Two Myths About Health

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Two Myths About Health: Big Fat Lies

Myth # 1: ‘Saturated Fats Cause Heart Disease’

In 2002, the Food&Nutrition Board issued that saturated fats and dietary cholesterol (alarming words aren’t they?) have no known (what’s this?) beneficial role in preventing chronic disease and are not required at any level in the diet.

Big fat lies.

In addition, the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine would have adults to get a whole  45–65 percent of their total energy in calories (kilocalories are usually meant) from carbohydrates, a slim 20-35 percent from fats , and only 10-35 percent from protein.

There is indeed no shortage of myths about health today.

Most people need 50-70 percent healthy fats in their diet for optimal health, while you need very few, if any, carbohydrates (especially sugars) to maintain excellent health.

It is a long known fact that saturated fats from animal and vegetable sources provide the building blocks for cell membranes and a number of hormones.

Without those hormones, the body cannot function very well. They also work as carriers for essential fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

Certain fats are also needed for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A.  Minerals are also absorbed better because of these fats.

Saturated fats are widely believed to cause arthritis. Big fat lies! But the  material that blocks the arteries is mostly anything but fat.

Myth # 2: ‘Eating Fat Makes You Fat’

For decades, we have been advised to consume a low-fat diet, and this may have done more harm to our health than any other dietary recommendation.

Big fat lies continued.

As you probably know the low-fat recommendations educated us to increase the use of trans-fats, which we now know increase your risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Those are the same  health problems that were erroneously attributed to saturated fats, and we believed that myth.

All of this has built up into a worldwide confusion,  and to end that confusion, it’s very important to understand that eating fat is not going to make you fat!

That was just a big fat lie we were educated to believe.

The most important cause of obesity and all the chronic diseases associated with it, is in fact the consumption of too much sugar — surprisingly including fructose (check the included video), but also most grains, which quickly turn to sugar in your body.

We would be a lot healthier today if the low-fat craze would have been a low-sugar craze instead.

You can make some simple adjustments to your diet immediately and feel more energetic.

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