The Big Fat Lie

I may sound a little biased in the things I suggest, mainly because I look into the evidence and research-based articles and books which prove otherwise. I am not a big fan of conventional wisdom but at the end of the day, it is indeed a “RED FLAG” in what we’ve been taught to belief and what we know to be ‘true’.

When Too Much is Too Much

It was said once that too much protein is bad for the kidney, too much carbohydrates causes diabetes, too much fats causes high cholesterol. So what should we consume then, if everything seems to be detrimental to our physical health?

Fats

Well, this was what I found. Saturated fats are good for us. We need to consume more fats, especially saturated fats, to prevent heart disease. It all makes sense as when human beings were consuming more fats decades ago, the rate of occurrence of heart disease was significantly lower.

Cholesterol

Then what about cholesterol and the thickening of the arteries with lipids of the calcification of the arteries lobs? Cholesterol is divided into two types - HDL (the good stuff) and LDL (the bad stuff).

LDL is basically ‘bad cholesterol’, but it has not been well-defined. LDL, when consumed, is broken down into small cholesterol - VLDL or Very Low Density Lipoprotein, the fluffy LDL. In meat, we get a lot of LDL, such as through the fats from steak. Being fluffy, they do not go through our arteries and thus do not cause calcification (clogging) of the arteries. A piece of steak that undoubtedly contains LDL, is also rich in HDL. This ensures a balance of both types of cholesterol as the HDL content in a piece of fatty steak is higher than the LDL content. Besides, this LDL is really quite harmless to our bodies due to the fact that it is fluffy.

However both HDL and LDL play an important role in our bodies:

Cholesterol:

- Regulates hormones and protects against heart diseases

- Aids in Vitamin D production

- Acts as an antioxidant.

- Is necessary in mothers’ milk for breast-feeding

- Is used to repair damaged cells

And the list goes on…

What I am trying to say, is that, don’t dismiss “cholesterol” as bad for our bodies, don’t forget the good it does for us.

So, who’s the bad guy?

It's vegetable oil and carbohydrates that are causing the problem.

Energy System

I know a little about the energy system and how it works. Basically, carbohydrates (CHO) are broken down into glucose and are later joined by the krebs cycle, protein breaks down into polypeptides and later amino acids go through the oxidative deamination transmission. And fats on the other hand go through the triglycerides into the beta oxidation process

What We Were Taught

Without going into too much detail, let’s discuss some lessons based on what we were taught in schools and universities.

Fats are divided into many based, the use of fats basically called the triglycerides which are then used in our bodies as part of the energy system.

Gary Taube’s “Good Calorie, Bad Calorie” explains our body’s response to insulin. When we eat carbohydrates, our bodies have to increase its secretion of insulin. As we all know, insulin increases the blood sugar (glucose) in our blood. Glucose burns and produces energy immediately, and then burns off. Later, we get hungry because our body is again, in lack of sugar.

An Alternative Source of Energy - Fats

CHO has always been known as essential towards providing us with energy. Wouldn’t be tired and lethargic without CHO?

Well, if we rely on fats for energy, our energy level becomes stable. Insulin doesn’t come into play in our bodies and our bodies will not be confused by a sudden surge in sugar level. There is no spike of sugar in our blood and we are therefore able to maintain a more consistent energy level.

Ketones Bodies and Ketosis

In order for acetyl CoA, produced by the beta oxidation, to enter the kreb cycle, a sufficient amount of oxaloacetate is needed. Oxaloacetate is converted to glucose (non-carbohydrate form). When oxaloacetate is converted to glucose, it is used as energy.

When we consume carbohydreates or sugar in any form, be it pasta, rice or even fructose sugar, our bodies can only keep a certain amount in muscles and liver as glycogen, after which insulin automatically relies on conversion of the sugar into fats.

The Truth About Cholesterol - Heart Disease or Arthrosclerosis

This is what we have been thought about the prevention of heart diseases and how it occurs.

Step1: We consume a lot of food that is high in cholesterol.

Step2: High blood cholesterol causes atherosclerosis.

Step3: Atherosclerosis clogs up our vessels causing a clog in our arteries and resulting in

coronary heart diseases.

Should I Avoid Animal Fat if I Have Had a Heart Attack?

A research was conducted, comparing 2 groups of people and their types of diet.

One group was taking a lot of saturated fat, meat and eggs daily. Another group ate a lot of vegetables and refrained from consuming fats. The study lasted over 20 years and what the researchers found was that there was no doubt that the people who ate a lot of saturated fats had high cholesterol. Nonetheless, the group that did not eat saturated fats died earlier and some even reported to develop heart disease.

The study proved that saturated fats never did promote heart disease. In fact, it assisted and prevented heart problems. Cholesterol was just an indicator that researchers got off athletes. Naturally, athletes have low-saturated fats content in their bodies. They are indeed fit, but not particularly healthy. The reason I say this is because even athletes at the elite level were found to be getting heart attacks. There needs to be a distinction between ‘fitness’ and ‘health’.

With low cholesterol levels, how is that even possible? This clear example proves that cholesterol level is not the right way to gauge a person’s health. Calcified plaque is what causes heart attacks. Calcification on your arteries clogs the arteries which then causes heart attacks.

Summing It Up

Cut down on your carbohydrates. If possible, keep to a diet consisting entirely of saturated fats, and you will have a better chance of reducing the likelihood of a heart attack and it will also help in weight loss.

At the end of this video, you can see that even Dr Oz pretty much agrees with GARY TAUBES. They also both agree that it is not cardio or aerobics exercise that will cause you to lose weight but it's the increase in muscle mass. I'll be talking more about this in the next posting, on why strength training is the best way to lose weight.