Cyd Notter

Author and Nutrition Educator, Founder of The "Plan A" Diet™

“Healthier” Butter?

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Label Reading Quiz for the Day:

Question:  How can 'Light Butter" be advertised as 50% less fat than butter and STILL be 100% fat?

Answer:  When the manufacturer has partially replaced butterfat with oils, additives and preservatives.

But make no mistake.....this product is still 100% pure FAT.  Manufacturers use marketing practices such as this to make a product appear "healthy", and the unsuspecting public usually buys into it.

How can you tell how much FAT is in a product?  Here's the key:

Compare the CALORIES against the CALORIES FROM FAT.  In the example of the "light butter", you'll see that 1 Tablespoon has 50 calories.  The Calories from Fat are also 50.  That means that that all calories are fat calories - in other words, the percentage of calories that are from 'fat' equals 100%.  This product is 100% fat.

If the calories were 50 and the calories from fat were 10, the product would then be 20% fat (10 divided by 50 = 20%).   Or, you can quickly figure out that 10% of the calories (50) would be 5;  therefore, 20% of the calories would be 10.  It may seem complicated but it's easy to figure out once you do it a few times.

Why is it important to know how much FAT is in a product?  As Dr. McDougall says, "the fat you eat is the fat you wear".  It doesn't matter the source of the fat.....fat is fat.

Immediately after consuming one high-fat meal, your triglyceride levels (a measurement of fat in the bloodstream) are rising. Cholesterol levels are increasing and contributing to plaque formation, and clotting factors in the blood have been activated.

Two hours later, your triglycerides have increased by 60 percent, and your blood flow has decreased by half.  Three hours later, the lining of your arteries has lost elasticity - impeding blood flow - and blood vessel function has become abnormal.  Four hours later your blood has gotten thicker, flowing even slower than it was 2 hours ago.  Five hours later, your triglyceride levels have now increased by 150 percent.  Six hours later, the anti-inflammatory effect of “good” cholesterol has been significantly compromised.

Consuming high-fat and saturated fat foods over days, weeks, months and years promotes the continuous buildup of plaque in the arteries and reduces blood flow even further.  The decreased blood flow leads to decreased oxygen supply (which can lead to a heart attack), and also increases the risk of developing fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, inflammation, certain cancers, and a long list of other diet related diseases.

Fat intake should ideally be around 10% of daily calories.  Plants have all the fat we need, and there's no need to seek out oils (which are very health damaging) or products with added oils.  And of course, all animal sources of fat should be avoided (including fatty fish, fatty chicken, and even "light butter").

Review the "Plan A" diet food pyramid on our website for an overview of the healthiest foods.

Coconut Oil – Miracle Food or Marketing Hype?

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       Coconut Oil – (Source: Dr. Pam Popper, The Wellness Forum)

By January 2006, food companies were required to clearly state on their labels the amount of trans fat in packaged foods. Knowing that consumers would begin avoiding the consumption of foods containing trans-fat, many of them have replaced trans-fat with palm oil, coconut oil and other tropical oils. This does not represent an improvement in these packaged foods and they should still be avoided.

Tropical oils are saturated fats… the type that raises cholesterol levels, clogs arteries and increases the risk of many degenerative diseases, including heart disease.  Coconut oil is 100% pure fat, 92% of which is saturated (which means that it is more saturated than butter or lard).  Coconut oil will elevate cholesterol levels more than any other fat because it is so saturated.

Coconut oil has been recommended by many in the health industry as being healthy, but this recommendation is based on faulty science. Proponents state that coconut oil is made up of medium chain fatty acids, which are metabolized differently than long-chain fatty acids. Like much faulty health advice, there is some truth to the statement ; but only a small portion of coconut oil is made from medium chain fatty acids, while the majority of the fatty acids in coconut oil are long-chain fatty acids, such as lauric, myristic and palmitic acids. These long-chain fatty acids have a deleterious effect on health.

Advocates continue to refer to Polynesians who consume a diet containing lots of tropical oils, since they have lower rates of heart disease than Americans. As is often the case, this information is also taken out of context. When evaluating the dietary and lifestyle patterns of populations and their effects on health outcomes, it is important to evaluate the totality of the diet and lifestyle, rather than one component, to get an accurate picture of cause and effect. Polynesians do have lower rates of LDL cholesterol levels than Americans. However, they consume a diet very high in fiber, they consume more Omega-3 fats than the average American, and their diet contains very little sodium. Additionally, almost none of them smoke and they are generally quite physically active. It’s likely that the combination of these factors is responsible for their health outcomes, not simply the consumption of coconut oil.

Like so much of the health information distributed today, health benefits from coconut oil are a myth. Oils are not health foods, since they are concentrated fat and calories, and coconut oil is one of the worst.  In my opinion, it is dangerous for an individual already consuming a less than optimal diet with too much fat to add coconut oil to the diet.

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