This week, many of us are heading into the holidays.
And as you head into a week of parties and connection and warmth and pot lucks and FOOD… I can think of no better holiday gift than this:
To share with you, directly from the medical literature, the truth that
saturated fat does NOT increase mortality.
It’s not about the fat… saturated fat intake does not increase rate of death.
It’s about the inflammation and the long term damage that inflammation does to your blood vasculature (and your entire body, from your gut lining to your brain!) that increases our mortality rate.
The old studies on cholesterol, that are decades and decades outdated, are why physicians are still narrowly focused on fat consumption and monitoring lipids in the blood.
But the new studies, ones that have come out over the past 20 years and continue right now (as shown in today’s medical study,) are that it is actually inflammation that causes the damage that builds plaques and increases mortality due to heart attack and stroke.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) online released a medical report which found:
absolutely no increase in mortality with saturated fat consumption
no association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes or over all mortality.
a protective benefit from consuming naturally occurring trans-palmitoleic acid (in dairy) to reduce diabetes risk
a moderate association between industrially synthesized trans hydrogenated fats and increased mortality, but no association between naturally occurring trans fats and mortality
So the bottom line?
Naturally occurring fats do not increase mortality.
It’s whole body inflammation (from environment, air quality, processed foods, sugar, gluten, even EMF exposure) that damages the body.
Inflammation causes wounds in our vasculature and are what allows fat to stick to the damaged parts of your epithelial lining, leading to the clots that cause heart attack and stroke.
Blaming the fats in the bloodstream is like blaming sand when it gets into a scrape on your knee when you are at the beach.
The solution isn’t to get rid of all the sand on the beaches in the world so that nothing gets into your wound — the sand is healthy! It’s healing to get out there and walk or lay on that sand and connect to the earth and soak in the elements!
The solution is to prevent the wound on your knee in the first place. OR to dress the wound appropriately if you do have one.
So the solution to inflammation in the vascular system is to treat the inflammation. OR reduce or prevent it in the first place!
It’s not the fats in your blood attacking your artery walls… rather, it is a wound that is caused by inflammation that is allowing the plaque to build in the first place.
Address the inflammation, and you can prevent disease.
Want to stop focusing on reducing fat intake and instead decrease your whole body inflammation?
Here’s how:
1. Grounding.
Grounding your body decreases blood inflammatory markers… I blog a little about that here.
For more information on grounding you can watch my video on the instant health benefits of touching the earth or watch the motion picture Heal For Free.
And the world’s best way to sleep grounded all night long?
2. Go gluten free.
Gluten is an inflammatory neurotoxin… I blog about that here.
3. Decrease sugar consumption.
Sugar also causes a cascade of inflammation as well as immune suppression. I write about that here.
4. Resveratrol supplements.
Resveratrol is the naturally occuring substance found in grape skins and is heart and brain protective because of it’s anti-inflammatory properties.
I recommend taking resveratrol daily and this is the one I take.
5. Fish Oil supplements.
Omega 3 fatty acids reduce inflammation throughout the body and support cardiovascular and brain health (helping to preserve your brain volume, in fact Omega 3’s are so healthy for the brain they can actually prevent psychosis) and even prevent cancer!
This is my favorite Omega 3 supplement and my fav flax seed oil.
Decrease your whole body inflammation by sleeping grounded, decreasing your intake of gluten and sugar, and making resveratrol and omega 3 fatty acid supplements a part of your daily routine, and your entire body will run it’s very best.
Happy holidays everyone… and enjoy eating healthy fats without fear!
xoxoxo, Laura