EAT FAT LOSE FAT - Chapter One Facts Versus Fears About Fats

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Chapter One

Facts Versus Fears About Fats

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America’s Anti-Fat Obsession

As the French maintain their trim physiques while consuming triple cream

brie, steak au poivre, and béarnaise sauce, most American adults would barely

dare to drink a glass of whole-fat milk. For the last 25 years, government

recommendations, medical doctrine, food advertising, and so-called health

experts

have stressed low-fat and non-fat foods, cautioning people to avoid fats in

general, particularly saturated fats from animal products and tropical fats,

like coconut.

“Are you eating lots of foods high in fat (especially saturated fat)?â€

worries the American Heart Association website. “Choose a diet that is low in

saturated fat and cholesterol,†echo the current (2000) United States

Department

of Agriculture (USDA) food guidelines. A scant two to three daily servings

of dairy or other animal foods—specified to be “low-fat or

fat-freeâ€â€”are

recommended in the Food Pyramid (developed by the USDA and the U.S. Department

of Health and Human Services). The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

website offers “heart healthy recipes†with reduced fat content, such as

Stuffed Potatoes made with soft margarine, low-fat cottage cheese, and low-fat

milk.

Yet America, not France, is the nation with galloping rates of obesity,

leading many people, and now many researchers, to wonder:

• Are the vegetable oils and trans fats contained in processed foods really

healthier than the fats in natural foods, like butter and cream?

• Is coconut oil, a staple in countries with lower rates of chronic disease

than ours, really so deadly?

How effective have the recommended low-fat diets and low- and non-fat foods

really been, given that 97 million Americans (that’s 64 percent, an 8.6

percent jump from 1994 to 1999) are overweight, according to a study published

in

the October 2002 Journal of the American Medical Association.

And weight gain is not just a question of appearance. Obesity was number two

on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list of preventable causes

of death in 2004 (after smoking). According to government statistics, being

overweight substantially increases the risk of hypertension, type II

diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis,

and

respiratory problems, as well as endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon

cancers. Higher body weight increases mortality for all causes.

If you are among the overweight and want to avoid these diseases, you’re

caught in a vicious cycle. Once the pounds pack on, your energy plummets,

making

it harder to exercise. Even if you only need to lose a few pounds, or are

not overweight at all, you may find that you suffer from low energy, chronic

fatigue, food cravings, and depression. Why?

Based upon our collective experience—Dr. Mary Enig is a world-renowned

biochemist and nutritionist, best known for her pioneering research on healthy

fats and oils and her early protests against trans fats, and Sally Fallon is a

food industry researcher, chef, and president and cofounder of the Weston A.

Price Foundation—we believe that while you may be overweight, you are also

likely to be undernourished, lacking vital nutrients that your body derives

from

fat. In this book, we offer you a dietary program that, depending on your

needs, will help you lose weight (or gain weight if you need to), recover from

debilitating health disorders, enhance your overall health and, last but not

least, introduce you to a whole world of satisfying, delicious, wholesome

foods that everyone in your family can enjoy.

Our three diet plans—Quick and Easy Weight Loss, Health Recovery, and

Everyday Gourmet—are all based on eating adequate amounts of good, healthy

fat,

especially the valuable saturated fat of the coconut. Think “healthy fatâ€

is a

contradiction in terms? Read on.

Are You Fat Deficient?

Dutifully following the anti-fat recommendations, many people are mystified

when they get results contrary to those they’re led to expect. For example:

• Have you relied on fat-free foods and counted fat grams to lose weight,

only to find that your weight has plateaued and you always feel hungry?

• Do you avoid red meats, butter, and eggs to lower your cholesterol, but

lack sufficient energy to get through the day?

• Do you eat margarine because of a family history of heart disease, but

feel listless and depressed?

• Do you eat so-called healthy meals (like a salad with no-fat dressing),

only to be overtaken by cravings that drive you to eat fatty foods, such as

chips, french fries, doughnuts, or ice cream?

Or perhaps, like so many Americans, you suffer from one or more of these

symptoms:

• Has your weight slowly been creeping up?

• Is it impossible to lose that last ten pounds no matter how hard you try?

• Have your energy and enthusiasm drooped?

• Do you still feel hungry after you’ve finished your meal?

• Do you crave fried foods, sweets, and sugary snacks?

• Do you experience a mid-afternoon “energy crash†and need caffeine or

sweets to get through the rest of the day?

• Do sharp cravings for fattening foods overwhelm your best intentions to

eat healthy, whole foods?

• Do you feel too fatigued to exercise, though you know you should?

• Do you blame yourself for your lack of “willpower�

• Are you resigned to weight gain and fatigue?

• Do you suffer from a chronic illness like depression, chronic fatigue

syndrome, hypothyroidism, digestive problems, or hormonal imbalances?

Every single one of these problems can signify a dietary fat deficiency.

Instead of resulting in weight loss as promised, eating a low-fat diet can

spark

food cravings that lead to overeating. Instead of making you healthy,

avoiding healthy fats can actually undermine your health because you need fats

for

countless bodily functions.

Creamy sauces, buttered vegetables, and ice cream taste good for a reason. It

’s not that your body is trying to torment you by making unhealthy foods

seem delectable. Instead, your body is using your taste buds to signal what you

need. That’s why most of us enjoy rich foods, like succulent lamb chops,

berries with heavy cream, and crispy turkey skin. But because we believe that

fats are bad, we are afraid to listen to our bodies.

In fact, rich, delicious foods are nature’s gift to us, in contrast to

processed foods, the creations of the food industry. And helping people

understand, prepare, and enjoy wholesome foods is the mission of the Weston A.

Price

Foundation. With 200 chapters around the world, the Foundation has helped

thousands of people find their way to health and optimal weight while enjoying

a

wholesome, traditional foods diet.

Eat Fat to Lose Weight?

Our Eat Fat, Lose Fat program will put you back on the track that nature

intended for efficient nourishment. Let go of the notion that you must suffer

to

lose weight. In fact, starving yourself is counterproductive, since it

signals the body to hold on to fat. Instead, when you eat sufficient quantities

of

the right combinations of fats (as outlined in our recipes and menu plans),

you’ll notice that you can go for hours without eating and without

experiencing cravings, because your body is satisfied and your blood sugar is

stable.

As a result, hunger pangs disappear and eating sensibly becomes easy!

Nutritional satisfaction signals your body that food is abundant, so it

releases fat stores. This is the key to weight loss—but that’s not all. On

this

diet, you’ll be taking in good fats and over time releasing bad ones from

your system. It’s like upgrading to premium fuel. Efficient functioning and

better health will result.

Through our work at the Weston A. Price Foundation, we’ve heard from

hundreds of people who not only lost lots of weight but also healed a wide

range of

health problems precisely by following the eating programs that we’re

offering you in this book. Throughout the book, you’ll find some of their

stories in

the sidebars. Though we’ve changed names and details to protect their

privacy, the actual weight-loss and healing experiences described are all very

real.

Along with other healthy fats, coconut oil is key to this diet. Saturated

fats, such as those found in coconut oil, butter, cream, and red meat, can be

good for you, as you’ll learn throughout our book. And, among all the sources

of saturated fat available, coconut is the most readily absorbed and

utilized—

not to mention the most likely to help you lose weight, which is why coconut

is the cornerstone of the three dietary plans you will find in the following

chapters.

Both of us bring many years of work in the field of nutrition to the eating

program offered here. Aside from being one of the world’s most renowned

nutritional scientists, Dr. Enig is the author of the highly regarded

professional

publication Know Your Fats (Bethesda Press, 2000), dubbed the “fat

information bible†by Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of the bestseller The

No-Grain Diet

(Dutton, 2004). In the course of studying, lecturing, and teaching around the

world for the last 20 years, Mary has both contributed to and kept abreast of

all the scientific and medical literature on fats, and she became an early

and articulate critic of the harmful type of fats we now know as trans fats.

Against much opposition (as you’ll see in Chapter 3), she began pushing for

including the percentage of trans fats on nutrition labels decades ago. Mary is

president of the Maryland Nutritionists Association and was recently honored

by the American College of Nutrition for her pioneering work in calling

attention to the dangers of trans fats.

As founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Sally is a major

spokesperson for wholesome nutrition. She travels the world, lecturing and

teaching on healthy nutrition and traditional cuisine to thousands of people.

We

have also coauthored numerous articles on the complex subject of diet and

health for various health publications.

Most recently, we have championed the use of coconut oil and other coconut

foods. Mary has investigated the metabolism-enhancing properties of coconut

oil, which contains special medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) shown to boost

metabolism and stimulate weight loss, according to research carried out in

France, Italy, Canada, Japan, and the United States over the past 14 years

(Chapter 4 will go into this research in more depth). Meanwhile, Sally has

applied

her outstanding culinary skills to the discovery of many varied and wonderful

ways to enjoy coconut, which you will experience yourself through the many

traditional and coconut-based recipes from around the world featured in this

book.

We know...you’ve heard that saturated fats are unhealthy. Who hasn’t? Read

on and you’ll be surprised to learn about research published during the last

20 years in respected scientific and medical journals, like The Journal of

Lipid Research, Reviews in Pure and Applied Pharmacological Science, and The

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that shows that just the opposite is

true. Your body needs not only fats, but saturated fats, to nourish your brain,

heart, nerves, hormones and every single cell. Saturated fats form a key

part of the cell membranes throughout your body. When you eat too many

unsaturated fats, the kind found in polyunsaturated vegetable oils, these fats

adversely affect the chemistry of those membranes.

How does this affect you? Overstocked with the wrong kinds of fats, and

lacking sufficient quantities of the right kinds of fats to create healthy

cells,

your body becomes nutritionally deprived, and a host of health problems

ensue. Your energy drops, your nerves don’t fire efficiently, glands

malfunction,

your hormones and metabolism head south. With cells weakened from lack of

necessary nutrition, weight loss is an uphill battle. Exactly what 95 percent

of dieters have experienced up until now. You’re tired, you’re always

hungry,

and you gain weight!

Yet, for many people, the idea that your body needs fat seems hard to

accept, when fat is what you’re trying to lose. If you have flab under your

arms,

cellulite on your thighs, and a stomach that enters the room ahead of you, can

you still be fat deprived? Yes! The fact is that your body’s visible fat

stores do not necessarily result from fat consumption. Nor do they indicate

adequate levels of fat-derived nutrients. You could be 200 pounds overweight

and

still be undernourished and fat deprived.

Three Kinds of Fats

While most other diet plans tell you to leave certain foods out of your diet—

such as fat, dairy, grains, meat, salt, or desserts—the Eat Fat, Lose Fat

plan tells you how to include all these foods in your diet, exploring the

science behind your need for them, how to choose healthy versions of them, and

how

to prepare them for maximum nutrient benefit and digestibility.

In order to understand how such a diet works, you need to know the

differences among the three basic types of fats found in food. Then, you must

be aware

of the dangers of trans fat: an artificially produced fat found widely in

processed and packaged foods.

Fats (also called lipids) are a class of organic substances that do not

dissolve in water. They are composed of chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen

atoms filling the available bonds and are called fatty acids because of their

structure. Despite that terminology, they don’t behave like acids in the way

that water-soluble acids such as vinegar do.

Saturated Fats

Found predominantly in animal fats and tropical oils like coconut oil and in

lesser amounts in all vegetable oils (and also made within your body,

usually from excess carbohydrates), saturated fats are structured so that all

available carbon bonds are occupied by a hydrogen atom, which makes them highly

stable and also straight in shape, so that they are solid or semisolid fat at

room temperature. As a result of their unique composition, they are less

likely to go rancid when heated during cooking and form dangerous free radicals

that can cause a litany of ills, including heart disease and cancer.

Monounsaturated Fats

The monounsaturated fatty acid most commonly found in our food is oleic

acid, the main component of olive oil and sesame oil, as well as the oil in

almonds, pecans, cashews, peanuts, and avocados. Your body can also make

monounsaturated fatty acids from saturated fatty acids when it needs them for

various

bodily functions.

Chemically, monounsaturated fatty acids are structured with one double bond

(composed of two carbon atoms double-bonded to each other). Because this bond

causes the molecule to bend slightly, these fats do not pack together as

easily as saturated fats, so they tend to be liquid at room temperature but

become solid when refrigerated.

Like saturated fats, however, monounsaturated oils are relatively stable.

They do not go rancid easily and hence can also be used in cooking.

Polyunsaturated Fats

Polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more double bonds. The two

polyunsaturated fatty acids found most frequently in our foods are linoleic

acid with

two double bonds (called omega-6) and linolenic acid, with three double bonds

(called omega-3). (The omega number indicates the position of the first

double bond.)

Because your body cannot make these fatty acids, they are called

“essentialâ€

and must be obtained from foods. Polyunsaturated fatty acids have bends or

turns at the position of the double bonds and hence do not pack together

easily. They remain liquid, even when refrigerated.

Unpaired electrons located at the double bonds make these oils highly

reactive. When they are subjected to heat or oxygen, as in extraction,

processing,

and cooking, free radicals are formed. It is these free radicals, not

saturated fats, that can initiate cancer and heart disease. As such,

industrially

processed polyunsaturated oils, such as corn, safflower, soy, and sunflower

oils, should be strictly avoided.

The Dangers of Trans Fats

Manufactured foods, such as baked goods, some frozen foods, margarine,

chips, fast-food fries and countless other products, contain rearranged fatty

acids called trans fats, which are produced artificially by bombarding

polyunsaturated oils with hydrogen, a process called partial hydrogenation.

This

process makes the normally twisty polyunsaturated fatty acids straighten out

and

behave like saturated fats in foods. As a result, trans fats have a longer

shelf life. They pack together easily so they are unnaturally solid at room

temperature and can be used as spreads and shortenings. Because they can be

made

so cheaply and because their inclusion helps packaged foods to last nearly

forever, the food industry prefers to use trans fats made from cheap soy,

canola, corn, or cottonseed oil rather than more expensive animal fats or

tropical

oils.

For years, as you will read in Chapter 2, medical experts, government

agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, and medical organizations

such

as the American Heart Association (AHA) urged Americans to abandon traditional

saturated fats in favor of partially hydrogenated oils in order to reduce

the risk of heart disease. These organizations boosted margarine, for example,

as healthier for the heart than butter.

Yet a large body of scientific research now demonstrates what Mary Enig’s

work showed long before the medical establishment was willing to acknowledge

the facts: that these altered fats, which people are still told to eat to

reduce their cholesterol levels, actually increase cholesterol and also the

risk

for heart disease. For example, the Nurses’ Health Study, a long-term study

of

over 80,000 female nurses carried out by researchers at Harvard University,

reported that substituting 30 calories of trans fats each day for 30 calories

of carbohydrates increased the risk of heart disease by a factor of nearly

two. The director of the study, Dr. Walter Willett, professor of nutrition and

epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, claimed that saturated

fats also increased the risk, although much less; but other commentators on

the overall study, such as J. Salmeron in the American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition, 2001, found no correlation between consumption of saturated fats and

heart disease.

Trans fats also compromise many bodily functions, including hormone

synthesis, immune function, insulin metabolism, and tissue repair. What’s

more, they

promote weight gain. In fact, a person whose dietary fats are mostly trans

fats is likely to weigh more than a person who does not consume trans fats,

even if their caloric intake is the same. (One type of trans fat, called an

isomer, occurs in small amounts in butter, beef, and lamb fat. But this isomer

does not cause health problems. It is actually converted into a substance

called CLA, which protects against weight gain.)

In 2002, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences

concluded that there is no safe level of trans fat in the diet. In 2004, an FDA

advisory panel concluded that trans fat is “even more harmful than saturated

fat.†(Actually, as we saw, saturated fats are not harmful.) Dr. Willett

commented, “When partially hydrogenated vegetable oil was first used in foods

many

decades ago, it was considered safe. Now that studies have demonstrated that

partially hydrogenated oil is a major cause of heart disease, it should be

phased out of the food supply as rapidly as possible and replaced with more

healthful oils.â€

In Chapter 3, we’ll provide more details of how trans fats are detrimental

to every system in your body.

The Scientific Turnaround on Fat

Today, more physicians are beginning to admit that the anti-fat campaign hasn

’t won the health-and-weight-loss war. Dr. Frank Hu, also of the Harvard

School of Public Health, cautioned that “the exclusive focus on dietary fat

has

been a distraction in efforts to control obesity...†(our italics).

Speaking to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), which is

preparing the revised USDA Food Pyramid for 2005, Dr. Hu pointed out, “

Conventional wisdom holds that the more fat you eat, the more likely you are to

become

obese. However, the evidence does not support the conventional wisdom...†He

cited 16 long-term studies (6 to 18 months in duration) that showed “no

evidence that a low-fat diet is more beneficial.â€

What’s more, recent studies confirm that healthy fat consumption promotes

sustainable weight loss (something we’ve been saying for years!). “Studies

conducted in the past three years have found a moderately high-fat diet...to be

more beneficial (than low-fat diets) in terms of adherence, weight loss, and

weight maintenance, while also reducing cardiovascular risk factors,†Dr. Hu

affirmed.

With this new evidence, government and medical authorities will begin to

readjust their dietary guidelines to include more fat. Yet they still

to the false notion that saturated fats are bad, so the most prominent fats

in the new food guidelines will be liquid vegetable oils, including soy,

canola, and safflower, in spite of considerable evidence that a diet including

only liquid fats can lead to serious health problems, including heart disease

and cancer.

In Eat Fat, Lose Fat, we give you the straight story of what science says

about the kinds of fats you should mostly be eating.

Healthy fats include omega-3 fatty acids (found in cod-liver oil, egg yolks,

and flax oil), medium-chain fats (found in coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and

butter), and long-chain saturated fats (found mostly in meat and dairy

products). They’ll help you lose weight, increase your energy, boost your

immunity

to illness, and optimize your digestion.

So the real, scientific way to lose fat is to eat fat—especially the fats you

’ll learn more about in this book.

Eat Fat, Lose Fat will take you beyond your fears about fat, to the facts

about fat. The diet programs and menu plans in Chapters 6, 7, and 8 are based

on Dr. Enig’s pioneering work, in which she has courageously moved beyond

prevailing assumptions and prejudices about fats to penetrate to the truth

about

how different fats affect us—a truth that the medical establishment is only

beginning to understand. We’ll lay out several strands of evidence to clear

up

prevailing misunderstandings about fats and their role in human health:

• Historical: World populations on four continents, subsisting on the

coconut and other natural, wholesome foods (without heart disease, weight gain,

or

other chronic illnesses), provide the world’s longest epidemiological record

of the safety of saturated fat.

• Scientific: Analysis of studies used to indict coconut oil and other

saturated fats will reveal the faulty reasoning underlying the “lipid

hypothesis,â€

the theory that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. Other

studies clearly demonstrate that saturated fats do not “causeâ€

cardiovascular

illness, and that coconut oil’s medium-chain fatty acids actually make it an

all-systems healer. (See Chapters 2 and 3.)

• Anecdotal: We’ll provide case stories from a wide range of people

who’ve

used coconut oil and coconut products to lose weight and heal serious

illnesses, including digestive disorders, diabetes, and hypothyroidism.

• Nutritional: We’ll explain why the important nutrients contained in

coconut and traditional fats like cod-liver oil and butter are vital to your

health.

• Culinary: We’ll show you how to use coconut in all its forms in recipes

that satisfy your taste buds and put an end to food cravings and hunger. (See

menu plans in Chapters 6, 7, and 8, and recipes in Chapters 9 and 10.)

Once and for all, Eat Fat, Lose Fat will clear away the misperception that

fats are bad, and arm you with a concrete program and culinary tools that

support this dietary change. Whether your goal is losing weight or gaining

health, you’ll get great results through eating coconut products and other

sources

of healthy dietary fats as part of an eating program based on wholesome,

traditional foods.

Fats and Health Problems

Here is a brief overview of the ailments you can begin turning around by

reintroducing healthy fats into your diet:

• Chronic fatigue: The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil provide

energy and also fight pathogens in the digestive tract that contribute to

fatigue.

• Low energy: The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil give quick energy,

prevent low blood sugar, and support the thyroid gland; plus, cod-liver oil

provides nutrients vital for vitamin and mineral absorption.

• Anxiety: The combination of fatty acids and nutrients in coconut oil and

cod-liver oil helps prevent low blood sugar and helps the body make the

adrenal hormones it needs to deal with stress. Trans fats (eliminated in our

program) inhibit the production of these hormones, so removing these from the

diet

is another big step toward relieving anxiety.

• Depression: The nutrients in cod-liver oil have a proven record of helping

relieve depression, and the saturated fats in coconut oil work

synergistically with cod-liver oil.

• Mood swings: Plentiful fats in our diet help stabilize blood sugar swings

that make your mood go up and down.

• Thyroid imbalance: Coconut oil alone improves thyroid function, but when

used in conjunction with cod-liver oil, which supplies vitamin A (needed in

high levels by the thyroid gland), the thyroid has the fats it needs to

function properly.

• Hypoglycemia: Plenty of healthy fats at each meal help prevent drops in

blood sugar.

• Insulin resistance: Trans fats interfere with insulin receptors in the

cells. Replacing trans fats with coconut oil and other healthy fat is the

number

one step in preventing and reversing the insulin resistance so

characteristic of type II diabetes.

• Food cravings: You experience cravings when your body isn’t getting the

nutrients it needs from food. Coconut oil is immensely satisfying, while

cod-liver oil supplies vitamins A and D, needed to assimilate minerals and

other

vitamins.

• Gallbladder ailments: Coconut oil is the ideal fat for anyone suffering

from gallbladder ailments because many of the fatty acids in coconut oil do not

require bile for digestion.

• Bacterial infections: The antimicrobial medium-chain fatty acids in

coconut oil, combined with vitamin A in cod-liver oil, provide the ideal

combination for fighting bacterial infections.

• Fungal issues, like candida: Coconut oil has strong antifungal properties,

both in the gut and when applied topically (on the skin). Eliminating

refined carbohydrates while eating whole grains only when they are properly

prepared can also help candida problems.

• Viral infections: The medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil help kill

the pathogenic lipid-coated viruses in the digestive tract.

• Digestive problems, including irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s

disease: The combination of medium-chain fatty acids in coconut oil and vitamin

A

in cod-liver oil enhances the immune system.

• Gas and bloating: The antimicrobial properties of coconut oil can help

fight gas-producing bacteria.

• Skin problems such as eczema, dry skin, scaly patches: The synergistic

combination of saturated fatty acids in coconut oil and very long-chain super

unsaturated fatty acids in cod-liver oil helps maintain the right fatty acids

in the cell membranes, thereby contributing to beautiful skin. Vitamins A and

D in cod-liver oil are also very important factors in nourishing the skin.

• Sagging, wrinkled skin: Plentiful saturated fats in the diet are

absolutely essential for avoiding wrinkles. Excess polyunsaturated oils make

the cell

walls “floppy,†thereby contributing to wrinkles. Furthermore, these oils

are invariably rancid and contain free radicals (reactive atoms or molecule

fragments) that damage cells and contribute to aging.

• Dandruff, lifeless hair: The thyroid-supporting combination of coconut oil

and cod-liver oil will result in shiny, healthy hair.

• Liver support: The combination of saturated fat in coconut oil, vitamin A

in cod-liver oil, and bone broths (recipes provided in Chapter 10) that give

you special amino acids the liver uses to detoxify provides excellent support

for liver function.

See Chapter 7 for more about how and why our coconut and fat-enriched diet

can help you address a wide range of health issues.

Our Three-Part Program

As you follow the Eat Fat, Lose Fat program, you’ll reincorporate healthy

fats (along with other wholesome foods) into your diet. Whether your goal is

losing weight, or simply gaining energy, you’ll find clear guidelines,

complete

menu plans, and delicious recipes, which hundreds of people have followed

successfully.

You can select one of the following three diet plans:

• Quick and Easy Weight Loss: This streamlined program for weight loss,

based upon weight-loss studies carried out during the last 15 years, features a

moderate-calorie diet that contains about 50 percent or more of fats as

medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) from coconut oil to jump-start your

metabolism.

Many people easily shed pounds with this satisfying diet plan, but for those

wishing accelerated weight loss, we also provide a two-week calorie-restricted

plan. Recipes and menu plans are designed to assure ease of preparation.

• Health Recovery: This program is for those with special health needs, such

as chronic fatigue, allergies, and digestive disorders. It features high

levels of all the healing fats to provide the optimal balance, along with vital

nutrients from easy-to-digest foods that facilitate healing and assimilation.

It’s also ideal for those recovering from surgery or severe illnesses.

• Everyday Gourmet: A hearty maintenance program for life, one that the

whole family can enjoy, featuring international cuisine. This plan provides a r

ange of healing fats, as well as other traditionally prepared foods, and

introduces traditional culinary secrets to optimize the nutritional value of

your

food.

All three plans incorporate healthy fats into the diet in four ways:

• They increase beneficial coconut oil and coconut products.

• They use cod-liver oil (either in capsules or as recommended brands of oil

that are rocessed to retain freshness) to obtain its vital fat-soluble

vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids, and better absorb them as a result of synergy

with saturated fats in coconut oil.

• They eliminate all harmful fats from your diet and from your body.

• They offer the benefits of wholesome foods, including other saturated fat

sources such as butter, cream, whole milk, egg yolks, and meat fats.

This unique combination of diet components is designed to support thyroid

function. Boosting your thyroid initiates a domino effect, revving up your

energy levels, speeding up your metabolic system, burning more calories per

day,

and sparking weight loss.

On all three food plans, you will use precise amounts of coconut and

cod-liver oil (rich in thyroid-supportive vitamin A), along with other

complementary

foods to provide an optimal blend of fats and oils that boost metabolism and

keep hunger at bay. Our calorie-restricted weight-loss plan shows you the

exact number of calories per serving.

In Search of Nutritional Balance

How can we be ahead of the curve with this cutting-edge healthy fats

program? Our work at the Weston A. Price Foundation is based on the pioneering

research of Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist who traveled the world as far back

as

the 1930s, studying and documenting the effects of both traditional and modern

diets and identifying foods that produced enduring health, generation after

generation (see sidebar). We’ve pored over the science and studied the foods

eaten by healthy societies all over the world. Through our research and

cross-cultural investigation, we’ve rediscovered the important role fats play

in

healthy nutrition. And through our website, _westonaprice.org_

(westonaprice.org) , our magazine, Wise Traditions, and over 200 local

chapters, we

have reached a wide network of people who have experienced the health benefits

of traditional foods. Hundreds of people have followed the nutritional

program you’ll find in this book to achieve (and maintain) their optimal

weight and

to regain their energy, hormonal balance, and zest for life. Our program is

effective in boosting energy and enhancing metabolism because we know the

science!

In our bestselling cookbook, Nourishing Traditions (New Trends, 2000), we

focused extensively on the foods and culinary techniques found by Dr. Price to

support health. In Eat Fat, Lose Fat, we’ll show you easy ways to use

traditional natural ingredients and age-old culinary techniques. In his work,

Price

found that similar foods and preparation techniques evolved in many different

cultures to provide the right kind of nutrients, prepared in a way that the

human body could absorb. This is the foundation of the dietary program we’ll

offer in Eat Fat, Lose Fat, with a special emphasis on coconut oil and other

healthy fats because of their unique ability to boost metabolism, build

energy, and nurture health. The traditional foods our program uses are not

unfamiliar: they’re much like the scrumptious meals your grandmother used to

make.

You’ll find the whys, hows, and whats of healthy fat consumption in Eat Fat,

Lose Fat’s three parts.

In Part 1, you’ll learn why you should be eating traditional fats, why they

are healthy, and why you’ve been told they aren’t. Chapter 2 presents the

history and science behind the anti-fat campaign, showing you how a different

interpretation of the data leads to a totally different conclusion about fats.

Chapter 3 explains in more depth why your body needs fats, and particularly

why the kinds of fats you’ll enjoy on our program are healthier than others.

Chapter 4 provides the foundations of our nutritional philosophy and applies

it to weight loss.

In Part 2 you’ll learn how to follow our program. Chapter 5 offers complete

information about the traditional foods you’ll learn to enjoy. Chapters 6, 7,

and 8 present our three diet plans: Quick and Easy Weight Loss, Health

Recovery, and Everyday Gourmet, each with a complete menu plan. In Part 3:

Recipes

and Resources, Chapter 9 presents those based on coconut, while the recipes

in Chapter 10 show you how to prepare a variety of wholesome, traditional

foods. Finally, our ample Resources section helps you locate sources of the

products we recommend, explains the differences between brands, and offers a

special treat: a list of coconut oil recipes for removing wrinkles, treating

acne, and creating lustrous, smooth skin.

Right now, let’s look further into one particular assertion about saturated

fat: the charge that it’s responsible for heart disease. Chapter 2 will show

you otherwise—and also tell the story of the well-orchestrated campaign to

hide the truth about saturated and trans fats from the American public.

 

Janet’s Story: Feeling Full

Our Yogurt-Coconut Smoothie (see page 205 for recipe) contains

energy-boosting coconut oil and whole-milk yogurt, but when Janet went to

prepare it she

had neither on hand, so instead she used the low-fat yogurt she found in the

fridge. An hour after eating the smoothie, Janet felt hungry and ate a

“second

breakfast†of French toast and syrup (loaded with high-fructose corn syrup).

Good-bye, diet!

The next time Janet prepared the smoothie, she used whole-milk yogurt and

added the 2 tablespoons of coconut oil that the recipe called for. Janet felt

full after eating only half a serving. When lunchtime came, she didn’t feel

hungry. She finally ate the second half of the smoothie at 2 p.m. and

experienced no desire for food until evening, when she ate a light but

deliciously

satisfying dinner of grilled chicken with skin, brown rice cooked in coconut

milk, and vegetables with butter.

Satiation: The Key to Weight Loss

When you consistently use coconut oil (along with other healthy fats), you

provide vital nourishment to every cell in your body, nourishment that

supports optimal function of your nerves, brain, hormones, immune system, and

metabolism. But beyond that, you trigger a powerful mechanism that is key to

success in permanent weight loss: satiation.

How does your body register this? When you eat coconut (and other healthy

fats like those found in butter, cream, nuts, meats, and eggs), your body

actually produces a hormone in the stomach and small intestine that signals

that

you’ve eaten enough. When you feel satiated, cravings, and the persistent

hunger you experience on most diets, are banished. An added bonus is that many

health problems will resolve themselves and you will have more energy and a

more optimistic attitude toward life.

Satiation is a truly revolutionary weight-loss concept. By feeding your body

the healthy fats it needs, you won’t feel hungry, you won’t need to deny

yourself, and you won’t even want to overeat empty calories from foods like

pizza, sodas, or commercially produced ice cream (which often contains gums,

additives, and vegetable oils that negate the benefits of consuming cream).

Does This Product Contain Trans Fats?

You might assume that it’s easy to avoid trans fats by reading nutritional

labels on the food products you buy—but you’d be wrong. Until 2003,

manufacturers were not required to list the trans fat content of foods on the

label.

That year, the FDA finalized a requirement that all food labels list trans fat

content by January 1, 2006.

This regulation has led many food manufacturers to reduce or eliminate the

amount of trans fats in their products. Frito-Lay, for example, no longer uses

partially hydrogenated oils in most of its products. Kraft Foods has said it

will reduce trans fat levels. Some smaller companies are moving in the same

direction. Unfortunately, these manufacturers still are not using healthy,

stable saturated fats, such as coconut oil, palm oil, lard, butterfat, or

tallow (beef or sheep fat), and when they do use palm or coconut oil, it is

usually also partially hydrogenated for a longer shelf life. Instead, they are

primarily using liquid vegetable oils, which can also cause health problems,

especially when consumed in large amounts or heated to high temperatures, as in

frying.

The labeling requirement won’t help you identify trans fats in restaurant

meals, and most fast-food chains continue to use partially hydrogenated oils to

fry foods. But not to worry: once you’ve begun eating wholesome, traditional

foods, the idea of fast food won’t tempt you in the slightest.

A Closer Look at How Overweight Happens

Eating excess calories is only one reason for overweight. Listed below are

the factors most commonly responsible for fat buildup, and how the Eat Fat,

Lose Fat program addresses each one:

High-calorie, nutrient-empty foods: When you get all the healthy fats (and

allied nutrients) that your body needs, you’ll eliminate cravings that lead

you to foods like soda, cookies, and breads.

Low thyroid function: When your thyroid is sluggish, you can’t lose weight

no matter how little you eat. On our program, you’ll enhance thyroid function

and upgrade your metabolism by consuming energy-boosting, thyroid-supporting

coconut oil.

Excess sugar and carb consumption and insulin sensitivity (a condition in

which your cells cannot process blood sugar properly): Emphasizing

nutrient-rich protein, dairy, and vegetables, you’ll bypass excess

consumption of

weight-inducing and insulin-activating sugars and grains.

Consumption of renegade fats such as trans fats: You’ll cut out all trans

fats, which interfere with numerous biochemical processes in the body and can

contribute to weight gain.

A Cautionary Note

There are no side effects from adding coconut products to your diet unless

you are allergic to coconut. Even if you are, you can still probably take

coconut oil, because the allergenic components of coconut are protein compounds

found in the meat of the coconut, not in the oil. In that case, follow the Eat

Fat, Lose Fat plans by using just the Traditional Recipes in Chapter 10 and

taking coconut oil before meals in warm water or herb tea.

Did You Know...?

• The body can use coconut oil for energy more rapidly and efficiently than

any other fat source. Special fats in coconut (called medium-chain fatty

acids, MCFAs) are not normally stored in your body as fat. Instead, they’re

quickly converted to energy, making coconut ideal for weight loss.

• Small amounts of the MCFAs in coconut oil are used in the complex

processes that enable cells to communicate with each other.

• Coconut improves thyroid function in people with hypothyroid disease.

• People in countries where coconut is an important part of the diet have

lower rates of heart disease and cancer than Americans. For example, a 1996

report by the National Cancer Institute lists Thailand (with the highest

coconut

consumption of any country in the world) as having the lowest cancer rates

for both men and women out of the 50 countries studied. (No other

coconut-eating countries were included in the survey.) Inhabitants of the

Philippines

have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world, according to a

study published in the Philippine Journal of Internal Medicine, 1992.

• Coconut oil is currently used in infant formulas and hospital invalid

foods because it confers special health benefits. It’s also used in sports

drinks

to help athletes produce lean body mass.

• The fats in coconut help fight infections of all kinds.

• Some dieters have even reported that coconut oil has helped them get rid

of cellulite!

Margaret’s Story: Cellulite Disappeared

Margaret is a thin, very active young mother who takes pride in her youthful

figure. So she was upset when she developed cellulite on her thighs. Even

regular swimming did not help, and she was too thin to lose weight. Then she

started using coconut oil along with other traditional fats, while eliminating

all commercial vegetable oils and trans fats from her diet. Within a year,

her cellulite disappeared.

Who Was Weston A. Price?

In 1932, Dr. Price, a Cleveland dentist, launched a unique investigation. He

had grown increasingly concerned about the declining health of his patients.

Observing rampant tooth decay and crowded and crooked teeth, he noted that

people with these dental problems invariably suffered from other health

problems as well. Price believed that these problems were not hereditary but

nutritional. He was skeptical that the diets his patients were consuming, based

on

sugar, white flour, and vegetable oils, could support good health.

Having heard that isolated peoples consuming only local foods had excellent

dental health, Price spent over ten years traveling to remote parts of the

globe to study the health of populations untouched by Western civilization in

order to discover whether nonindustrialized peoples indeed were healthy and,

if so, what were they eating?

He visited sequestered villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the

Outer Hebrides, indigenous peoples of North and South America, Melanesian and

Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines, and New

Zealand Maori. In all, Price found 14 population groups that enjoyed

beautiful, straight teeth free from decay, as well as fine physiques and

resistance

to disease, so long as they ate their traditional diets, which were rich in

certain essential food factors.

On the other hand, whenever these traditional peoples began to eat

devitalized Western foods, which Price called “the displacing foods of modern

commerce,

†physical degeneration ensued. Health problems showed up immediately, and

structural defects (namely, narrow jaws and crooked teeth) appeared in the

next generation. Not surprisingly, widespread obesity often accompanied the

transition to modern processed foods.

What Do We Mean by Traditional Foods?

We’re talking about real foods: butter, cream, raw milk cheeses, steak, lamb

chops, bacon and patés without additives, and hearty soups made with real

stock. “Traditional†means the type of foods nonindustrialized peoples ate:

foods in their natural, unprocessed form, from unconfined animals that feed on

pasture. In our recipe section, you’ll also learn traditional preparation

methods, including fermentation, that make grains and vegetables healthier and

easier to digest. You’ll even learn how to make healthy soft drinks.

Hardship food? Hardly. These are all the basics you already know and love,

plus new techniques that enhance digestion and absorption of nutrients.

• • •

THE MIRACLES OF COCONUT

Did You Know?...

• The body can use coconut oil for energy more rapidly and efficiently than

any other fat source. Special fats in coconut (called medium-chain fatty

acids) are not normally stored in your body as fat. Instead, they're quickly

converted to energy, making coconut ideal for weight loss.

• Coconut improves thyroid function in people with hypothyroid disease.

• People in countries where coconut is an important part of the diet have

lower rates of heart disease and cancer than Americans. For example, a 1996

report by the National Cancer Institute lists Thailand (with the highest

coconut

consumption of any country in the world) as having the lowest cancer rates

for both men and women out of 50 countries studied. Inhabitants of the

Philippines have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world,

according

to a study published in the Philippine Journal of Internal Medicine, 1992.

• Coconut oil is currently used in infant formulas and hospital invalid

foods because it confers special health benefits. It's also used in sports

drinks

to help athletes produce lean body mass.

• The fats in coconut help fight infections of all kinds.

Some dieters have even reported that coconut oil has helped them get rid of

cellulite!