Article by Gareth Edwards

This week Gareth Edwards, one of the UK’s best qualified nutritionists and alkaline diet experts, writes about the subject of healthy fats and oils.

We are often told in the Media that fats are generally bad for us, which is simply untrue. There are good and bad fats and in order to achieve good health, it is very important to consume healthy fats like the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

Gareth is explaining which fats and oils are beneficial for us and why they are so important for our health. He has also put together an action plan for you, so that you know exactly how to include these fats into your diet.

Why are Essential Fatty Acids (Omega 3, 6 and 9s) so Important for our Health?

Cod liver oil, oily fish, butter versus margarine, Udo’s Choice, Flax oil, Hemp oil, Chia Seed oil …… what an earth is a healthy fat? Patients or clients are usually grateful when I shine a bit of light onto this important area of health diet and metabolism.

The most important and fundamental factor, that I am sure most Energise readers will have grasped is that healthy fat doesn’t make you fat. In fact quite the reverse is true. You need to have it in your diet.

Reasons To Eat Fat:

There are several reasons why you need fat in your diet. The primary and arguably hedonistic reason is …… that it tastes good! The dense calorific nature of fatty foods gives concentrated flavours that tickle our taste buds. If you eat healthy fat it can be a beneficial, pH neutral or even alkalising source of calories or a way to make you feel full and to give you a fuel source to make energy.

On top of that there are certain body structures that are made of fat (or to give them their biological name lipids). The membranes that form every cell in your body are made from fats. The myelin sheaths that act as insulators around your nerves are made from fats. Your skin is primarily made of fat and messenger substances in your body have a lipid component to them. Add to that the fact that the grey matter of your brain mostly consists of fats and suddenly you may start to feel an urge to start drinking fat….!

Which Fats To Choose:

So that means that a bacon and egg sandwich is healthy then…..? No, because not all fats were born equal. If you need convincing of the shortcomings of high intakes of animal based proteins and fats, then the highly scientific, population based “China Study” by Colin Campbell (available from Amazon) should persuade you. In summarising his research, Campbell provides compelling and scientifically robust evidence of links between increased incidence of degenerative diseases such as arthritis, cardio-vascular disease and arthritis and higher intakes of calories from animal sources.

Combine this with some of the more recent exciting research carried out. A natural substance contained in unprocessed, organically grown plant foods called salvestrols, has been shown to have anti-fungal and anti-tumour properties. Un-refined plant oils contain these along with essential (required by the body) fat soluble nutrients like vitamin E. So they start to emerge from the fat fog as having healing and health promoting properties.

A Bit of Science:

With the exception of Coconut oil, all lipids or fats that come from plant based sources are unsaturated. This means that the carbon chains that form their fatty acid structures are not completely “saturated” with bonded hydrogen. In the absence of Hydrogen atoms the carbon atoms form a double bond between them. (See diagram C = carbon and H = hydrogen).

The position of the first double bond in the carbon chain is a defining characteristic of fat. So if the first double bond falls after the third carbon atom that fatty acid structure will be called and omega 3 fatty acid. If it falls after the sixth carbon atom it will be called an omega 6 fatty acid and so on.

Fats You Have To Have:

Your body is a fantastically intelligent, creative entity. It can “manufacture” many different molecules from metabolic building blocks. There are however two types of fatty acid that your body has to have from what you eat. It can’t turn other stuff into them. These are omega three and omega six fatty acid chains. These are called essential fatty acids (EFA’s) because your body can’t make them and you have to have them.

Most seeds (such as sunflower or pumpkin) are rich sources of omega six fats, while relatively few have high sources of omega three. Hemp and flax oil are particularly high in omega three fats. Hemp oil is more stable than flax oil but it does contain more omega six fats.

Where You Get Them:

As an educated reader of these articles you are probably well aware that you can also get omega three oils from oily fish. The SMASH acronym is a handy way to remember the best sources (salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring).

Personally, I have my doubts though about “dosing up” on fish. Eating it occasionally from choice might be a different matter. One important consideration is the fact that these essential un-saturated fats are susceptible to damage by light and heat. So unless you are eating your fish raw, I’m not convinced that it’s a great way to get the omega oils that you absolutely need.

Action Plan:

I absolutely recommend to all my clients that they have about 1 ½ tablespoons (or more!) of either hemp oil or Udo’s Choice every day. Udo’s Choice is a vegetable oil blend with flax oil as the primary ingredient. It has vitamin E added which may serve to make it more stable.

The best thing to do is to add either hemp oil or Udo’s Choice to salad dressings or add it to raw vegetable smoothies. You should not cook with either and they should be supplied and kept in dark glass bottle and bought from and kept in the fridge.

Avocados and extra virgin (ideally unrefined) olive oil will also give you healthy fats but they are not a substitute for hemp or flax oil. All vegetable oils are best stored in the cool and the dark in a glass or a tin, not plastic. Margarine is best avoided and olive oil is preferable to butter. Nut butters (not peanut and ideally raw) including tahini are tasty ways to have fats from vegetable sources.

Recommended further reading: Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill by Udo Erasmus, available from Energise for Life.

Note: This blog is only my opinion. It is not medical advice or diagnosis. Only opinions based upon our own personal experiences or information detailed in medical/academic journals or other publications is cited. WE DO NOT OFFER MEDICAL ADVICE or prescribe any treatments. Please consult with a medical professional before making any diet or nutrition changes.

About Ross Bridgeford

Ross is known as THE Alkaline Diet Expert...especially when it comes to implementation and making the alkaline diet REAL in your life. He has been living, learning, teaching, coaching and loving the alkaline lifestyle since 2004 and has written over 600 articles, alkaline recipes, videos and guides on how to live alkaline and stay alkaline for life. Ross loves life in Brisbane, Australia (although is a proud Englishman) and is healthily-obsessed with nutrition, fitness and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

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From Energise Alkaline Diet & Natural Health Blog - health news, alkaline diet resources & tips to make you happy! do something nice today...

Not having enough good fat in your diet is actually more dangerous than having too much bad fat. That’s right – omega 3 deficiency is more dangerous than trans-fat consumption!

This is the outcome of a recent study conducted by Harvard University and the Centre for Disease Control and Management in the USA. Their findings revealed that omega-3 deficiency is, unbelievably, the sixth biggest killer of Americans and more deadly than excess trans fat intake.

My personal belief has always been that supplementing the diet with omega-3 is the most important thing you can do for your health, simply because omega oils are SO important to the body and it is very difficult to get enough through diet alone. However, this report has shocked even me!

The Harvard researchers looked at 12 dietary, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors such as tobacco smoking and high blood pressure and used a mathematical model to determine how many fatalities could have been prevented if better practices had been observed.

The research drew on 2005 data from the US National Health Center for Health Statistics. They determined that there were 72,000-96,000 preventable deaths each year due to omega-3 deficiency, compared to 63,000-97,000 for high trans fat intake.

This is quite amazing. I’ve blogged about Essential Fatty Acids before so I am not going to recap too much on what they are right here (read that article for more info) – but I will give you a quick insight into how you can get a lot more into your diet.

How to Get More Omega-3 In Your Diet

Supplements

The two main supplements we highly recommend are:

1. Udo’s Choice: this is simply the very best oil supplement in the world. Period. There is no better quality oil supplement out there. Udo’s Choice contains only organic ingredients and the product is cold pressed to retain all of the nutritional benefit. It supplies a range of omega 3, 6 and 9 in a 2:1:1 ratio which is optimal for human health and has a pleasant nutty taste, meaning that it is delicious on salads, pastas and vegetables. 100% vegetarian. Click here for more information on Udo’s Choice.
2. Coconut Oil: as mentioned, coconut oil is one of a kind in that it provides a clean, organic source of MCTs, as well as being extremely heat, air and light resistant so it is the only healthy oil you can cook with (making stir frys healthy again!). Coconut oil is also known to increase your metabolism dramatically and give the body and instant source of clean, slow burn energy! It is also delicious, making it a really easy supplement to take. It honestly just takes like Bounty chocolate! Click here to get your hands on some lovely coconut oil.

Foods

These are the foods I believe to be healthy, and high in omega 3, 6 and/or 9:

1. Other oils: while flax and hemp are the highest in omega 3, olive and avocado are good, clean sources of omega 6 & 9.
2. Nuts & Seeds: go for flax, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pine nuts etc. All the ones you know are good and healthy! BUT avoid peanuts – they are always stored for ages and end up full of fungus and mold
3. Avocado: eat plenty in salads and for snacks
4. Oily Fish: while I’m a vegetarian myself, I understand and appreciate that oily fish are a smart addition to your diet

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So there you have it – make a commitment TODAY to get more omega-3 into your diet – every day!

Ross

http://www.energiseforlife.com

About Ross Bridgeford

Ross is known as THE Alkaline Diet Expert...especially when it comes to implementation and making the alkaline diet REAL in your life. He has been living, learning, teaching, coaching and loving the alkaline lifestyle since 2004 and has written over 600 articles, alkaline recipes, videos and guides on how to live alkaline and stay alkaline for life. Ross loves life in Brisbane, Australia (although is a proud Englishman) and is healthily-obsessed with nutrition, fitness and Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Mail | Web | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | YouTube

From Energise Alkaline Diet & Natural Health Blog - health news, alkaline diet resources & tips to make you happy! do something nice today...