More Fats, More Salt!

Posted by Lee-Anne Moore on 14 January 2010 | 0 Comments

"Saturated fats and cholesterol are not the cause of coronary heart disease. That myth is the greatest scientific deception of this century". Dr George V Mann (O'Meara (2007) p76)

OK...Wait! Weren't we were always told to AVOID fat, cholesterol & salt?!

We should ask ourselves these questions:

Why is obesity, heart disease & cancer increasing when low fat/no fat & cholesterol & low salt/no salt diets & products are all so common & recommended?

Why is it that some of us can't lose weight & lower our cholesterol & blood pressure even though we eat food with low/no fat, cholesterol & salt?

The Truth Revealed:

Firstly, research is proving that our lifestyle & stress is actually the main cause of heart disease, diabetes & many other diseases. In our current society, we don't allow ourselves to rest enough. Our bodies weren't designed to remain in the fight-flight response all the time, which by the way, is only meant to last a few seconds to minutes to flee from danger! Our blood pressure, heart-rate, blood sugar & cholesterol (among other things) all need to increase to get us out of danger, be it physical, chemical or emotional - this is part of the fight-flight response. Is it any wonder then, if we are in a constant state of fight-flight, that we end up with heart disease, diabetes & many other increasingly common diseases?! More on this later in our "Stressed Out" workshops or click here to read more about it in our website! We need to be kind to our bodies - our hearts & bodies need to recover & rest. It's OK to rest...we REALLY NEED to learn to rest!

Secondly, our bodies are stressed chemically, when we feed it chemicals or food stripped of all its goodness, depriving our bodies of what it really needs, as opposed to what nature has produced for us. The truth of the matter is that our bodies NEED SALTS & FATS that nature has provided for us. We starve ourselves of nutrients, minerals & essential building blocks when we avoid fat & salt or if we eat refined or substitute products. We end up feeling lousy, being even more hungry & never satisfied! Sound familiar?

Nature has provided all that our bodies need, neatly packaged. The moment we start to modify food to increase or reduce a component of it, we start to run into health problems. Do the food companies really look at the holistic benefit for us, or just one component in isolation...such as reducing fat, cholesterol or salt?

For example, lets look at margarine as a replacement for butter. Margarine, even those spreads that claim to be "cholesterol lowering", is a cocktail of oils, chemicals, flavour, colour & preservatives that undergoes an enormous process to eventually resemble & taste something like butter. They contain trans-fats which are actually destructive to our bodies. And salt? Refined salt & table salt has had most of its minerals stripped during the refining process & has bleaching & anti-caking agents added to it which actually CAUSES health problems. So yes, table salt is bad for us & does add to the problems it's been accused of, HOWEVER, sea salt or celtic sea salt is rich in the minerals we need, that actually helps improve our health!

Have a look at the ingredients in our low fat & low salt products. What has been modified or replaced? Whole foods are replaced with something containing less fat or cholesterol or they undergo a process of stripping the original food to components which are devoid of the nutrients that it had in the first place. Secondly, to maintain flavour & substance, additives include highly processed sugar, artificial flavours & colours & other chemicals & fillers (just look at the numbers & chemicals in the ingredients!). Our bodies aren't designed to process these things & instead they stress our bodies chemically... if we weren't under enough other stress already! We are so hungry on these diet foods because our bodies aren't getting the nutrients & minerals it needs! More stress!

So rather than stressing & starving our bodies of they really need, enjoy eating good quality, cold-pressed oils on salads & high quality fish oil for optimum function of our nervous system & heart. Avocado, nuts, seeds, organic or free-range eggs are just some of the natural foods that contain the good fats that our body needs. Try cooking with butter or coconut oil which doesn't become a trans-fat when heated like most other oils do. Enjoy good quality oils, fat, unrefined sea salt & rest & enjoy the great benefits!

Check back later this week and I'll show you some facts on different fats & how they should be consumed.

Please leave me some comments or thoughts about your experience with salts and oils?

Lee-Anne Moore