 and lower is better.
My VLDL (a subset of LDL) is 8. The recommendation is to be below 40 and lower is better.
And here’s where it gets really good: my triglycerides – perhaps the best indicator of health out of the bunch as Mark Sisson writes, “High triglycerides are considered a “lifestyle” measure and strongly correspond with a high carb diet, smoking and low physical activity. They correlate with not only an increased risk of heart disease in general but inflammation and insulin resistance.” So lower is better and they like you to be under 150. My number? 32! The doctor actually told me he’d never seen them so low before. I waited patiently for a gold star to stick on my paper gown. Turns out they only give stickers to kids. Whatever.
Oh and because I know you’re curious: eating that much fat did not make me gain weight as far as I can tell. I avoid weighing myself like the plague but I’m still wearing my same clothes.
I’m sold. Fat is awesome.
Are you holding onto a lingering fear of fat? Is there anything you still can’t handle the fat in – do you still buy skim milk, cut the fat off your steak or stick to Teflon-and-Pam to stir fry? Any good recipes for me that have lots of healthy fat? Anyone have a popcorn concoction for me to try??
*If you’re going to eat animal fat it’s even more important that you are buying quality meat/dairy/eggs – think grass-fed and finished, organic, local, etc – because the fat is where the animal stores the toxins. If I’m in a situation where I’m eating conventionally farmed meat I’ll still cut the fat off because I think the risk of the toxins outweighs the benefits of the fat in that case. Just my opinion though.
Naturally, I HAD to pull up my numbers from my recent blood work. While not as fantabulous as yours, mine ARE better even than the year prior. (They were always pretty good, but they are improving!)
Tell us more about the coconut oil popcorn. Are you cooking it on the stove in VCO? Hot air popper? Or in a brown bag in a (horrors) microwave and applying VCO and add-ins later? Inquiring minds (and people who are jonesing for a good popcorn) wanna know!
Actually I have a stir crazy! Have you seen those? I love it SO MUCH. And generally I pop it with no oil and then add on the VCO over the top immediately followed with (today’s mix) grapefruit crystallized powder, tandoori hot spice and a pinch of cinnamon. My husband is not going to want to kiss me when he gets home. And hey if you have other popcorn recipes – send em my way, it’s my fave food!
Same story as yours. Got on the fat bandwagon 3 or 4 years ago and have been happy and healthy ever since. Lots of whole eggs, grass-fed beef and coconut oil slopped on everything. I shudder when I think of all the I-Can’t-Believe-it’s-Not-Butter I used to ingest.
Hey that’s really interesting. I’ve gotten into the low carb thing a bit over the last 12 months, and I find Mark’s Daily Apple and Gary Taubes really interesting and thought provoking.
I originally lost weight eating low fat but have been trying to eat more of it these days. I find it quite difficult to be honest after thinking BADBADBAD for so long! I’m quite an expert at cooking meat low fat, but have found I don’t actually know how to cook WITH fat. When oil splashes out of the pan and sets the smoke alarm off it surprises me! However, avocados and olives are my new best friends.
Its great to hear some genuinely good stories about eating fat, albeit anecdotal evidence!
Totally made me giggle because as a vegetarian for so long and a low-fat person, I am the WORST at cooking meat. I’m learning though. Thank you Internet for your wonderful recipes and tutorials, lol!
Wow, this bandwagon is gonna get crowded with all of us piling on, but count me in too. I eat WAY more fat than most women, and more protein as well, and I feel great. And I’m with you on the grass-fed meat & dairy; wish it weren’t so hard to find! Makes eating out a challenge too.
Yeah, I just decided not to worry about it much when I eat out. I don’t eat out often and most of my meals are healthy so I try to just enjoy the time out with my fam/friends…
All I know is: I feel better when I eat fat. As a person coming off cancer treatment (which was only administered after I said ‘I feel weird, test me for stuff please) that’s good enough for me. I have FINALLY started listening to my body. This blog and your journey has had a lot to do with that, thank you 🙂
Oh wow – I’m so glad you caught it!! Way to be your own best advocate:) And thanks for the sweet compliment – that totally made my whole week!!
Yay Charlotte! That’s so awesome to hear the fat train is still going strong 🙂 I use lots of olive oil and I always stir-fry in coconut oil. I bake with real butter and eats lots of avocado and nuts. I don’t eat meat and plain egg yolks bother my stomach so I avoid those. I’m also still a little neurotic about using real butter straight, as opposed to “butter spread” on my toast. And the dairy thing is still an issue too. I don’t really like milk so I stick to soy milk (unless it’s real chai then regular full-fat milk all the way, yum!) and if I can buy a low-fat version of cheese I always do that. I managed to move to low-fat yogurt from non-fat so that’s something and I’m all about regular ice cream. What can I say? It’s a work in progress, even if that progress is kind of slow.
For me, the thing about dairy spreads is, well, how spreadable they are! Real butter destroys toast:( Unless you let it sit out on the counter and then it gets rancid quickly. #firstworldproblems 😉
I use a butter keeper I found in a thrift store, holds half a brick of butter comfortably, and keeps it soft and spreadable for weeks, but then my house is barely above fridge temperature up here in Canada ^_^
Love this post! I agree completely. As a vegetarian, I find alot of the food I eat contain carbs (beans and bean dips, fruit), so when building meals I focus on adding healthy fats and plenty of protein. Although, I don’t think a higher fat diet works for everyone, it works for me. I love how fast my hair and nails grow, how I still get id’d when buying alcohol (and I’m almost 30), how it keeps my cravings for sweets at a minimum and of course, how I get to indulge in super yummy things like peanut butter, avocado and whole eggs.
Yay! And good point about how adding in fat works just as well for vegetarians as omnivores too! Wish the fat would make my hair grown faster though. Although I do love my skin now!
I never bought skim milk and never gave up real butter. That may have something to do with my childhood – my dad was a farm boy, they were used to real milk and real butter. All while I was growing up, we had real butter on our bread, potatoes, etc. We ate whole eggs. My mom always bought 2% milk, never skim. We ate cheese. And olives. None of us were fat.
So while I did partially buy into the whole low-fat fad, I was never fanatical about it. My parents were also pretty good about eating real food, not overdoing it, and being active. My parents were just naturally active in the fact that they worked hard and kept busy (they still do actually). They made sure us kids got some physical play time (my natural inclination always having been to curl up in a corner with a book).
As much as I enjoy my butter, cheese, avocados, nuts, coconut oil (i pop my popcorn in it as well), etc., I don’t like fat on meat. I never have. I don’t like chewing on it or the way it feels in my mouth. Of course, I don’t like meat all that much to begin with, so that probably doesn’t help. 🙂
Your family always sounds so amazing when you talk about them – love that you guys are so close:)
After reading this, I think I will go eat an avocado – the entire thing!!!
DO IT. You will never regret the delicious avocado;)
Charlotte, I am SO HAPPY you wrote this post. When I met with an RD a month or so ago, she blew me away by telling me I should eat fat. When I asked about good or bad fats, she said the same thing as you, the only bad fat is trans fat. Over this past weekend my sister in law was over, and I hadn’t told her about my meeting with an RD but another visitor was asking us about new year’s resolutions which prompted a conversation about eating habits. I told them about my meeting with the RD and how she completely blew my mind by basically telling me everything I had known about dieting was wrong (that seems like a strong word, but you know what I mean?). My SIL however was very skeptical when I told her about eating fats, and the lack of good and bad fats (except, of course, trans fats). It made me feel bad because I highly respect her opinion and love her dearly, but at the same time, I got this information from an educated professional. My SIL saw that I had cream in my fridge and basically asked if I really should be consuming that. I told her the RD *told me* to put cream in my food, and she looked at me like I had talked to a kook masquerading as a professional. To see another supporter of eating fat makes me feel better about the confidence I have in the information given to me by the RD.
Yes, listen to your RD! While the research about fats is still pretty new, I think many professionals are picking it up now. Plus, whenever I doubt it, I always go back to my one cardinal rule of food: The closer it is to how God made it, the better it is for me. So yeah, I’ll take virgin coconut oil over “smart” balance any day! Good for you and hang in there! I hate arguing food with people – it’s such a personal topic…
I’m drooling over the chili lime popcorn…
I know what you mean. Cooking with real butter, olive oil and getting healthy fats has helped my skin feel better and given me more energy and less hunger. And discovering coconut oil last year? Yum… I’ve figured out the moderation thing I think. 🙂
I know – I sometimes eat the VCO off a spoon. I love the taste of coconut anyhow and it’s just so… yummy:)
Avocados! Nuts! Olive & coconut oils! Peanut butter! So many things I avoided for so long, and now they’re back, baby!
The hardest thing for me to give up has been cooking spray, believe it or not. Because a chemically-laden spray is SO much more appetizing than oil derived from actual plants, lol!
Gotta get over that.
Fat is good, fat is good, fat is good..
I feel you! Cooking spray is SO convenient sometimes. Way easier to Pam a baking sheet than butter it :/
I love fat. I’ve been on the fat train for almost 2 years now and I can’t even stand the fat free or low fat stuff…..I love cooking a grass fed steak in grass fed butter….HEAVEN!!
I am actually pretty encouraged by this post! I’m one of those rabid “butter substitute, tiny amounts of oil, no nuts” kind of person because I count calories, but maybe I really should be using real butter and all that. I love me some meat too…
Just try it out a little! You don’t have to go whole hog (ha!). Add in a little bit of whole fats and see how it makes you feel – experiment of one;)
I eat full-fat everything except for milk and cottage cheese, and my HDL levels are excellent! This post came at the perfect time. Although I wasn’t deliberately avoiding fat, I have been trying to reduce my meat intake over the past two weeks. I found that it actually made me feel worse. . .too much fiber made me feel bloated, and the lack of fat did not keep me full so I found myself constantly snacking. I definitely need a better balance of meat and fat in my diet!
Finding the balance is so tricky for me too! Especially when the balance fluctuates with hormones, stress, exercise etc. So glad you’re paying attention to your body!
I like how fatty food tastes, plain and simple, but I really started avoiding “low-fat” and “fat-free” versions of things in my quest to eat more whole food and it takes processing to get the fat out.
Sugar (especially *added* sugar) seems to be the real enemy lol
Amen to this! Now if I could just figure out how to totally kick sugar once and for all…
Oh MDA, how I love thee… Glad you found him, such a great resource.
Unrelated/related: I have a sheet of stickers I keep next to my calendar and use them as a reward system for doing my workouts or completing a goal. My inner third-grader is pleased every time I get a new one, and I grinned like an idiot when I took down my 2012 calendar and saw all the sparkly reminders.
Aw I love it! What a great visual reminder of your progress! I might have to try that!
I’m trying to eat more plant based fats because I naturally gravitate towards very lean meat (animal fat is just gross to me – always has been and it’s not about the calories, it’s about the texture… gives me the heebie jeebies) and without trying get very very very little fat in my diet unless I splurge on something obviously unhealthy. However, I’m reading up on endurance athlete diets and they preach high (good) carb – which is how I felt better during training and eat naturally – and how I actually lost weight for the first time in forever last season. I feel much better when I have a moderate amount of meat and fat, lots of fruits and veggies, and a good amount of good carbs. To each their own!
I made a tasty chicken salad sandwhich the other day using avocado instead of mayo. 🙂
Love that idea!!
Sandwich, that is.
I’ll travel quite a bit out of my way for a latte made with proper whole milk, 3.5% butterfat. It’s not easy to find – apparently there’s very little demand. Which is weird, because supermarkets always have as much whole milk as low-fat so people do buy it and presumably consume it, just… not in coffee? Why would that be?
HURRAH! Yay for fat! Cannot tell you how many women in fitness classes tell me I shouldn’t be eating nuts because I’ll get fat! Um, I just certified as a lifestyle and weight management coach, and I’m a personal trainer (2 certs) I think I know that FAT is NOT the enemy! Plus I’d take HEALTH over weight any day!
Yeee-up! When I write diet plans for clients and they see how much fat is recommended they almost always have the same reaction, “but… isn’t fat…”
It flys in the face of everything I was taught when I first got my qualifications 11 years ago. Thank goodness I study materials outside of ‘conventional wisdom’ and as you do, self-experiment because at 37 (turning 38) I’ve never been healthier.
The tragedy is that the whole basis of the anti-fat campaign, Ancel Key’s study on 7 countries correlation to diet and CVD’s also noted, though in only a glancing line, that sucrose in the foods tied in with the rise in CVD’s also.
Donuts and Cookies anyone?
Yay! I love this ode to fat. Whilst my fat is plant-based, I do love it and eat a fair bit of it. I am around the same age as you, so I had that ingrained fear of fat. My mom used to fill our house with diet food, even keeping those fat free Pringles in the house all the time, and I would show them to my friends because they have that warning in there about the olestra. Remember that stuff? I won’t tell you what that warning is in case you’re eating!
Anyway, I used to think I couldn’t digest fat properly because of my IBS (in addition to that wealth of advice your doctor gave you above – which is the same they give for IBS – they also tell you to keep fat low-moderate). Reading blogs like yours actually helped alleviate my fear, and I discovered that it was other things that were bothering my stomach, NOT the fat! So though I don’t eat as much of it as paleo or primal folks, I eat a fair bit of it, especially coconut, and it has really helped a lot. And actually improved some of those IBS symptoms, particularly the constipation (sorry if that’s TMI, but I know your blog is a safe space for TMI!).
Yes, pease – tell us more about the coconut oil popcorn! How do you make it? Coconut oil confuses me because it’s a solid. Do you use it just like regular oil? Can it take the place of any oil?
Favorite fat? Definitely avocados! Favorite popcorn? Sprinkled with nutritional yeast and salt.
Hey Wendy. Coconut oil is only solid in colder temperatures. Unless it’s in the fridge here in Aussie summer, mine is always liquid.
I am really amazed Charlotte. I do eat some of the healthy fats but not near what you do & not butter. I do the nuts & olive oils & the Omegas & SOME coconut oil but not as much as others. I was surprised no weight gain….
I think I am going to stick to my way for now. It is working for me AND I am older which makes a HUGE difference in how the bod works & reacts – it sucks! 😉 CONGRATS!!!!
Love my fats, but can I just tell you that I could do some major damage to chocolate chip snackwells back in high-school. These days I’d much rather eat a cookie made with real butter. In fact, I’m having a total love affair with butter and sour cream these days. So good. Also, I enjoy my popcorn coated in coconut oil, cocoa powder, and stevia and it’s even better with the addition of salted roasted nuts. Makes a great salty sweet combo, but I need to try your savory versions.
I always hated Pam cooking spray. Left a funky residue on all my cookware. Now everything just gets a swipe of butter.
Thanks for writing about this! After 3+ years of consideration, due to having been a vegetarian for 22 years, I chose to “go paleo” last year on October 19. And after 22 years of undiagnosable and untreatable (by BOTH western and eastern methodologies) chronic pain and fatigue, within two weeks of essentially reversing my diet, ALL of my pain and fatigue is gone. Just like a switch labeled “Suffering” was flipped off. And 15 lbs just melted off me, DURING the holiday season!
Zero grains, no legumes but peanut butter and peas. Tons of veggies, fat (all the healthy oils, duck fat, etc) and protein at every meal, and some fruit and I am right as rain, and kicking butt!
Ive come to a similar realization myself! Fat all the way!!!
Try cooking popcorn in coconut oil (as you already do) and add sea salt, chili powder, and curry powder. The coconut and curry flavours pair nicely together.
And you can add nutritional yeast to your popcorn for a cheesy but non-dairy, umami taste.
Nice information Thanks to share it.
I prefer to eat low fat dairy and I don’t eat the fat on meat because I hate the texture and it makes me gag. I eat plenty of nuts, avo and cook with oil though. Fat is a great thing! Even helps keeps your old time of the month coming 🙂
I too owe Mark Sisson for introducing me to the wonders of fat. I used to be scared of it, after reading MDA I now love my fats. I don’t eat much meat, so I guess I’m a Faileo in some ways, but I make sure to eat a decent amount of fat every day, even if I need to eat a few tablespoons of coconut oil as a supplement.
Great post! It’s funny I stopped being afraid of fat recently as well (mostly, anyway). I love avocados, I love peanut butter, and I eat nuts for snacks instead of Luna Bars and (GASP!) have put on any extra weight. When I was pregnant, my midwife was really adamant I eat full fat everything and eat TONS of protein (I’m talking 100 g a day… Great for a bodybuilder. Hard for a 5’0 pregnant woman but I tried. Made it to 80ish most days). What I found when I ate like that was that my sweet craving was practically non-existent. Of course it could have been pregnancy hormones, but I think it was the diet.
But here’s what I really need to know: Is there any art to spreading the coconut oil evenly through your popcorn? I just got into coconut oil and I am wary of putting it popcorn because it’s semi-solid. Does it automatically melt atop warm popcorn? Thanks. I have a movie to watch tonight. Looking forward to a new treat!
I too had a small fear of fat as a teenager and young adult. Luckily (in a weird way) I also had a “fear” of bad hair and skin, so when I learned how healthy fats kept hair and skin healthy it helped change my perspective. I suppose sometimes vanity can make us make healthy changes right? Bottom line is moderation – even in the healthy fats.
Charlotte, I would just like for you to know how much I enjoy and look forward to your blog posts. I absolutely love your sense of humor and how you’re not afraid of poking fun at yourself and it doesn’t hurt that you’re a powerhouse of information. Once I started following you I realized I actually knew who you were from the Y from years ago and we actually live on opposite sides of the same town (go Cougars!). Congratulations on your success and I look forward to your next blog post!
That’s pretty amazing that you got this result, I would of thought you would gain weight and not be as healthy when eating lots of fat.
Said it before, and I’ll say it again–
you can pry my butter out of my cold, dead hands.
You should’ve demanded that sticker!!
I spent my twenties in the 90’s so I needed some time to adjust when I learned to eat better a few years ago. I learned to eat nuts and almonds and give up most of the light products too… I almost hope I could have lab tests taken, except that I also gained a lot of weight (not because I ate fat!).
Charlotte, a friend of a friend of mine is training to be a nutritionist and started this blog:
http://huckleberrythinn.com/
It sounds like something you’d love! Numbers, science, research! And all explained in an accessible way, with humor! Plus recipes! Reading it made me think of you and what you wrote about healthy fats in this post.
Ooh thank you for the tip! Going to check it out now!!
Have to love that coconut oil! MCT’s are great. They bypass digestion and goes straight to the liver to be converted to ketones. Those ketones from MCTs also don’t get stored as fat and your body just excretes the excess. Stuff is also anti-inflammatory along with fish oil (skip flax and flax oils, we don’t really need the ALA omega-3). Who knew fats could keep us so much healthier?!?
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Popcorn sprinkled with raw Apple cider vinegar is awesome!
Great article. So I’ll share my experience. I am a 27 yo guy. Student. For most of my life my fat intake has been really low. I used to have fresh whole milk everyday but that’s about it. May be a little bit of ghee too. I remember always feeling sluggish, foggy and just brain-slow.
A few months before I increased my fat intake by adding whole organic eggs, some coconut oil, avocado, high quality extra virgin olive oil, nuts, and a high quality natural omega 3 supplement. I have never felt better. And I am not the one to exaggerate things. Also, I had been eating whole eggs cooked slightly in coconut oil but at night. I had to switch it to first thing in the morning for breakfast as, one I felt like experimenting, and two, I was spending long days at the uni studying till late night and couldn’t have cooked eggs there, so had to have them in the morning before I left for the uni. I AM TELLING YOU… I HAVE NEVER FELT THIS AMAZING!! My mood is upbeat. I don’t feel hungry or irritated for a long time. In fact I don’t feel irritated at all. Amazing how a simple shift from having whole eggs cooked in coconut oil at night to in the morning can make such an amazing change. And most importantly, my cognition has improved. I feel that I can now think better and for longer. Naturally, I have decreased my carbs as fats have gone up.
Fats (good fats) are amazing. Another amazing habit which I think everyone must adopt is having cold showers. Along with having more fats, this habit will change your life. At least have warm showers (not hot) and end with cold shower.
Cheers!
Wanna add something. My skin feels and looks amazing. I am not lying, but I think I get more looks from girls now..probably the silky smooth skin.. lol