Fat.

Foreword

We are fed with so much misinformation and lack thereof that a lot of what is "common knowledge" is either dead wrong or inaccurate. There's too much ignorance spread around for me to sit by and not do something about it. I thought it fitting to christen my blog on the topic

Questioning "common knowledge"

What do you think of when you see the word 'fat?' An obese man? Adipose tissue? Food grease, maybe the kind on top of pizza that you soak up with a napkin? Or perhaps there's no real distinction between these things in your mind? Regardless, the word 'fat' carries an extremely negative connotation in modern times.

I want to change that. Or, at least, how you perceive it. Dietary fat is much better for you than it's cracked out to be.

 This was probably not the first thing that came to mind.

Or "Fatties gonna fat."

I'll start with the obvious. We're brainwashed with the idea that fat, especially saturated fat, is bad for us. Saturated fat is a "bad" fat, but there are "good" fats too, like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, etc.

So saturated fat is "bad." When I say "saturated fat," what's the first thing you think of? If you've been sufficiently brainwashed, an image that might pop in your head is that of a cheeseburger. We "know" that they are bad for us in more than one way, but we eat them anyway. Why? BECAUSE THEY'RE DELICIOUS!

Obligatory. Cats are carnivores, you know.

But why can we not resist almighty meat? It boils down to the fact that we homo sapiens are omnivores. It's not natural for us to not eat meat. For most of our existence, that was our primary source of food. We have a hard-wired instinct to eat animals. Somehow, a few people do resist: vegetarians and their more ascetic counterparts, vegans. I have nothing against them (intellectually, yes, but personally, no), but I want to point out that being either does not automatically make you healthy. In fact, they would not be able to survive for long outside the context of civilization.

SEE? Meat good!

So why would something we subsisted on for millenia suddenly be bad for us in the modern world? It makes no sense. With the exception of trans fats and most unnatural vegetable oils (ironically: corn, vegetable, canola, etc.), which are man-made and most likely detrimental to your cardiovascular health, there is almost nothing inherently bad about dietary fat.

The concept of fat being mostly harmless might be a new idea to you-- possibly blasphemous and heretical. These are bold claims, but, alas, I am making these assertions without proof!

Well, actually, I don't have to prove anything, because someone else already did. His name is Tom Naughton, and he did it in the form of an entertaining (and blatantly low-budget) documentary, which covers so much more than what I just barely touched on. It's called Fat Head, and you can watch it for free on Hulu. It's also available on Netflix. Tom runs an awesome blog and has an amazing lecture entitled the Big Fat Fiasco which you can watch on YouTube. This 5-part, roughly one hour lecture focuses and expands upon a specific part of Fat Head: the truth about bad science (for which we have to blame for this mess), fat, cholesterol, carbs, why we get fat, et cetera. Part 5 is especially eye-opening.

Because BS wouldn't work well here, for obvious reasons.

Tom Naughton is just one individual of many (Gary Taubes, for starters, who is even more influential) who are trying to get the word out. It just so happens that he does a better job of doing it than anyone else I know of, so it's not like this guy is some sort of medical conspiracy theorist. He simply put the pieces together and made it accessible and concise. Watch his stuff and educate yourself.