Saturated fat

[Demobhappy]

One of my favourite things about doing a W30 has been the addition of tasty fats - goose fat, duck fat and grass-fed beef dripping (= tallow) in particular. But despite the tastiness, and despite doing a *lot* of paleo/primal reading online and offline about saturated fat being fine/positively healthy, I'm finding it the most difficult thing to take in, and I keep finding myself worrying that I'm leading the family into heart attack territory! It's not surprising, I guess, given how ferocious the anti-saturated fat, pro-carb lobby has been for decades. Has anyone else struggled with this despite all the W30/paleo literature, and does anyone have positive test results to share? In the UK we don't automatically get offered blood tests, so even if I went to the doctor to ask for it now, I wouldn't know what my 'before' values were.

I seem to be sensitive to coconut oil and ghee, and I know EVOO isn't for frying, so some reassurance would be great!

[Tom Denham]

My major professor in college dropped dead of a heart attack after saying hello to his wife after completing his daily 5 mile run. They said in 1978 when it happened that it was the fried eggs and bacon he ate for breakfast every morning that was to blame. I have no idea, but have paid attention to heart and cholesterol issues ever since then. I personally have a genetic defect that makes me have high cholesterol - familial hypercholesterimia. My doctor and I consider my having cholesterol levels of 250 good with me on medication. I tell you all this to say that I notice every report of participants on the Whole30 forum reporting what happens with their cholesterol levels and I read lots of studies and articles about heart disease and cholesterol. At least, I used to read a lot. Frankly, I am mostly bored with it now. Here is what I can say from my observations. Most Whole30 participants report their cholesterol levels falling meaningfully after they do a Whole30. A few people report their cholesterol levels going up. I can't explain why most go down, but some go up. 

 

People were healthier decades ago when eating saturated fat was common and people are a lot less healthy since companies began to produce so-called heart healthy food and began to spend billions of dollars/pounds convincing people to eat it. I am not a scientist - although I believe I could play one convincingly in a TV drama - but I think we are much safer eating paleo than we are following the guidance of our (bought and paid for) national health organizations.

 

Here is a collection of sites that I have found meaningful in the past if you want to read a bit of what has formed my opinions.

 

http://paleononpaleo.com/paleo-high-cholesterol/

http://paleononpaleo.com/paleo-cholesterol-testing/

http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy

http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-statins-dont-save-lives-in-people-without-heart-disease

http://healthcorrelator.blogspot.com/2013/05/sudden-cholesterol-increase-it-may-be.html

http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/

http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/statins/statin-madness/

[missmary]

listen to Tom.

 

I will add one more tidbit, that I think is interesting: from my observations, most people who report elevated cholesterol post-whole30 also report significant weight loss. During weight loss, blood levels (of many things) will rise for a period of time. This is normal and temporary as the body goes through the weight-loss process

[MeadowLily]

Atrial Fibrillation (see also ‘Heart Conditions’)

“Throughout most of my life I have continued to follow what medicine has taught us to be a “heart-healthy” diet, including lots of whole grains (the foundation of the food pyramid) with an emphasis on low saturated fat. I believe the combination of this lifestyle—the  diet, overall stress from work and created by my endurance activities—led to my development of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. After a thorough heart evaluation, the physician’s recommendation was to put me on medicine that would suppress some of the abnormal electrical activity in my heart. For several years I increased the number of whole grains in my diet and continued to watch fats and saturated fats, feeling that I needed to be extra careful to protect my heart. Under this system I was having increasingly frequent bouts of fibrillation that required increasing doses of medicine. Last November I started my first Whole30. To my surprise, within two or three days I noticed a significant improvement in my heart rhythm. This continued to improve over the next several weeks to the point where I began reducing the amount of my heart medicine. I continued to see gradual improvements, and currently I’m not taking any medications to regulate my heart. I also noticed significant improvement in how my G.I. tract felt, I had increased energy levels, and I was becoming physically leaner.” -Dana Christianson

- See more at: http://whole30.com/2011/06/the-whole30-a-z-real-life-testimonials/#sthash.FbL3RtCM.dpuf

[Demobhappy]

Thanks, everyone, really helpful!

[MrsStick]

And let's not forget that even Time Magazine and the New York Times are saying that saturated fat can not be meaningfully linked to elevated cholesterol:

 

Time - http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/time-magazine-we-were-wrong-about-saturated-fats/

 

NYT - http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/health/low-carb-vs-low-fat-diet.html