Many people today still believe that a high fat diet will make them fat. They turn to pasta, rice, and potatoes. They don’t notice that the more carbs they consume, the hungrier they seem to be. New research shows that it is actually carbs and sugars, that makes us gain weight, setting off insulin resistance, which triggers a craving for more.
For the past 30 years, Americans have gradually decreased their fat intake by choosing low-fat products, avoiding red meat and butter and replacing their fat with more carbohydrates, mainly from grains and sugars .Yet obesity, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes rates have never been so high. It hasn’t worked because less fat doesn’t lead to a slim healthy body.
While fats fill us and satisfy us, they don’t make us fat. They are a great energy source. Saturated fats are in the good fat category. Coconut oil and butter have potent antimicrobial properties.
Saturated fats like butter, lard and tallow contain high amounts of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Those vitamins need the presence of fat to be absorbed.
To get the most our of your good fats, eliminate any vegetable oil high in polyunsaturated fatty acids and Omega-6. They are dangerous to your health. Examples of those include corn oil, peanut oil, soybean oil and grape seed oil. If you are using vegetable oils in cooking, replace them. The best oils for the Paleo Diet are:
- Coconut oil
- Olive oil
- Macadamia Oil
- Avocado Oil – for salads
- Grass fed Butter
Cook with butter, coconut oil, and grass-fed beef tallow. These are healthy fats: they don’t oxidize or polymerize during cooking the way that seed oils do, they don’t contain hidden trans fats, and they have low to zero omega-6 fat content. Coconut oil is 92% saturated fat which makes it really stable when heated and solid at room temperature. If you buy virgin coconut oil, it will imbue your food with a subtle coconut taste and smell.
For people who are sensitive to dairy, choose ghee over butter. Ghee, or clarified butter, should not cause any problem because all milk constituents have been removed.
Olive oil is a vegetable oil, but its content is mostly monounsaturated, a fat source which is safe and healthy. Don’t cook with it, it will burn and oxidize quite easily. Use it in salad dressings.
Other great fat sources include nuts and avocados, and of course grass fed beef and fish.
