eating fats

[brownie]

i'm a bit confused about how eating all the fats you want, as long as you're eating very little carbs, doesn't cause you to gain weight. i see recipes and suggestions for meals which involve heavy cream, peanut butter, mayonaisse, etc. but this is all stuff i thought was bad for you. also, how do you know what a "natural" fat is? consumption of that is ok right?

also, question about eggs...i've heard people say too many eggs are bad for you and others say eat as much as you want. which is right?

and another about skim vs. whole milk - which is better?

thanks.

[Natrushka]

Re the fats; there is no such thing as a 'bad' fat with the sole exception of trans fats - fats that are damage, either through heat / light or processing. Natural fats are those that are found in nature - butter, animal fat, fat in nuts and seeds. You see the trend? LC is about eating whole, natural foods - if it comes prepackaged or wrapped in cellophane it's not a 'real' LC food.

You have to change your way of thinking; and you have to educate yourself, which involves choosing a plan and reading the literature. :read2:

Eggs are whole and natural, and consequently, healthy! You won't find any LCers saying eggs are bad for you - thats low fad dieting. LCers get to eat real, delicious food and we get to lose fat and become healthy - you can't beat it.

Skim vs. real milk? Neither is better. They both have approximately 12g of sugar per 8 oz. What's best? Whipping cream! The higher the fat content of a dairy the lower carb content. We use cream in our decaf and coffee :)

HTH
Nat

[PurpleStix]

Natural fat(food) comes from things you can hunt, fish, dig, grow, or pick. The best high fat sources are seeds, seed oils, nuts, nut oils, oily fish, fish oils, butter, tropical oils (e.g. from coconut), wild game and birds. Pork, beef, dairy products and eggs are good natural foods, though their fat profile is not optimal. There are small amounts of essential fatty acids(FA) in all cell walls, so many fresh, unrefined, minimally mucked up foods contribute a little.

Unnatural fat comes from high temperatures, hydrogenation and transesterification. Refining and crop breeding programs can reduce the nutritional value (increase shelf life) of an oil product, though you could argue it is still natural. The worst FA (abundant in deep fried or processed food and some margarines) are trans FA, polynsaturate molecules that have been bent the wrong way. Heat, light and hydrogenation increase the risk of creating trans FA. Trans-esterification is the recombination of FA (margarines with FA from different sources) to make a new molecule never before seen in nature. Canola is being bred to change its FA profile.

The most important FA are the two essentials, alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid. Other omega 3 and 6 are valuable because if you eat them you do don't have to make them from the essential FA. These are perishable so try to get these unrefined, fresh, refrigerated and don't let them get over 325°F.

Another great oil is unrefined extra virgin olive oil. As it is mostly monounsaturated, it does not need to be refrigerated and you can cook with it. As far as I know virgin is about as good but pure is of significantly lower quality.

Eggs contain lecithin, which has in it omega FA and a precursor to carnitine, important in FA metabolism.

Butter and tropical oils have short and medium length FA respectively. Shorter FA are more likely to burn while longer (meat, fish, seeds) and unsaturated FA (seeds, fish) are more likely to be used for structure. But with ketosis (glucagon running amuck), I expect any FA can burn pretty easily.