Does High Fat have to be a versus to Nutrition?

I Am Not a Morning Person

So many people talk about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. My stomach can handle water, well liquids in the morning. So I start out with water and what I call creamed milk. Basically it’s cream and milk in a glass, a 4 to 1 ratio cream to milk.

I do admit, I feel so much better with a high-fat diet. No longer 24/7 hungry is a nice feeling. Which brings me to…

A Conundrum About a Regular High-Fat Diet and Nutrition

So, did you do your homework? If I had to pick two books out of the list to start it would be ‘Eat Fat Get Thin’ and ‘Deep Nutrition’.

Why?

They taught me the most about fats. Mind you, ‘Eat Fat Lose Fat’ is good, it’s about coconut oil. When you read about it you’ll be surprised at what it can do for you. But they talk about counting calories and having so much coconut oil a day and that’s it.

That didn’t work for me, I was still hungry.

This is why I think ‘Eat Fat Get Thin’ is better in this area.

And yes, I know that no book is totally perfect so I have to say just what I didn’t agree with.

The disagreement I had with this book is that there are good fats and then there are great fats. Coconut oil being one, but then there are organic and pasture/grass-fed meats, and eggs, raw milk, etc, which have not only more live minerals and vitamins in them, but the animals are treated humanely. A happy animal, I believe, is happy food for you.

Reading it you get the sense that any fats and fatty foods are okay. And while if you look at the picture of the author, he looks slim and healthy, he looks his age, (around 70).

Not that this is a bad thing, but I think this if we take the basis of total health rather than just weight loss (and weight loss is his point in this book) we can be 70 and look 40 or 50, maybe even younger. And this is where happy animals and the book Deep Nutrition start to come into play, (along with the book Nourishing Traditions), but Deep Nutrition starts it off better.

Deep Nutrition talks about four key elements to eating that a lot of low-carb, or any diet or way of eating forget. The way our ancestors ate, and in this book the author talks about the four ‘pillars’ as she calls it and I think are necessary to be overall healthy while still eating the best you can. Hopefully she doesn’t mind a quick rundown here.

The First Pillar

Eat all of the animal, from happy animals that are well cared for and fed correctly, on a pasture. But this includes bone, skin, everything. And before you go all ‘ew’, you know what I mean; you wouldn’t eat the skin of a cow. But I’ve been in heaven with perfect crispy, golden chicken skin and I’ve seen pork rinds in the store. But outside of that the fat and bone on the meat is important as well as…

Second Pillar

The innards or ‘offal’ as it’s called. This doesn’t mean it awful, but that it all fell from the insides when well… gutted (yeah, that sounds awful). This is the heart, kidney, liver, brains, etc. All the things we don’t touch anymore.

I remember having liver and onions as a kid (I put a lot of ketchup on it), until my mom found out that my dad didn’t like it, so we never had it again. Nowadays, after changing my diet but trying to put these things in, where I live, no store offers up liver or anything like that. Then again, it’s better to get a liver from a happy animal, which is harder to find.

I do note, it’s also very hard (see impossible) where I live to get pastured meat, pastured anything from a local store. So do the best you can, buy it where you can, but don’t go broke.

Third Pillar

Eat fresh. Eat vegetables over fruit.

While fruit is lovely, it’s all sugar. And for watching your carbs, fruit needs to be minimal. But I eat and array of colors in vegetables. Salad is one of the best ways and freshest to get these.

Fourth Pillar

Eat fermented.

Not just any old fermented stuff, but live bacteria fermented. Whole, plain, organic yogurt is a good start.

This is where the book ‘Nourishing Traditions’ comes in. They take up the banner in live fermented foods.

What do I mean by ‘live’?

It means that the cultures (usually like a lactobacilli) in it are still living. That canned or bottle sauerkraut (gack) that you may put on your hot dog is dead. Once cooked and/or canned, the bacteria isn’t beneficial anymore.

It doesn’t mean you have to eat sauerkraut.

Even writing that makes me cringe.

There are other options, like yogurt or an easy fermented ginger ale, which is a little punchy when it’s young, but not bad. (I will get to recipes; I need to get pictures ready though).

P.S.

I noted in my first post that the percentages for this diet are 65% fat, 20% protein, 15% carbs. But honestly, you’re looking to make sure you don’t go over 60 grams of carbs a day. And salad vegetables are free. This changes the ratios I’ve noticed as I figure out my recipes to more like 70% fat, 20% protein, 10% carbs to keep my carbs that low.