Betsy

**I expected to feel so much better. I didn't. I ate the low fat,
vegetarian foods (McDougall plan, which I still think is healthy).
But I found myself having to go "off the plan" because I was so
hungry and I wanted something with fat in it.**

I recently read parts of a very interesting book that claims that animal
fat is healthier for us than many kinds of vegetable fat. (The book is
Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon.)

It's hard to know if what the author claims could possibly be true,
since it contradicts "common wisdom" about saturated fats. However,
common wisdom about education is so wrong that it helps me believe that
nutrition "experts" could possibly be just as full of it.

Common wisdom on eggs, tropical oils and margarine have all
flip-flopped, so maybe what we "know" about saturated animal fats is
also wrong. I just don't know enough about biochemistry to evaluate
conflicting claims.

Betsy

the_clevengers

--- In [email protected], Betsy <ecsamhill@e...>
wrote:
> I recently read parts of a very interesting book that claims that
animal
> fat is healthier for us than many kinds of vegetable fat. (The
book is
> Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon.)
>
> It's hard to know if what the author claims could possibly be true,
> since it contradicts "common wisdom" about saturated fats. However,
> common wisdom about education is so wrong that it helps me believe
that
> nutrition "experts" could possibly be just as full of it.


Makes sense to me, esp. when you look at indiginous cultures that
existed largely on animal fats, like the Inuit and didn't have the
health problems that "experts" claimed were caused by animal fats.
Then again, it's debatable whether any animal farmed today would be
on the same scale of healthiness as, say, a wild elk, rabbit, or
seal. Also there's that issue of the fact that the Paleo people that
many of the new "meat is great" diets are based on were *way* more
active than your basic sedentary 21st century human. Who knows what
differences it makes to be eating that kind of saturated fat and
moving your body 12 hours a day vs. sitting still most of the time.

My uncle, who is Siberian, said that his mom would feed them lard by
the tablespoon. He's close to 70, and healthy as a horse by all
accounts. Totally anecdotal, of course. My DH's dad, who used to load
his toast up with lard before eating it died of a heart attack at 42.
I'm sure there's way more variables...

Blue Skies,
-Robin-

vegetarian, but who grew up eating the pheasants my dad shot, and the
elk my grandpa bagged, and the veggies we canned from our garden, and
a whole bunch of butter and lard.