How can all this fat be good for me?

LittleMamaVas

Hey there, I'm a newbie - like, only a few days into dabbling with keto- and while I understand and see the benefits of this lifestyle (and see the before/after pics), I'm still having a hard time getting past the idea that ingesting so much fat into my body is a healthy thing. I've heard the arguments for it, but I was wondering if anyone has come across actual medical evidence that proves that eating like this won't lead us down the road to a heart attack? I've heard one ketoer say that her cholesterol rose after starting on keto (obviously) but that this was a good thing. I don't understand how that can be, from a medical stand point. I feel like I'm 99% convinced already that I want to launch myself fully into this, but its just that one thought that keeps bugging me. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.

DittoDan

My personal:

DittoDan's Improved Blood Work 6-18-2015

This is a must watch if you want to know if fat is bad for you:
Fat Head (the History of the Demonization of Saturated Fat)

I hope this helps,

Dan the Man from Michigan
It's Ketogenic or Bariatric Surgery! How I Found the Ketogenic Diet
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rumptastic

Hi LittleMama!

I agree-- this was a hard thing to wrap my head around. Here are a few thoughts:

First, it is easy to fall into the trap that eating keto is naturally healthy-- that is not always true! You have to be careful with this diet with making sure you eat plenty of veggies (a lot of plans out there don't do a great job of emphasizing this) and getting a good mix of fats (e.g. eating some fish and nuts, rather than just a stick of butter).

Second, fats and cholesterol are good things to have, but on Keto, you do have to manage them carefully. For example, cholesterol is important for the production of hormones, so you do need some. Where it becomes a problem is if you are under a lot of stress all the time, your arteries get damaged, and cholesterol sticks to the damaged points and clogs up your arteries. So, cholesterol is good and necessary, but lots of it can be problematic for some people.

I usually think about it in terms of calorie replacement. Carbs are very calorie dense, and we have to replace them somehow. Our options are protein and fats. You certainly do need to eat plenty of protein, and a good calculator will guide you on this point. But too much protein can be very hard on your kidneys, so the only other option is fat. These are much more calorie dense than carbs, though, so you just have to keep an eye on your numbers a little more carefully. If you think about it, lots of cultures have high fat diets (e.g. Inuits eat all kinds of seal blubber) but those cultures also have lots of activity and low levels of stress, so it is important when doing keto to also make sure you are active, taking time to relax, and drinking tons of water. I hope this helps! I am pretty new too, so I totally understand the weirdness of thinking "Well, I can't have that bagel, but I CAN eat this tub of cream cheese!"

humbled2015

DittoDan wrote: »

This is a must watch if you want to know if fat is bad for you:
Fat Head (the History of the Demonization of Saturated Fat)

It said the video is private. I really would have liked to watch it.

Healthymom_5

@LittleMamaVas - you pose a legitimate concern. I don't know if there are any long term studies, but the short term ones I've read are promising. That being said, when making the personal decision, so many individual variables (of personal genetics/predisposition to heart disease; one's own lab results, for example) as well as many variations on the "low carb diet" theme exist.

I think the research is becoming convincing that fats, in general, are not the enemy, and that high carb contributes to heart disease more than previously imagined.

For myself, In looking at the available research as well as my own n=1 experiment by my recent lab work (LDL and total cholesterol are up, although HDL is excellent as are triglycerides; fasting blood sugar is down 13 points and A1C is normal) I am shifting toward a more Mediterranean diet-based low carb plan. I am increasing plant fiber, especially soluble fiber (increasing non-starchy veggies, adding chia seeds, etc.), cutting back a little on the beef (although still enjoying grassfed beef) and processed meat and eating more fish and pastured chicken and eggs; and adding more mono-unsaturated fats (olive oil, nuts, avocado). If I eat fruit it will be 1/3 of an apple or 1/3 C berries. Perhaps this approach might be more comfortable for you and worth looking into? You can google Mediterranean Diet Low Carb. For me, it is the best of all worlds and most sustainable personally, and closest to how my family eats. There are others here who eat a more pant-based low carb diet, and they could offer another perspective as well.

I hope this helps a little. Keep researching and reading and best wishes finding a good plan for you. You can always get started and tweak as you go!

Edited to add: after getting my above lab results, I found this article helpful. http://authoritynutrition.com/low-carb-diets-and-cholesterol/

britzen

Fat Head is also available on youtube.

DittoDan

humbled2015 wrote: »

DittoDan wrote: »

This is a must watch if you want to know if fat is bad for you:
Fat Head (the History of the Demonization of Saturated Fat)

It said the video is private. I really would have liked to watch it.

Thank you for pointing that out. It looks like the guy that made it, pulled it. Tom Naughton is the author, his website is:

http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/about/

And I can't find it on his website or his youtube channel. I only see snippets from the movie. But I did do a search for it on YouTube and there's a copy of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqn-Xe_2iCw

Some other guy posted it. I don't know how long it will be up, but I would watch it ASAP before it gets pulled.

I hope this helps,

Dan the Man from Michigan
Keto / IF / Sedentary
Previous Discussions on the LCD & Keto Groups
DittoDan's Keto Sub Groups Blog

rumptastic

Just found this, which might also interest you.

thephilm1

I would read this (or listen) - http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Fat-Surprise-Healthy/dp/1451624425 It really dives into a lot of the previous studies, and gives you an idea of the motivations to why we were all told fat "is" so bad for us.