Saturated Fat Saturday

What if everything you have believed turns out to be wrong?  That's the impression I have gotten in reading Gary Taubes book Good Calories, Bad Calories.  It is amazing how he methodically demolishes almost every piece of conventional wisdom you have heard about diet and weight.

One of the things Taubes brings up is that fat in general and saturated fat in particular, may not be as bad for you as you have been led to believe.  Well, for those of you who don't have the time or interest in reading Taubes book (I enjoy it but it is a beast to read) the blogosphere's Grand Poo-bah of all things low carb - Jimmy Moore - has links to several articles on the low carb lifestyle, including three on the subject of saturated fat.

Here's the three articles on saturated fat, you can read all of Jimmy's post for the other articles.

3. "Saturated Fat Is Your New Friend"
SOURCE: Male Pattern Fitness Blogs

4. "What If Bad Fat Is Actually Good For You?"
SOURCE: Men's Health Magazine

6. "Stop Blaming Saturated Fat"
SOURCE: Men's Health Magazine

Just to let you know my interest in this - I have lost 45 lbs since June 1 on a low carb diet.  And, I also have to admit that I haven't been entirely faithful to the low carb way during that time.  We had a two week vacation and a couple of other church related trips in the summer when I wasn't that faithful, and we've had several weeks when we were out a lot or had company or for various reasons weren't as faithful as we could be.  So, I've lost the 45 lbs in 5 months, which averages out to about 9 lbs a month, but I think you could seriously subtract 6-8 weeks from that where I have shot myself in the foot.

I have done this before, where I dropped about 30 lbs and gained about 35 lbs back so the real test is whether or not I'll be able to keep it off this time.  Part of the plan is to have some controlled cheating so I don't feel completely deprived.  But another  part of it is to reconsider the place of saturated fat in the diet.  To my mind the biggest problem with low carb is that you get sick of meat after awhile.  I have stuck pretty much to lean meat and it's just not that tasty.  Fat adds taste so hopefully that will be a help.

The main reason I have been on lean meat is because of all of the received wisdom about the harmfulness of saturated fat.  Now it appears that saturated fat is not the culprit it is supposed to be.  Just to whet your appetite, the subhead for that first article from Men's Health says this:

For decades, Americans have been told that saturated fat clogs arteries and causes heart disease. But there's just one problem: No one's ever proved it.

And yes I do know a good many of the counter arguments on this - one of which is that Robert Atkins died as a result of his diet.  That's exhibit A in the argument against low carb.  If you have heard this I encourage you to read this account from his wife. And pretty much every argument I have heard against saturated fat and the low carb approach in general is answered methodically and thoroughly by Taubes. So if you feel strongly about the ill effects of saturated fat and low carb, I encourage you to read Taubes.

And the reason I am blogging about this is because I know that obesity is an epidemic in America and there are lots of people like me who are obese (the good news is that I am no longer obese, I'm just overweight now - woo-hoo!, go Jolly, go Jolly, it's your birthday!) and the received wisdom is that obesity is the result of overeating, which is another way of saying it is a psychological problem, not physical problem.  Which means that people are obese simply because they lack discipline and will power. 

But Taubes shows that the obese have been given untenable solutions to their problem, solutions which not only will not enable them to lose weight, it may compound their weight gain.  So, they follow this bad advice that will lead to failure then add an emotional burden on top of that they are undisciplined failures.

Which is not to say that low-carb does not require discipline - saying no to sugar and bread and pasta is very difficult, but it can be done and the good thing is that eating low carb will leave you feeling sated, which is a big help.

I also bring this up because it illustrates a larger problem that can apply to a wide range of issues.  If Taubes and the people Jimmy Moore cites are right, they raise another question, which is - what other bad advice has become part of the conventional wisdom we live by?  Beyond just the diet matters, Taubes book is a lesson in thinking, a lesson in causation, and a lesson in how to do research.

I'll leave it there for now, I'll try to blog on this more in the future.  For now, maybe you ought to go have a big juicy marbleized steak while you are thinking this over - but skip the potatoes.