In The News...
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Don't be fooled by Fat Fallacies-Fats can be Good!
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| The fact is fats are essential nutrients. That means they are essential to health. The brain and nervous system are 65% fat. The surface of every cell in our body is fat. Fats keep our skin healthy, support immune function and lower the risk of diabetes. Our hormones are made from fat, and fats are carriers for vitamins and minerals. Good fats improve and normalize cholesterol levels, support a healthy heart and are known to enhance the prevention of cancer. Fats are nutritional essentials.
Yet we are told to avoid fats-that they cause disease. How did fats get such a bad reputation? Because, some fats are remarkably bad for our health. Unnatural fats are very unhealthy, leading to heart disease, cancer, immune dysfunction, pain and obesity. Our bodies have no means to deal with unnatural “bad fats,” so they get stored in our bodies and block healthy processes. That is where the trouble begins. Imagine you were to drive your car into a mechanic and he tells you that the oil in your car is rotten, it is full of pollution, it will not protect your car anymore. Would you tell him, “I don't want any oil the, drain the oil out if it is bad for my car, I don't want any oil in my car at all!” That is very similar to what we are doing today. We eat bad fats-get sick, the “mechanics” tell us to avoid fats! This is ridiculous!!! We need fat-it is essential to life, it is essential to health. Out with the “bad” and in with the “good” fats. But which is which? Like other whole foods, fats and oils that come to us in a fresh, unrefined state are healthy. The proper extraction of the oils that come to us in a fresh, unrefined state are healthy. The proper extraction of the oils from these whole foods is an important step in the process of health. That's because heat, oxygen and chemical solvents can change the natural goodness of the oils (fats) and even the best sources for oils can be ruined in processing. Good fats come from properly prepared olives, seeds and nuts, from pasture-fed animals, wild, cold water fish and even from green leafy vegetables! |
Why would food scientists ruin the oils with processing? The answer is to produce cheap oil and to prolong shelf life. Some oils are damaged as they are extracted. Hydrogenated fats and oils were once natural, but they have been processed using heat and chemicals in order to prolong their shelf-life for profits. The worst part about this processing is that it changes the structure of the fat to become a transfat. Transfat is made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil-a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats. A trans-fat is an unnatural fat that our body has no way to process, so it can stay in the body, blocking healthy processes for a very long time-up to 255 days! |
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Healthy Fats are a Nutritional Essential |
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STATISTICS ON CHILDHOOD OBESITY
In 2002, data showed that 15% of children and teens are considered overweight, a tripling since 1980. An additional 15% of kids and teens are considered "at risk" for becoming overweight.
"This epidemic increase in childhood overweight is particularly prevalent among African American and Hispanic children, with more than 21% of these groups meeting the classification of overweight. It is estimated that about half of overweight school-agers and 70% of overweight teens will remain obese into adulthood."
"While the CDC and other organizations recommend that children participate in physical activity a minimum of an hour daily, kids are actually engaging in less physical activity, particularly as they approach adolescence."
"More than 75% of children ages 6-11 do not eat the minimum of 3 servings of vegetables or 2 servings of fruit daily."
From Promoting Physical Activity and Exercise among Children by Liane M. Summerfield:
"Over the years, state requirements for daily physical education have eroded, and today no states currently have such a requirement (HEALTHY PEOPLE, 1995)...just 47% of middle/junior high schools and 26% of high schools require at least 3 years of physical education (Pate, Small et all., 1995)."
"...physical activity has been associated with increased academic performance, self-concept, mood, and mental health, the promotion of physical activity and exercise may also improve quality of life."
From How New York Parents are Dealing with Childhood Obesity, New York Metro.com:
"...a survey by the city's Health and Education departments discovered that nearly half of New York's school-age children are either overweight or obese."
From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
More than a third of young people in grades 9-12 do not regularly engage in vigorous-intensity physical activity. Daily participation in high school physical education classes dropped from 42% in 1991 to 32% in 2001 (CDC, 2002).
15.3%of children ages 6 to 11 were overweight in 1999 and 2000, more than triple the average of 4.2 percent from 1963 to 1970.
More than 50% of American adults do not get enough physical activity to provide health benefits. 25% of adults are not active at all in their leisure time.
Activity decreases with age and is less common among women than men and among those with lower income and less education.
According to a study of national costs attributed to both overweight (BMI 25-29.9) and obesity (BMI greater than 30), medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998 and may have reached as high as $78.5 billion ($92.6 billion in 2002 dollars) (Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, and Wang, 2003). Approximately half of these costs were paid by Medicaid and Medicare.
From US Surgeon General:
300,000 deaths each year in the United States are associated with obesity.
Overweight and obesity are associated with heart disease, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis, breathing problems, and psychological disorders, such as depression.
The economic cost of obesity in the United States was about $117 billion in 2000.
In women, overweight and obesity are higher among members of racial and ethnic minority populations than in non-Hispanic white women.
In women, overweight and obesity are higher among members of racial and ethnic minority populations than in non-Hispanic white women.
In men, Mexican Americans have a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than non-Hispanic whites or non-Hispanic blacks. The prevalence of overweight and obesity
in non-Hispanic white men is greater than in non-Hispanic black men.
69% of non-Hispanic black women are overweight or obese compared to 58% of non-Hispanic black men.
62% of non-Hispanic white men are overweight or obese compared to 47% of non-Hispanic white women. However, when looking at obesity alone
(BMI > 30)*, slightly more non-Hispanic white women are obese compared to non-Hispanic white men (23%; 21%).
For all racial and ethnic groups combined, women of lower socioeconomic status (income < 130 percent of poverty threshold) are approximately 50% more likely to be obese than those of higher socioeconomic status.
Mexican American boys tend to have a higher prevalence of overweight than non-Hispanic black or non-Hispanic white boys.
Non-Hispanic black girls tend to have a higher prevalence of overweight than Mexican American or non-Hispanic white girls.
Non-Hispanic white adolescents from lower income families experience a greater prevalence of overweight than those from higher income families.
For each individual, body weight is the result of a combination of genetic, metabolic, behavioral, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic influences.
Behavioral and environmental factors are large contributors to overweight and obesity and provide the greatest opportunity for actions and interventions designed for prevention and treatment.
It is recommended that Americans accumulate at least 30 minutes (adults) or 60 minutes (children) of moderate physical activity most days of the week. More may be needed to prevent weight gain, to lose weight, or to maintain weight loss.
Less than 1/3 of adults engage in the recommended amounts of physical activity.
Many people live sedentary lives; in fact, 40% of adults in the United States do not participate in any leisure time physical activity.
Forty-three percent of adolescents watch more than 2 hours of television each day.
A weight gain of 11 to 18 pounds increases a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes to twice that of individuals who have not gained weight.
Over 80% of people with diabetes are overweight or obese.
Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk for some types of cancer including endometrial (cancer of the lining of the uterus), colon, gall bladder, prostate, kidney, and postmenopausal breast cancer.
Risk factors for heart disease, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, occur with increased frequency in overweight children and adolescents compared to those with a healthy weight.
Type 2 diabetes, previously considered an adult disease, has increased dramatically in children and adolescents. Overweight and obesity are closely linked to type 2 diabetes.
Overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults.
This increases to 80% if one or more parent is overweight or obese. The most immediate consequence of overweight, as perceived by children themselves, is social discrimination.
From US Department of Health and Human Services:
Forty-three percent of students in grades 9-12 watch television more than two hours per day. Physical activity declines dramatically over the course of adolescence, and girls are significantly less likely than boys to participate regularly in vigorous physical activity.
Nearly 50 million adults (between the ages of 20 and 74), or 27% of the adult population, are obese; overall more than 108 million adults, or 61% of the adult population are either obese or overweight.
In a 1993 study, 14% of all deaths in the United States were attributed to activity patterns and diet. Another study linked sedentary lifestyles to 23% of deaths from major chronic diseases. For example, physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of developing or dying from heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and high blood pressure. On average, people who are physically active outlive those who are inactive.