(PTF) – Doctors from the Cleveland Clinic are changing their views on fat intake and cardiovascular disease.
Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, Steven Nissen, MD, states as far as eating butter goes, “It’s not a sin,”.
A new report commissioned by the federal government ((( Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee))) changes the way fat intake is seen effecting cholesterol levels and artery damage. Overturning the common ways lipids are seen to impact heart disease, the study is sure to cause controversy among colleagues.
High-levels of cholesterol in the blood continue to be associated with coronary artery disease, although, studies are showing that small dense LDL particles are doing the damage.
Small dense LDL occurs in normal patients who consume too much fat with an abundance of glucose and other carbohydrates.
Having an abundance of energy from glucose, the body cannot use the fat in the blood stream and continues returning the fat to the liver where it is processed.
The liver breaks down the lipids each time into smaller and smaller particles until these particles are known as small, dense LDL.
The small, dense LDL particles then enter fissures in the arteries where they become trapped.
The bodies defense mechanisms are called upon and microphages and cholesterol attempt to remove the dense particles or cover them over much like a scab.
This in turn creates arteriosclerosis.
Cholesterol is typically blamed for arteriosclerosis, however, it seems to be the consequence of just being at the scene. As in blaming the firefighter for causing the fire.
So are all fats good for you then?
Not necessarily. Trans-fats are always dangerous. The relationship with animal fats, however, is beginning to be associated with normal lipid function as cells in the body, including all mammals, are constructed of mostly saturated fat.
Fats that are heated beyond their smoke-point such as vegetable, safflower, canola or olive oil are players in our heart disease epidemic.
Heating an oil above it’s smoke point breaks the lipids down makes them unhealthy.
Avocado and other high smoke-point oils are suggested for replacing lower smoke-point oils for cooking and frying. Ghee, which is made from clarifying butter, is a very high smoke-point oil.
New research recommends avoiding highly refined corn, canola, vegetable, safflower, legume and other grain based oils.
Olive oil is a healthy oil but only when it is not heated.
Our bodies naturally produce around 800 milligrams of cholesterol per day. Cholesterol is needed to produce many of the bodies hormones.
What about no-fat diets?
Since fat is such an important aspect of our diet (with omega-3 and omega-6 being essential) modern researchers are realizing that our “fat-free” diets are causing more harm than good.
Does this mean eating gobs of fat is a good thing? Not necessarily. Eating healthy fats in a good proportion to leafy vegetables and healthy proteins seems to be the key.
Investigative Journalist Nina Teicholz (((Nina Teicholz: THE BIG FAT SURPRISE Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet))) researches the connection between politics and the food and regulatory industries.
She states in her book, THE BIG FAT SURPRISE Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, “The more I probed, the greater was my realization that all our dietary recommendations about fat-the ingredient about which our health authorities have obsessed most during the past sixty years- appeared to be not just slightly off track but completely wrong.”
So what should we do now?
Not much has changed. New research suggests cutting down the fat that is on our body. This means limiting or eliminating sugar, cutting out high-starch carbohydrate, processed packaged foods and eating more vegetables and healthy fats.
(Eat from the refrigerator and not from the pantry)
Exercise, quit smoking, drink lots of water and consume less alcohol. Some of the same facts our doctors have been telling us for years…
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