Week 23

Include good quality fat, and only good quality fat, in your diet daily.

So many options; so incredibly important for your health.  One of the biggest misconceptions in our culture that has been marketed is that a low fat or no fat diet is healthy.  This is SO NOT TRUE.

What is true is that if you eat cheap quality fast foods such as burgers and fries, store bought ice cream, or sugar-laden chocolate bars and cookies, you will develop health problems such as heart disease and probably constantly fight excess weight and fat around your waist or hips.

So don't miss a key part of the challenge; eat ONLY good quality fat.  Many feel good quality fat will produce the same negative health effects and weight gain that cheap man-processed fats do.  That is a myth, though you do need to eat a balanced diet of foods (if you eat an excessive amount of anything, you will not be healthy or the proper weight).

Why do you need healthy fats?  You need them for your brain and to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients.  It should surprise no one that dementia and Alzheimer's in the elderly has sky-rocketed.  It is so sad to visit an Alzheimer's nursing home.  But that generation was told in the 1970's and 80's to eat a low fat or nonfat diet to prevent heart attacks.  Heart disease is a result of consuming man-processed cheap fats, not from fat in your diet.  Conventional medicine and pharmaceutical companies are not on the right track.  Using more man-made products (drugs) and eating more man-processed foods (low fat and nonfat dairy products, salad dressings, etc.) will not allow you to gain and maintain good health but will make you less healthy.

Good fats are perishable.  That is why they were cut out of foods and hydrogenated oils and fats were developed.  Processed fats last a long-time and allow a long-shelf life.  This was a goal of the food industry at the beginning of the twentieth century.  Long shelf life certainly makes it easier to transport foods a long distance and for grocery stores to stock foods for weeks and months to feed large numbers.  But processing of fats so they don't turn rancid quickly, changes their molecular structure into stiff rods (which is why they cause heart disease and hardening of arteries).  Fats are naturally like slinky toys and are essential to keep our bodies flexible and our brains sharp.  They are also essential for your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins, which are A, E, D and K.  With the low fat diet of today's society, it is no wonder that high dosage Vitamin D supplements are recommended for people - but taking these are not the answer to your health issues. 

I store all of my good quality, perishable fats in the refrigerator except coconut oil and bananas.  I also store unopened jars of nut butters in my pantry, and keep only a small amount of olive oil on my counter.  Everything else is stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

So what good fats do I eat on a regular basis - I have shown some of the staples I keep in my house in the above photo.  I will describe in more detail the many options below.  Please take to heart that spending the money to get the best quality available is essential and a very smart investment. 

1.  Flax Seed:  I add freshly ground organic flax seed to my food at least 3 or 4 times a week, consuming about 1 to 2 tsp at a time.  For more details read this post on flax seeds.

2.  Avocados and Bananas:  Two natural sources of great fat which I also eat regularly, multiple times per week, sometimes daily.  Be careful with these two if you are trying to maintain your weight or lose weight.  Jon's latest creation, his chocolate malt, is a great option (if you use raw milk) for teenage boys who need lots of calories or elderly persons trying to maintain their weight.  I will post his recipe soon.

3.  Coconut oil:  This is an excellent fat to add to your diet.  Studies have been done that suggest adding coconut oil to your diet can speed up your metabolism and actually help you lose weight.  But buy the best!  Get an extra-virgin unrefined coconut oil.  Here is a great article describing the many coconut oils that are available.  Find and buy the best.  It should not smell rancid or have a chemical order.  One note, always use an unrefined, virgin, organic coconut oil in uncooked foods like smoothies or raw foods, such as Chocolate Pudding.  I add coconut oil to my foods (such as smoothies and cooked oatmeal) and when baking.  Coconut oil is naturally very stable and can be stored at room temperature.  It is solid below about 75 °F, and liquid above this temperature.  I love the warmer summer months when my coconut oil is liquid at room temperature and very easy to use.

4.  Olive Oil:  Just as with coconut oil, use your nose when determining which olive oil to use.  Get a good quality, expeller-pressed (or cold-pressed), extra-virgin, organic oil.  If the one you have bought has a strong, unpleasant aroma, switch brands.  I use olive oil to stir fry my vegetables and in my salad dressings.  You also want to get an olive oil that does not 'smoke' when cooking with it.  I use different oils for salad dressings (when I use it raw) and for cooking (when I heat it up).

5.  Butter:  I make my own butter each week (from the cream I skim off my fresh, raw cow's milk).  I use my butter in my baked goods and on toast.  I also buy Organic Valley butter, which I use to grease my baking dishes and cast iron skillet when scrambling eggs.  Don't use the heavily processed cooking sprays when baking.  When you buy butter, only buy unsalted butter.  Then you can add your own good quality sea salt to your food, rather than eating a salt of unknown quality.

6.  Raw Nuts and Seeds:  An excellent source of good quality fat with vitamins and minerals.  So important in your diet and something that I hope you are already eating daily, since it was one of our first weekly challenges.

7.  Cheese and yogurt:  Don't buy any dairy products that say they are low fat or nonfat.  These are all heavily processed and not healthy.  If not heating my cheese, I use raw milk cheeses.  Locally made are the best, but Organic Valley raw milk cheeses are good too.  I make my own yogurt with my raw milk after skimming off the cream layer.  While this makes about a 2% fat yogurt, it is naturally this fat content.  For manufactured dairy products, they take all the fat out of the milk and then add back in fat to make low fat products.  These products are heavily processed and thus become man-made foods.  They also use milk which is pasteurized, but even worse, homogenized.  I do not recommend homogenized milk consumption for anyone.  Homogenization changes the particle size of the milk and becomes a foreign, toxic product in our bodies.  If you wish to learn more about the milk controversy, an excellent book is The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid.  

8.  Nut butters:  Raw are again best.  If you purchase a roasted nut butter, buy an organic variety that does not have added sugar or salt.  We like the consistency of Arrowhead Mills peanut butter, which contains only organic dry-roasted peanuts.  Don't forget to always read the ingredients labels on the products you buy and consume.  Be sure to store your opened jars of nut butters in the refrigerator.

Good quality fats are extremely important for everyone.  Older persons and unborn babies (pregnant women) are at the highest risk if they do not have good quality fats in their diets daily.  Especially in the last trimester of pregnancy when the baby's brain is developing, one needs to eat lots of superior natural fats.

I hope that I have given you enough information and facts to take this challenge seriously and implement it in your life.  May you be richly rewarded for your efforts.

"May the Lord repay you for what you have done.  May you be richly reward by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."  Ruth 2:12