Full fat, low fat, reduced fat. So many different labels make it hard to know what’s best for us. Is low fat really healthy or are we better off eating full-fat foods?
Low-fat products are seen by lots of people as being the healthy option. Thankfully many people now understand that this simply is not true for most of us. The downside of low-fat products is that they nearly always have sugar or sweeteners added which are no good for any of us especially diabetics. The other thing is that they are not good for our cholesterol levels – yes low fat is not good for cholesterol. We need good fats to get the “good” cholesterol levels up so that they can deal with the “bad” cholesterol!
So how do we do that?
We need to eat good quality fat like olive oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, organic milk, aged cheese, grass-fed meat and free-range chickens as well as oily fish, nuts and seeds (there’s more but you get the idea).
The other reason for eating good fats is that you need to keep your cell walls flexible so the nutrients can get in and the waste out. There are also lots of receptors in the cell walls that become stiff and refuse entry to things like glucose when we eat the wrong fat or too much sugar. Just like someone who keeps calling you and you finally get bored and don’t pick up the phone, the gates will finally give up letting the sugar in from the bloodstream!! When your receptors don’t let things into the cell, the cell can’t function properly and nor can the rest of the body.
I mentioned earlier about insulin being the way to get sugar out of the bloodstream and into the cell.
This means that both insulin and glucose have to make their way through the cell wall. So the cell wall has receptors for both, imagine those as 2 gates in the cell wall. When you eat fats that are harmful the cell wall gets stiffer and the gates don’t open so well. This leads to less insulin getting in and therefore less sugar coming out of the bloodstream. By using the right fats for cooking and eating a good mix of fats you can reduce your risk of this happening and therefore the risk of Diabetes.
In order to help the cell wall stay flexible so the gates open properly, we need good quality fat. This includes things like olive oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter and if possible organic milk and other dairy products like Greek yoghurt. These contain better fats than spreads and vegetable oils, the fats used in cakes and biscuits and many processed foods as well as fast food all of which can make the cell wall less flexible causing less movement through the cell wall.
The other thing about fats is that they demand no insulin at all so we don’t get hungry or lay down fat so readily from eating them! Everything in moderation of course!
It’s the sugary foods and carbohydrates like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread that cause us to produce insulin, make us hungry and lead us to deposit fat, particularly around our vital organs and causing our cell walls to get less flexible.
So eating good fats is a vital part of staying healthy. No more low-fat foods, PLEASE.
Many of my clients, with the correct support and advice have done the same, they are now living without the constant hunger, the extra weight and the effect that both of these have on their energy and feelings of wellbeing. If you’d like to discover more about balancing your good groups get in contact for a chat.